Democratic Party Chief Calls Donald Trump the 'Presumptive Nominee'

Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Donald Trump is the "presumptive nominee."

ByABC News
March 16, 2016, 2:58 PM

— -- After last night’s primary results, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, whom she called a “divisive demagogue,” is the “presumptive nominee” of the Republican Party.

Joined by Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, Wasserman Schultz declared that the Democrats are “more than ready” for Trump and that they won’t “make the same mistake” as Republican candidates in not going after Trump sooner in the primary.

While Wasserman Schultz said Trump is “certainly not good news for the country,” she also made the case that “Trump creates a host of opportunities” for Democrats in both the presidential and congressional races.

“We’re not laughing him, we’re not assuming that he’s completely beatable, we are not running this race as if it’s over, on the contrary,” Wasserman Schultz said.

Schumer was more direct, saying a Trump nomination “looks like a tremendous opportunity" for Democrats.

Calling him “the straight jacket Senate Republicans won’t be able to wiggle off,” Schumer said that Trump will help to energize the Democratic base in opposition to him.

“Donald Trump won’t make America great again but he will make the Republicans the minority again,” he said.

Schumer quipped that the GOP might as well now be called the “Trump Party” and that anyone who does not stand up against rhetoric is "condoning his inexcusable behavior.”

Lujan said that Republicans have created their own “Frankenstein” with Trump and said that he will “help Democrats” and is creating “a better environment” for them to win close contests by drawing greater contrasts.