--- ---  # Exclusive: What Donald Trump Said the Moment He Learned John Kasich Dropped Out  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 4, 2016 5:48 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles as he speaks during a primary night news conference on May 3, 2016, in New York. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles as he speaks during a primary night news conference on May 3, 2016, in New York.Mary Altaffer—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 4, 2016 5:48 PM UTC Within 24 hours, both [Texas Senator Ted Cruz](http://time.com/4317299/ted-cruz-drops-out-ends-campaign-indiana-primary-analysis/?xid=homepage) and Ohio Governor John Kasich will have dropped out of the race, leaving Donald Trump the undisputed presumptive nominee for the Republican Party. TIME’s Zeke Miller was on the phone conducting an interview with Trump on Wednesday during the exact moment he found out that Kasich, his last remaining rival, would [suspend his campaign](http://time.com/4317997/republican-party-donald-trump-john-kasich-ted-cruz-indiana/?xid=homepage) this afternoon. “That’s good. That’s nice. That’s interesting. It’s very interesting,” Trump said when he took a separate phone call and learned of Kasich’s decision. “So Kasich is dropping out,” he then mused to TIME. “Hmm … That’s big. I didn’t think that was going to happen.” Now finding himself the nominee, Trump immediately pivoted to the general election. “So now I’m going to be focused on Hillary and you’ll be dealing with me and we’ll see what happens,” he said, predicting most of the Republican Party would unify behind him. “And I think we have a very strong case against Hillary. As far as the Republican Party coming together, it will, maybe not 100%, but it’ll come together 99% and the 1% I don’t want and it won’t have any impact.” Trump made clear that he would echo Bernie Sanders’ criticism of Hillary Clinton in the coming race. “Bernie actually said she’s unqualified because she’s got bad judgment and it’s true,” Trump said. “She’s unqualified because of the fact that her judgment is so bad.” He also made clear that case would rest heavily on trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was signed by her husband in the 1990s. “The NAFTA is the worst trade deal in the history of any country anywhere in the world at any time,” he said. “And it was a Clinton trade deal. NAFTA was Clinton. And it has drained our country of manufacturing jobs and it’s been a disaster. I’m going to talk about that.” Donald Trump: What the Republican Said as John Kasich Quit ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4318138/republican-party-donald-trump-john-kasich/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4318138/republican-party-donald-trump-john-kasich/"},"headline":"Exclusive: What Donald Trump Said the Moment He Learned John Kasich Dropped Out","datePublished":"2016-05-04T17:48:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:16:31.466Z","description":"Trump was on the phone with TIME when he learned his last Republican rival would suspend his campaign","url":"https://time.com/4318138/republican-party-donald-trump-john-kasich/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","john kasich"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88cb9c342fe77e33/698891f6f887dc7f31e95bcf/trump21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88cb9c342fe77e33/698891f6f887dc7f31e95bcf/trump21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Mary Altaffer—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4318138/republican-party-donald-trump-john-kasich/","name":"Exclusive: What Donald Trump Said the Moment He Learned John Kasich Dropped Out"}}]}] ```