Let's pause to marvel at Donald Trump's unbelievable rise

Love him or hate him, Trump's ascent to the top of the GOP ticket has been incredible to behold

It's all happening.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Let us take a moment to marvel at Donald Trump's wild, improbable ride to the Republican presidential nomination. It began, as he will remind you, with an escalator ride in Trump Tower, and became inevitable with his victory in the Indiana primary on Tuesday night and the subsequent withdrawal from the race of Sen. Ted Cruz. Along the way, Trump insulted just about everybody but his own family members, belittled and knocked out 15 of his 16 rivals (John Kasich is technically still running), and defied all predictions but his own.

Wednesday is essentially the start of the 2016 presidential election. It's going to get very ugly very fast, if the Trump and Clinton campaigns are to be believed. So before Trump begins the effort to "make every voter in America think of 'Crooked Hillary' as they go to the ballot box," as Citizens United head and sometime Trump adviser David Bossie says, and before he walks "into a $1 billion buzz saw" from the Clinton camp, as Trump critic and GOP strategist Stuart Stevens put it, let's look back at how amazing Trump's rise to the top has been.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.