Donald Trump says he can win without backing of Republican leaders

 8 May 2016

There may be much Republican hand-wringing over Donald Trump's presumptive nomination to face against his Democratic challenger to the White House, but the boastful billionaire says he doesn't care, and it doesn't matter.

A growing chorus of senior Republican leaders have joined the 'anyone but Trump movement,' including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the last two Republican presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush.

'Does it have to be unified?' Trump asked George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week about the Republican Party. 'I'm very different than everybody else, perhaps, that's ever run for office. I actually don't think so.'

Trump told ABC's This Week that he doesn't think the Republican party needs to be unified, saying he will get 'millions of people from the Democrats'

The presumptive GOP presidential nom spoke at a rally on Saturday in Lynden, Washington 

Asked how he could win in that case, he said: 'I think it would be better if it were unified, I think it would be - there would be something good about it. But I don't think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense.'

Trump said he expected even some Democratic voters to throw their support behind him to win the general election.

'I'm going to go out and I'm going to get millions of people from the Democrats,' Trump said.

'I'm going to get Bernie (Sanders) people to vote, because they like me on trade,' he added, referring to the Democratic candidate in an uphill fight to clinch his party's nomination instead of Hillary Clinton.

'I'm a conservative, but don't forget this is called the Republican party, not the conservative party.'

A supporter at a campaign stop for US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Lynden, Washington, on Saturday

Notable Republicans breaking from the pack to throw their support behind The Donald include New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and 1996 Republican nominee Bob Dole. 

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, however, said they planned not to vote in November, according to CNN.

Despite Trump feeling it doesn't need it, Ryan announced he would meet with Trump next week in an effort to unify the party. 

Trump, however, isn't exactly grateful, telling Ryan off via his favorite platform, Twitter. When Ryan said that Trump had 'inherited' something very special with the Republican party, the presumptive nominee blasted back that he hadn't 'inherited' anything, 'I won it with millions of voters!'