May 26, 2016 10:36 AM UTC

BREAKING: Trump Clinches GOP Presidential Nomination

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• by: Colorado Pols

AP reporting, playtime is now officially over:

Donald Trump has reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination for president.

His triumph completes an unlikely rise that has upended the political landscape and sets the stage for a bitter fall campaign.

Trump was put over the top in the Associated Press delegate count by a small number of the party’s unbound delegates who told the AP on Thursday they will support him at the convention.

Controversial firebrand billionaire Donald Trump has been the presumptive GOP presidential nominee for some weeks now after his last two primary opponents, Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, recognized the inevitable and bowed out. But it’s always more impactful when the technical threshold is reached, which appears to be the case today.

Whatever happens between now and November, you can’t deny the historic implications of this moment.

Probably very bad implications, but for today you can just kind of stand in awe of what has happened to the once-grand (and still enormously powerful) Republican Party. Whether Trump wins or loses, the Grand Old Party will never be the same again.