After Trump’s loss in the Iowa caucus, the bombastic business mogul was surprisingly subdued. Those of us who were expecting a big, outlandish reaction to Trump coming in second place were disappointed…until now!
Of course that’s what happened: Trump couldn’t have just lost the caucus because he’s ignorant and inexperienced, it had to be because Cruz cheated.
Someone must have told Trump that he couldn’t make more claims that may be factually incorrect, because the above tweet was later deleted and replaced with one that didn’t include the word “illegally.”
Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Trump continued his tirade on Twitter throughout the morning, outlining his reasoning on why Cruz’s actions were dastardly. On at least some of it, we agree that Cruz was less than on the up-and-up, but not that this is why Trump didn’t win over the majority of caucus voters.
During primetime of the Iowa Caucus, Cruz put out a release that @RealBenCarson was quitting the race, and to caucus (or vote) for Cruz.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
When it was announced after the caucus that Carson planned to return home to Florida for “fresh clothes,” Ted Cruz’s political camp apparently announced to voters that he was dropping out without making a correction later. Cruz has since publicly apologized, and Carson says that he accepts his apology, but that Cruz should be held accountable for the mistake. Trump seems to agree, then went on to part two of why Cruz did not honestly win in Iowa.
Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud. Also, Cruz sent out a VOTER VIOLATION certificate to thousands of voters.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Cruz did indeed mail out some official and ominous-looking voter violation slips to Iowa caucus-goers.
Many of us said at the time that this was a dishonest move by Cruz, and Trump is now apparently no exception to that belief, although it took losing the caucus before he thought to call it the fraud that it was. Trump wasn’t done, however, with his reasons to say that Cruz stole the caucus votes.
And finally, Cruz strongly told thousands of caucusgoers (voters) that Trump was strongly in favor of ObamaCare and “choice” – a total lie!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Cruz wasn’t completely dishonest with those statements since Trump has said in the past that he believed that health care reform was necessary and that he was pro-choice “in every respect.” Trump has since walked back those statements by a mile, but they’re on video and featured in a new attack ad, which he cannot escape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcUCLwWCihE
The combination of these “lies” that Trump insists Cruz told about him, the less-than-honest voter violations mailers, and the “mistake” of making a particular announcement about Carson that was never corrected, according to Trump, is enough to have Cruz either disqualified to run or to call for a second round of voting in Iowa.
Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Whether or not Cruz was dishonest during the Iowa caucuses, and whether or not he could be disqualified for these tactics, this is not the reason Trump failed to win the majority of caucus-goers in Iowa. Trump’s bloviating reaction to losing is proof-positive of what we and others have said all along. Trump has neither the temperament nor the knowledge to be the leader of the free world.
We choose to believe that Trump lost because the American public is smart enough to know this, but that remains to be seen.
Image via Flikr by Mike Licht
