Donald Trump’s speech Monday night in Iowa after his surprising loss in the caucuses was perhaps most noteworthy for its graciousness.
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Trump fired off a barrage of morning tweets accusing Cruz of having “stolen” the Hawkeye State vote with underhanded tactics and demanded, yes, a rematch.
Trump followed with a series of additional tweets detailing his complaint against Cruz, alleging that Cruz inappropriately suggested Ben Carson was exiting the presidential race.
An aide for retired neurosurgeon Carson accused Cruz’s campaign of cheating to win the caucuses, while billionaire developer and reality television star Trump called for “a new election” or nullification of the results, Bloomberg reported.
Donald Trump’s gracious acceptance of his second-place finish in Iowa was short-lived. Marco Rubio, a United States senator from Florida, came in third with 23 percent, easily making him the leader among establishment Republican candidates and gaining him momentum as eyes turn to New Hampshire, the next battleground.
Trump also accused Cruz’s team on Twitter of sending out a mailer created to look like an official electoral document to scare Iowa voters into turning out at the caucuses.
The two men are going head-to-head for voters in New Hampshire, where Cruz’s evangelical Christian credentials will not be as helpful as they were in Iowa.
Cruz’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Trump’s accusations.
“It’s strategic on his part and he’s also trying to make sure that he takes some of the wind out of Cruz and Rubio’s sails as he goes into New Hampshire, where he has been leading for some time to make sure he comes out ahead in New Hampshire”, she added. And Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders could say he lost by less than one-half of 1 percent of statewide delegate equivalents, the strongest showing for a socialist candidate in a recent presidential race and certainly an indication that Clinton’s once assumed breeze to the nomination will be anything but that.
“I think he’s done pretty well from the start”, said Eli Johnson, 33, from nearby Brookline, New Hampshire. “As far as I can tell, there’s not even a single voter coming forward saying, ‘I would have voted for Carson instead of Cruz if I’d known Carson was in the race'”. And I think I know why.
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“That’s just not progressive”, he said, saying Clinton had taken $15 million from Wall Street, voted for the 2003 Iraq war and supported trade policies with China that had cost American jobs.
