Cruz won 27.7% of the vote in the Republican caucus in Iowa, staking his claim to be the new standard bearer of the right.
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“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it”, Mr Trump tweeted. “Bad!” However, the tweet was deleted within minutes of posting it.
Mr Trump pointed to the fact that during the caucus the Cruz campaign told voters rival Ben Carson planned to quit the race, which was not true.
In an interview on Boston Herald Radio, he called his opponent’s actions “unthinkable” and “one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen”.
The Cruz insult ensured once again Wednesday that Trump headlined the media coverage of the Republican presidential election – and once again saving him from spending millions on campaign advertisements.
Cruz responded by accusing Trump of throwing a “Trumpertantrum” and said his insults were growing increasingly “hysterical”. Clinton defeated Sanders by only 0.3 percentage points, 49.9-49.6, which Sanders called a “virtual tie”.
“Will not be chosen by the lobbyists, but will be chosen by the most incredible, powerful force, where all sovereignty resides in this nation, by we, the people”.
U.S. Rep. Steve King of western Iowa, who had endorsed Cruz, even tweeted the rumor on Twitter – saying he hoped Carson supporters would vote for Cruz rather than for a candidate who planned to get out.
Despite the suspensions, the Republican filed is still crowded with nine candidates vying for the party’s nomination.
Instead Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas whom Trump had systematically worked to savage in the final weeks before the caucuses, rolled to victory on the strength of his very un-Trumpian focus on building a grass-roots turnout organization.
On Tuesday, Trump was conciliatory, saying that while he had lost Iowa, he was still proud of his performance.
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But the real winners of the Iowa caucus were Marco Rubio on the Republican side and Bernie Sanders on the Democrat side.
