Donald Trump has hit on his explanation for coming in second in Iowa—or, as we might say, losing in Iowa. Sure, debate-skipping might have hurt him, as did a weak ground game. But the real problem here, says Trump, is Iowa winner Ted Cruz, who “stole” the win.
And that was the dialed down version of the tweet—Trump had originally tweeted and deleted that Cruz “illegally stole” Iowa. But illegal or not, caucus theft is a big accusation. What’s Trump talking about? Three things.
First, the Cruz campaign telling caucus-goers that Ben Carson was dropping out. Says Trump, “Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud.” But that’s not all! Trump also rails against the clumsy "voting violation" mailer the Cruz campaign sent out before the caucuses, tweeting that “The Voter Violation certificate gave poor marks to the unsuspecting voter(grade of F) and told them to clear it up by voting for Cruz. Fraud.” One suspects, though, that Trump's third allegation is the one that has him really mad. He claims that “Cruz strongly told thousands of caucusgoers (voters) that Trump was strongly in favor of ObamaCare and "choice" - a total lie!”
To Trump, there’s only one conclusion: a whole new Iowa caucus. Seriously. “Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.” And then Donald Trump wouldn’t be a second-place loser anymore! How convenient!