A few weeks back, Donald Trump infamously said “I could shoot somebody and not lose votes.” Well, that was before he did lose Iowa. Although he initially accepted that defeat with (shocking) grace, he later said Ted Cruz only won because he stole it. And it appears Ted might have cheated, but not in the way Trump means.
Ted’s people did spread a false story that Ben Carson dropped out of the race and Ted can deny this all he wants, but I have no doubt he knew that it happened and most likely approved it. Plus, there are countless stories of dirty campaign tricks like sending out fliers with official government-looking seals on them to make his campaign appear like more than just a campaign.
But there’s little dispute that the people who voted for Ted did actually vote for him. He didn’t stuff the ballot box—if such a thing even exists anymore—with the names of the dead or rig the electronic voting in his favor. The votes were cast with manipulations but they were cast for him.
For Donald to make such a big deal out of the results of that one state makes him look as bad as it does Cruz. Not to mention said “one state” has historically been lousy at predicting the eventual GOP nominee. In 2008 it was Huckabee. In 2012 it was Santorum. And those guys were so unpopular this time out that I’m pretty such Donald Duck got more write-in votes than they got actual votes.
Donald lurches between saying “I don’t really care about Iowa anymore” to “but Ted Cruz stole it.” It looks like sour grapes to most people, and obscures the very real duplicitousness of Cruz’s campaign. Besides, does Donald really want to be the first person who’s ever been jealous of Ted Cruz?
To be continued…