Months of hype and bloviation leading up to the Iowa caucuses ended with a massive disappointment for Donald Trump on Monday, as the erstwhile Republican front-runner suffered a humbling defeat at the hands of Ted Cruz. Twitter, naturally, had some fun:
'Dead clown walking': New York tabloids skewer Donald Trump's Iowa loss https://t.co/8q97IY7uu3 pic.twitter.com/8XhwRqAnDy
— Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) February 2, 2016
As of Tuesday morning, loser.com is still redirecting to Trump’s Wikipedia page.
Twitter also dug up this old Trump tweet from 2014:
“No one remembers who came in second.” – Walter Hagen
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2014
Anti-Trump Republicans made no attempt to hide their delight:
Looks like Trump will need to learn how to say congratulations in Canadian.
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) February 2, 2016
Trump's campaign has no substance. All about his claims to be so great. So devastating for him to be … a loser. As he is tonight.
— Max Boot 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@MaxBoot) February 2, 2016
Conservative Twitter’s explanations for Trump’s loss generally centered on his decision to skip last week’s Fox News debate and the campaign’s lack of on-the-ground organization:
It seems hard to argue this morning that Trump's skipping of Iowa debate was a smart move.
— Brit Hume (@brithume) February 2, 2016
Skipping the debate seems to have hurt Trump. Did he believe–as some in media came to–he was such a phenomenon normal rules didn't apply?
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 2, 2016
Why is Ted Cruz beating Trump?
Because of his ground game, whereas Trump’s is weak and reliant on media coverage: https://t.co/2u5a29Srjf
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) February 2, 2016
Other pundits were quick to point out that a loss in Iowa doesn’t mean that Trump is going away anytime soon:
You can't build a party, or a majority, on the Trump constituency. But ignoring it is both politically stupid and actually wicked.
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) February 2, 2016
All Trump supporters like right-wing troll extraordinaire Ann Coulter could do was downplay the significance of the result and look forward to the New Hampshire primary:
Trump is the leading GOP vote-getter tonight, among natural-born-American candidates.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) February 2, 2016
Yes, I can barely remember Reagan, Bush, McCain & Romney – all lost Iowa caucus, then became nominee (i.e. 1st!). https://t.co/o292AWWymj
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) February 2, 2016
I think this is a GOOD THING folks. I think this will cause Trump to quadruple his efforts. They just UNLEASHED THE BEAST!!!
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) February 2, 2016
Trump broke a long (for him) Twitter silence of about 15 hours to put his spin on the loss Tuesday morning:
My experience in Iowa was a great one. I started out with all of the experts saying I couldn't do well there and ended up in 2nd place. Nice
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2016
Because I was told I could not do well in Iowa, I spent very little there – a fraction of Cruz & Rubio. Came in a strong second. Great honor
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2016
The media has not covered my long-shot great finish in Iowa fairly. Brought in record voters and got second highest vote total in history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2016
I will be talking about my wonderful experience in Iowa and the simultaneous unfair treatment by the media-later in New Hampshire. Big crowd
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2016
