Donald Trump launched a full-blown attack on Republican
arch-rival Ted Cruz on Thursday, accusing him of stealing victory in
Iowa as the Texas senator bit back, rubbishing the mogul’s presidential
credentials and questioning his sanity.
Fighting back
from second place in the Iowa caucus this week, Mr Trump lashed out on
Twitter, telling his six million followers that the evangelical
conservative had only won the first vote of the 2016 election by fraud.
“Ted
Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so
wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!” Mr Trump
wrote.
(READ: Ted Cruz wins Iowa Republican caucuses in US presidential race)
Cruz fired back a salvo several hours later. “Yet another #Trumpertantrum @realDonaldTrump very angry with the people of Iowa.
They actually looked at his record,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
Mr
Trump slammed Mr Cruz for putting out a statement from Iowa saying that
a fellow candidate, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, was quitting the
race, and “lying” to thousands of voters about Trump’s policies.
“Based
on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus,
either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified,” Mr
Trump wrote.
CRUZ REPLY
On
the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Cruz looked to capitalise on his
momentum against the New York billionaire, who leads Republican polls in
the Granite State.
“I wake up every day and laugh at
the latest thing Donald has tweeted. Because he’s losing it,” said Mr
Cruz. “We need a commander in chief, not a 'twitterer' in chief.
“We
need someone with judgment and the temperament to keep this country
safe. I don’t know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who
behaves this way having his finger on the button.”
WINNING STRATEGY?
Mr
Trump has run a media blitzkrieg campaign, dishing out insults against
his political rivals, Mexicans, women and Muslims, sucking the
television air time away from every other candidate in the race.
But
his Iowa tally - in second place at just above 24 per cent, marginally
ahead of Senator Marco Rubio - in the first vote raises serious
questions about whether showmanship has a winning strategy.
A second hiccup, at the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday, would spell political disaster for the reality television star.
Mr Cruz won 27.7 per cent of the vote in the Republican caucus in Iowa.
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