Special to the AmNews
“To God be the glory,” Sen. Ted Cruz shouted to his celebrating supporters Monday evening. “Tonight is a victory for the grassroots. Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives all across Iowa and our great nation.”
His victory was the perfect remedy for Donald Trump’s big, unbridled mouth—a smashing victory by the senator from Texas. Ever since Cruz took control of the Iowa caucus, edging out Trump, the dealmaker has been silent after accepting his second place finish.
“We finished second, and I want to tell you something,” Trump told a gaggle of supporters, “I’m just honored. I’m really honored. I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all of the incredible candidates, including Mike Huckabee.”
Huckabee announced the suspension of his campaign. Trump said he had become a good friend, and this relationship was burnished when Huckabee and Rick Santorum joined Trump at his event that competed with the Republican debate last week.
Not even the sound of Trump licking his wounds has been heard from the Republican leader of the polls since accepting the loss. He seemed a shoo-in for a victory in the caucus. Trump’s second place finish at 24 percent was even challenged by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 23 percent in third place.
For months, the polls had Trump out front, but there was always the question of whether he was more than bluster and whether some of the noise from his camp were actually boots on the ground.
He may have had a substantial team of workers in the state, but they were not sufficient in stifling Cruz’s influence among the evangelicals, tea party members and dyed-in-the-wool conservatives.
Because there has been no word from Trump, it is assumed he fled to New Hampshire with several of the other contenders, including Govs. Chris Christie and John Kasich in preparation for a last ditch stand.
Before Cruz delivered his victory speech, he was upstaged by Rubio, who said “for months, they said we had no chance … they told me I had no chance because my hair wasn’t gray enough and my boots were too high.”
Rubio believes he is the best candidate to represent the party in the national elections. “We are going to unify this party,” he continued, “and we are going to unify the conservative movement.”
That shouldn’t be too hard to do, given the obsessive divisiveness from his adversaries.
