Cruz: Trump ‘rattled’ by Iowa loss

Ted Cruz said that Donald Trump’s outcry over his loss at the Iowa caucuses shows that he’s “rattled” by Cruz’s victory. 

“Donald Trump is very rattled right now. He told the entire world he was going to win Iowa and he didn’t win. His reaction was to get very angry,” the presidential contender said during a town hall in New Hampshire on Thursday.

{mosads}“I don’t think people are interested in temper tantrums, I don’t think people are interested in insults and attacks.”

Cruz topped Trump by 3 percent in the Monday caucuses despite the real estate tycoon topping the polls there for most of the election cycle. 

Trump has called for those results to be invalidated because Cruz staffers repeated rumors to Ben Carson supporters that their candidate was dropping out, something both Trump and Carson believe wrongfully boosted Cruz’s support.

Cruz noted that many candidates “have tossed more than a few nasty, personal attacks my way,” but said he wouldn’t respond in kind. He framed the election as a choice between a true conservative like himself, or someone willing to compromise with Democrats, framing Trump and Marco Rubio as the latter. 

“Marco Rubio, very talented guy, but he’s already demonstrated that he’s wiling to break his word to voters and make deals with the Democrats,” the Texas senator said, noting Rubio’s support of the 2013 Senate immigration compromise bill. 

Rubio’s strong third-place performance in Iowa has given him momentum coming into New Hampshire, where he’s battling with Cruz for the second slot in most polls. 

Cruz also emphasized his calls for smaller government and protecting the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, important issues to libertarian voters that may be searching for a candidate now that Rand Paul has dropped out of the race.