WASHINGTON — In the hours after the Iowa caucus, Donald Trump was courteous and somewhat subdued in his concession speech and tweeted a string of surprisingly reflective explanations for his second-place finish there.
That break from Trump as we know him is officially over.
On Wednesday morning, Trump unleashed a flurry of tweets accusing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of stealing Iowa in his caucus victory, and building his own conspiracy theory as to how that happened. He's also called for a do-over in Iowa, which would be unprecedented.
"Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he illegally stole it," Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. "That is why all of the polls were so wrong any why he got more votes than anticipated. Bad!"
Trump later deleted the tweet, retweeting essentially the same message, but taking out the word "illegally."
.@realDonaldTrump accuses @tedcruz of cheating in the #IowaCaucus in a tweet, then promptly deletes it pic.twitter.com/ux8TrJ5fi0— Emily Cahn (@CahnEmily) February 3, 2016
So how did Ted Cruz supposedly steal the election? According to the theory Trump floated in Wednesday morning's tweet storm, it has a lot to do with retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who came in fourth.
Cruz's campaign pushed a report Monday night suggesting that Carson was headed home to Florida, rather than continuing his campaign after the Iowa caucuses. But Carson wasn't going home to campaign, as it turns out, he was just going home to get "fresh clothes."
Carson suggested that moves like the one the Cruz campaign did are "'dirty tricks' political tactics," and Cruz has since apologized.
That hasn't seemed to satisfy Trump, though, who called Cruz's campaign antics fraud.
Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud. Also, Cruz sent out a VOTER VIOLATION certificate to thousands of voters.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Trump also ripped Cruz over a controversial campaign mailer that aimed to get Iowans to the polls by claiming they had committed "violations."
The Voter Violation certificate gave poor marks to the unsuspecting voter(grade of F) and told them to clear it up by voting for Cruz. Fraud— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Iowa's secretary of state also took issue with that, saying that it "misrepresents Iowa election law."
All told, Trump is calling for a "new election" in Iowa, or for Cruz's win there to be "nullified." Neither of these things are likely to happen.
Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Cruz's campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Trump's accusations.