Donald Trump said Monday, just hours before the Iowa caucuses were to start, that he does not think his nearest rival, Ted Cruz, will be "finished" after the supporters are tallied, "but he'll be certainly hurt because he's put everything he can into Iowa."
"He put every single person, he put all of his money, and he put a lot of effort," the GOP presidential front-runner, who remains ahead in the polls heading onto the caucus night, told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
The Texas senator, Trump continued, is "doing poorly in New Hampshire," pointing out that polls show himself with 25 percentage point lead.
Meanwhile, Trump sounded out about Cruz's campaign and others sending out a
"voting violation" mailer that grades not only the recipient's voting history, but that of their neighbors, citing public records.
"We're doing it the honest way," Trump told "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough. "I haven't seen the [Marco] Rubio one, but the Cruz one is unbelievable."
He said he saw a copy of the mailer, "and it looks right out of municipal government, and it says, violation and it's amazing and I've never seen anything like it. It's a total fraud. Now he's being investigated over it, but it's a total fraud, a disgrace that they can do it."
Trump, though, told NBC's
"Today" show he's not only concerned with Cruz, as he thinks "everyone in the race is a threat," including Rubio.
But as for Cruz, "he's a professional politician. He's a talented guy. You know, we're all talented people. I said he was born in Canada, which is true. A lot of people have a question as to whether or not he's actually able to even serve as president.
"It's come out loud and strong. I tell you, some constitutional lawyers just over the weekend have concluded with results he's not allowed to be president. That's a big cloud over his head."
Trump told the "Morning Joe" program that his campaign feels good about his chances, but he can't tell what's going to happen "because it's an election and the only poll that matters is the poll that starts in a little while and it's going to be very interesting. Here we are after a long period of time, the day has arrived where we begin this really incredible process, so I look forward to it."
He plans to attend a few of the caucuses personally to "do the best I can to persuade people," but "I've never caucused before, and it's a different way of doing things, and Iowa is a tremendous place."
He also pointed out that he's gathering key endorsements, such as from Dr. Jerry Falwell Jr. and Sarah Palin, "who's terrific."
"I won't say the reasons why, because it may sound like I'm bragging, but they like strength for the country and they can see that. They like the strong military and the borders.
"We also had Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Arizona endorse me two days ago. He is — if you talk about borders — there's nobody like him on the borders."
Trump said he's learned a lot running for the presidency, including that the "people of this country are incredible. They're smart, they get it, they know what's happening," and while he knew he'd enjoy the process, "I didn't think I'd enjoy it this much."
"I've gone all out," he told the show. "A lot of people said when I announced, well, he's just going to have some fun and do it and then he'll continue to get great ratings on 'The Apprentice' and they thought I was doing it for that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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