Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told
Newsmax TV on Tuesday that the Iowa caucuses were a referendum on New York values — and conservatives across the board rejected Donald Trump for Ted Cruz as a result, leading the Texas senator to victory.
"Cruz did a great service to everybody when he talked about New York values," DeLay told "The Steve Malzberg Show" in an interview. "It was 78 percent of the people that voted last night didn't vote for Donald Trump.
"That's onerous for Donald Trump," he added. "I'm sure he is regrouping and firing people and throwing chairs out his Trump Tower window right now because he didn't get what he expected — or at least what he told the American people."
Watch Newsmax TV on
DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Ch. 223 and
Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system —
Click Here Now
Now that Trump was rejected in the Hawkeye State, DeLay told Malzberg that conservatives will rally around Cruz and Marco Rubio, who finished just one point behind Trump on Monday.
"They'll coalesce around both Cruz and Rubio. If they want someone that has proven to stand up to the Washington cartel, as he called it, Cruz is your man.
"But Rubio is also a conservative," he added. "He's a little more moderate than Cruz, but he's a man of faith, a man who believes in the Constitution, as Cruz does — and I think they'll be splitting a lot of those votes in the future."
And it Trump squares off with either rival, the developer will lost, DeLay said.
"Of course, I'm a little biased," he said. "I'm for anybody but Trump."
In other remarks, DeLay told Malzberg that:
- Trump's concession speech was "all a façade": "It was a very short, straight-forward speech that he looked like he had to do and he didn't want to do." His ending with 'I'm going to come back and buy a farm in Iowa was just pandering to the Iowans. He was boiling inside."
- The developer's Iowa showing has forced him to "run a race" for the nomination: "There's a lot more forest ahead of us and certainly Trump can be part of that. But "he's got a race on his hands — and the biggest thing is that he can't stand there and say, 'I'm leading in the polls so I'm going to win.'
- The contest now is between Cruz, Rubio and Trump: "Unless [Ben] Carson can do something or Jeb Bush can do something to elevate his numbers."
- Conservatives are not going to vote for Trump after other candidates drop out: "They're not going to go to Trump. They've already exhibited that they're not going to vote for Trump.
- Cruz is far better suited to win many of the state primaries over Trump, particularly in the South: "Texas is a major state with a lot of delegates, along with Florida and others, and I just don't think they're going to vote for somebody with New York values."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.