The Trumpo has given a lot of excuses for why he was such a big loser in Iowa, and one of my favorites is that he just didn’t know he had to actually have a ground game to get voters out.
He reiterated that silly excuse today in an interview with the AP:
Trump had a disappointing runner-up finish last Monday in leadoff Iowa, which has a byzantine caucus process that puts a premium on organizing supporters to make sure they turn out. Now, he and his team are intent on making a greater push to get out the vote in the opening primary state.
“Look, I’ve never done this before. I’ve been a politician for seven months. I’m against governors and senators. They’ve done it their whole lives,” Trump said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday. “It would seem to me that people would just go out and vote.”
Trump said he “never realized” the need to encourage supporters to actually take part in the caucuses. “Now, I think we’re going to have an OK ground game.”
OK. I mean that just looks like a childish made-up excuse in order to cast off any responsibility for the loss from his shoulders.
But that’s not what he said before.
These are tweets from reporters just two weeks ago, when he asked about the ground game in Iowa:
Asked if he feels good about ground game, Trump calls Iowa strategist Chuck Laudner to mics. "If he doesn’t feel good, Chuck you’re fired."
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 19, 2016
Trump asked about his ground game in Iowa. He defers to Chuck Laudner, then says that if he messes it up: "Chuck, you're fired."
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) January 19, 2016
Chuck Laudner has orchestrated impressive caucus wins in Iowa before, which is why he chose him to run the ground game in Iowa. But now, Trump has totally forgotten that he actually hired a guy to do the thing he says he had no idea he needed to do.
His ability to change how he remembers reality is incredible, and not very reassuring.
Here’s video of Trump saying he didn’t even know what the phrase “ground game” even refers to!!