Ted Cruz fired back at Donald Trump Wednesday over allegations that he “stole” the Iowa election, accusing the reality show billionaire of throwing a “Trumpertantrum” and questioning whether he has the temperament to lead.

Nobody likes a sore loser, and by adopting that role on Wednesday morning in charging that Sen. Ted Cruz “stole” Iowa, Donald Trump has effectively imploded his campaign.

Yes, I know. Pundits have been saying for months that one Trump comment or another would sink him, only to be proven wrong. But here’s why this is different.

Every other time Trump said something controversial, or insulted an opponent, he was doing so from a position of strength. He looked like the alpha male toying with his pathetic opponents. His whole brand is based on the idea that he’s a “winner” — being not just a loser, but a “sore loser,” is greatly damaging.

In this case, Cruz pulled off an impressive win in Iowa. Trump validated that win by giving a gracious — for him — concession speech, even congratulating Cruz.

But now, he has unleashed a temper tantrum.

Now, to be clear, Trump started this week with a massive lead in New Hampshire. It could prove insurmountable given that only eight days separates Iowa and New Hampshire. But in the long run, his sore-loserdom will cost him.

It’s true that many of Trump supporters are so loyal, that as Trump joked, he could shoot somebody and they’d still support him. The problem Trump faces is that to win the nomination, he’ll have to win over a lot of people who don’t currently support him. And there are already indications that he’s having trouble doing this.

For instance, in the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll that showed Trump ahead in Iowa with 28 percent of the vote, just 7 percent of voters named Trump as their second choice. In contrast, 20 percent named Sen. Marco Rubio as their second choice and 17 percent named Cruz.

Also, Iowa entrance polls found that among voters who decided in the final few days before the caucuses, 31 percent went for Rubio, 27 percent broke for Cruz, and just 13 percent gravitated toward Trump.

Basically, if Trump is going to win the nomination, he’s going to have to gain converts, convincing those who are currently skeptics that he’s actually a serious candidate. While Trump’s Twitter meltdown may not turn off his loyal supporters, it will reinforce the perception of more reluctant voters who believe that his candidacy is more for show and that he isn’t presidential material. Essentially, he just made his ceiling lower and firmer than it was before.

But maybe this is by design. Remember, this morning’s rant comes a day after he mused on Twitter that he wasn’t getting enough credit from voters from self-funding his campaign, writing, “I will keep doing, but not worth it!”

Perhaps in reality what’s happening is that Trump is looking for his exit strategy. As Hotair’s Allahpundit, one of the more astute political analysts out there, has noted, it’s hard to see Trump’s candidacy ending like any normal candidate. That is, lose a bunch of primaries, collapse to the single digits, start getting smaller crowds, then bail out at the bottom.

Instead, if you were to imagine a Trump exit strategy, this is closer to what it looks like: Trump saying he had the biggest crowds and the best poll numbers, but was cheated by the corrupt political system.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/donald-trump-implodes-campaign-by-being-a-sore-loser/article/2582278