Donald Trump predicted Tuesday on Twitter that Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) “long, rambling, overly flamboyant speech” accepting his first-place finish in the Iowa caucuses would prove to be the freshman senator’s “Howard Dean moment.”
Anybody who watched all of Ted Cruz’s far too long, rambling, overly flamboyant speech last nite would say that was his Howard Dean moment!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2016
Trump was referring to former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s (D) infamous “scream” speech after his third-place finish at the Iowa caucus in 2004. The gaffe was widely credited with sinking the rest of Dean’s campaign.
Cruz, whose ground infrastructure was more developed than Trump’s, won the Iowa caucuses with almost 28 percent of the vote, according to the Associated Press. Trump took second place at 24.3 percent support.