Donald Trump really, really didn't want to lose Iowa


Way back in October 2015, a slip in the polls led Donald Trump to some hard bargaining with Iowa. "Will you get these numbers up?" he begged voters at the time, NPR reports. "I promise you I will do such a good job. First of all, I am a great Christian. And I do well with the evangelicals, but the evangelicals let me down a little bit this month. I don't know what I did."
Trump, who led the polls in the weeks leading up to the primary, has fallen behind in the Republican caucus results Monday night and currently trails Ted Cruz by a handful of percentage points. With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Trump unexpectedly finds himself battling it out for second place against Marco Rubio.
"I'm not leaving Iowa, I'm not leaving Iowa. Now if I lose Iowa, I will never speak to you people again," Trump joked in October. It looks increasingly like he might just have to make good on that promise.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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