In his victory speech after being announced the projected winner of the 2024 Iowa caucuses Monday night, Donald Trump appeared to chide his opponents Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who came in a very distant second and third place.
“I want to congratulate Ron and Nikki for having a good time together,” the former president said about the Florida governor and former South Carolina governor.
“I think they both actually did very well, I really do, I think they both did very well,” Trump said before adding: “We don’t even know what the outcome of second place is.”
Touting his second-place finish, DeSantis noted in his speech on Monday night the volume of attacks on him and accused the media of bias against him: “They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us. … They even called the election before people even got a chance to vote!”
Haley, after her projected third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, said: “When you look at how we’re doing in New Hampshire, in South Carolina, and beyond, I can safely say tonight, Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race.”
