Donald Trump’s reaction to a new poll showing him in second place in Iowa behind retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson by retweeting a supporter Thursday who suggested this was due to Iowans’ heavy consumption of genetically-modified corn.
Some studies suggest GMOs can negatively affect human neurological functions, but the research remains widely up for debate.
David Kochel, a senior campaign strategist to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, used Trump’s retweet as an opportunity to paint the GOP front-runner as a sore loser. Kochel quoted the tweet on his personal Twitter account, adding the hashtags #thinskin #cantwin.
So @realDonaldTrump has decided after losing one IA poll that Iowans are dumb! Wow. Unreal. #thinskin #cantwin https://t.co/W4wpC9I62R
— David Kochel (@ddkochel) October 22, 2015
Steve Deace, an influential conservative radio host based in Iowa, also weighed in, offering his own one-word reaction: “Yikes.”
Yikes https://t.co/XSBvC7G5Do
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) October 22, 2015
Trump’s indirect insult to Iowans came less than 24 hours after thousands of his supporters in the Hawkeye State turned out to hear him speak at a rally Wednesday night in Burlington, Iowa.
By 3 p.m. ET Thursday, Trump had reversed his retweet and laid the blame on a campaign intern.
“The young intern who accidentally did a Retweet apologizes,” he wrote on Twitter.
