Trump supports Iowa’s first-in-the-nation voting status after Democratic caucus chaos

President Trump on Tuesday said he would seek to maintain Iowa’s status as the first state to vote in the presidential nominating process despite mounting calls for it to lose that role over the handling of this year’s Democratic caucuses.

“It is not the fault of Iowa, it is the Do Nothing Democrats fault. As long as I am President, Iowa will stay where it is. Important tradition!” Trump tweeted as the country still awaited Democratic results from the Hawkeye State on Tuesday morning.

It is not the fault of Iowa, it is the Do Nothing Democrats fault. As long as I am President, Iowa will stay where it is. Important tradition! https://t.co/bX3FLvua1C

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2020

Democratic campaigns and pundits have focused their ire on the Iowa Democratic Party in the wake of a chaotic night that failed to produce any insight into who had won the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

The state party said it will declare the results at some point on Tuesday after finding “inconsistencies” in the reporting of the results, adding that it needed additional time to ensure the integrity of the election.

The unusually long wait, coupled with a lack of transparency during the chaotic night, angered the campaigns, which have spent tens of millions of dollars and countless hours on the ground in the Hawkeye State in the hopes that a strong showing would put their candidate on the path to the Democratic nomination and the chance to face Trump.

The tensions fueled calls for a change to the voting order in the primary process. Multiple Democratic candidates, including Michael Bloomberg and Julián Castro, had previously argued Iowa and New Hampshire had too much influence and should be replaced by more diverse states.

But Trump and his campaign have been happy to amplify the debacle, using the uncertainty surrounding the results to spread unfounded theories that the vote was “rigged” against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and suggest the caucus controversy was a broader reflection of Democrats’ ability to govern.

“The Democrat Caucus is an unmitigated disaster. Nothing works, just like they ran the Country. Remember the 5 Billion Dollar Obamacare Website, that should have cost 2% of that,” Trump tweeted earlier Tuesday.

The president easily won the GOP Iowa caucuses on Monday in the face of minimal resistance. He finished second there in 2016 to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Iowa has held its first-in-the-nation voting status since the 1972 election.