Jack Tame: Trump's rival a scary choice

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz. Photo / AP

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Donald Trump show came to town.

It was the day of the all-important Iowa caucus and the people turning up to see Trump and Sarah Palin were about as diverse as Iowa's landscape.

If Iowa is 92 per cent white, as the most recent US Census states, most of the remaining 8 per cent were not turning out to see Trump and Palin speak.

Rarely in America have I been aware of such mass-whiteness in one place. Ask me again in a few weeks' time; the Oscars might come close.

Anyway, all the Trumpians in Cedar Rapids were confident of scoring victory and although his supporters were all terribly friendly and amiable, many outsiders will admit to thick lashings of schadenfreude as the caucus results came in and Trump finished in second place.

Did you see loser.com?

The internet was not very nice to Trump. And although he gives what he gets and feeds off the attention, it's worth pointing out the guy who beat him is by many of our standards a scarier presidential prospect than Trump.

Trump is impulsive but Ted Cruz is calculating.

He once shut down the Government on a personal whim and is widely loathed by his Congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

He wants abortion banned even in cases of rape and incest. He'd ban same-sex marriage and has said several times he would "carpet bomb" the Middle East to see if "sand can glow in the dark".

The son of a Cuban immigrant, Cruz would refuse to accept any Syrian refugees and does not support a path to citizenship for America's 11 million undocumented immigrants.

He loves guns and the NRA loves him back, but oddly, despite an Ivy-league education, he still denies any human impact on climate change.

Yes, perhaps the folks in Cedar Rapids were disappointed when Trump came second. But even for those offended by Trump's campaigning, Iowa's result didn't leave much reason to celebrate.

Jack Tame is on Newstalk ZB Saturdays, 9am-noon.