Trump lost an Iowa county by one vote — and it cost a campaign worker her job: report

New York Times reporter and so-called "Trump Whisperer" Maggie Haberman wrote about Donald Trump's campaigns in Iowa and New Hampshire, detailing just how harsh the standards are for the staff.

In a report, also by Jonathan Swan and Shane Goldmacher, the caucus for "the Hawkeye State" was described as a cut-throat business.

"Donald J. Trump’s campaign couldn’t have scripted the results in Iowa any better," the article begins. "Except for a single vote."

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That evening, Trump welcomed staff, including Iowa workers, onto his plane. All except one person was allowed.

"Mr. Trump had lost Johnson County, home of the University of Iowa, by a single vote," said the Times. "The regional political director who had overseen the area was not given a seat on the plane. The next morning, according to two people familiar with the matter, she was informed by a terse email from her supervisor that her contract with the Trump campaign was not being renewed."

The report called it part of the "ruthlessness the Trump team had deployed in the prior 14 months: Win — or else."

For a campaign that continues to promote the 2020 "big lie," accepting that they lost by a single vote in a county could be seen as new.

The piece goes on to outline how Nikki Haley became Trump's biggest asset in Iowa. Her super PAC blew all of its funds on attacking Ron DeSantis, freeing Trump's team from throwing all of its money into a state that should be easy.

“Nikki Haley spent millions of dollars on TV attacking Ron DeSantis, so we didn’t have to,” said top Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita.

Haley's efforts not only made DeSantis' numbers closer to hers, but he also blew through every dime he had in the state, giving him no path to competing in New Hampshire or any other post-Iowa state.

"Ms. Haley’s rise also drained Mr. DeSantis’s resources," said the Times. "One of his allied super PACs, Fight Right, spent 25 times as much money, nearly $10 million, attacking Ms. Haley compared with what it spent hitting Mr. Trump, federal records show."

Read the full report from the Times here.