Ted Cruz continues to lead in six out of the most recent eight polls coming out of Iowa (and tying in a seventh), despite blistering left-wing and birtherism attacks from Donald Trump.  Polls reported in Real Clear Politics show him leading anywhere from two to ten points over Trump.

Trump has remarked that he has attracted much larger crowds than Ted Cruz, but so has Shamu the Killer Whale at Seaworld; it does not mean that Shamu is going to win the GOP nomination for president.  If the polls are correct, it must mean that many people who show up for Trump rallies are showing up solely for the entertainment value, not to vote for him.

Trump has attacked Cruz, mostly from the left, for failing to support the ethanol mandate and/or modifying his position calling for the mandate to be phased out over five years rather than immediately.  Meanwhile, Trump seems very proud of supporting this enormously harmful piece of corporate welfare, which raises the prices of both food and gasoline tremendously while lining the pockets of special interests, in this case giant agri-business.  This is the kind of policy supported by the GOP crony capitalists in Washington, D.C.

After stating that Cruz was constitutionally qualified to be president, Trump now raises doubts about that again.  By reversing himself on yet another issue, he makes himself look dishonest, which is undoubtedly why he is not doing well in Iowa.

Trump's best strategy would have been to talk about things that social conservatives, who dominate the Iowa caucuses, actually care about.  But Trump has shown little or no interest in any of those topics.

He can't talk about abortion, because he supports funding the "good things" Planned Parenthood does.  He has called gay marriage "the law of the land" and refuses to talk about it further.  Trump has never talked about the rights of county clerks, florists, wedding planners, bakers, and photographers not to be forced to participate in gay marriage – in other words, the concept of religious freedom.  Trump supports so-called affirmative action, even criticizing Justice Scalia for opposing it, so he can't talk about that, either.  The latest travesty, of teenage girls forced to shower with boys who claim they are girls, has generated not a peep from Trump.

The only thing he has to say specifically to the people of Iowa is that they are "stupid" if they don't vote for him.  I wonder if this is the kind of brilliance he learned during his short two-year stay at Wharton College.

This is why Trump is attacking Ted Cruz.  Besides, his stock speech has only four points in it: build the wall, stop Muslim immigration, bring back jobs from China, and hate the Iran deal, and he has nothing to offer specifically to social conservatives.  He can't even talk about his faith.  Trump's been a less frequent visitor to church than Obama.  He can't even name a single Bible passage of his "favorite book."  Since he can't speak about his own faith, all he can do is attack the faith of others.

That's why Trump is losing in Iowa.

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.