After losing delegates to Cruz, Trump accuses GOP of corruption

Take a look back at Donald Trump's most controversial campaign moments. Take a look back at Donald Trump's most controversial campaign moments. Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close After losing delegates to Cruz, Trump accuses GOP of corruption 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

Speaking to an audience of thousands Sunday in upstate New York, Donald Trump accused the Republican Party of trickery and corruption after his campaign's stumbling loss in the Colorado causes.

Colorado didn't hold a popular vote for candidates in the Republican primary, instead electing delegates directly to the national GOP convention in July. The process was the first large-scale test of the delegate game that the campaigns will play state after state before the party convenes. In Colorado, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz swept the state's entire 37-delegate slate.

Cruz's tactics, though seldom necessary in presidential primaries, followed the rules of the Republican Party.

"What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Trump told a campaign rally in Rochester, N.Y., on Sunday, ahead of the state's April 19 primary. "The system is corrupt."

No GOP candidate seems likely to claim the outright majority of delegates needed to win the party's nomination in the primary vote, paving the path toward a rare contested convention, and a series of re-votes to elect the nominee.

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In that scenario, Trump's frontrunner status could be rendered obsolete. The delegate games in Colorado, and in North Dakota shortly before that, suggest that Cruz would have an upper hand if the race came down to votes on the convention floor.

The Cruz campaign aims to build a large enough body of friendly delegates that the Texas senator could win an upset victory over the race's frontrunner in July.

RELATED: Cruz strategizes a contested convention

Addressing that scenario, Trump told his supporters, "I say this to the RNC and I say this to the Republican Party: you're going to have a big problem, folks."

Monday morning on Fox and Friends, Trump repeated that notion, calling the primary system "rigged" and "crooked."

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Many Trump supporters seem to share the sentiment. Attendees of the Rochester rally quoted by various news media Sunday suggested they would be extremely disillusioned with the GOP if Trump won the largest share of primary votes and was denied the nomination.

One Colorado Trump supporter, who described himself as a Trump delegate removed from the roster because of his choice in candidates, posted a video Sunday of himself burning his GOP membership card. The video garnered 60,000 views by Monday morning.

Trump himself suggested in February there would be "riots" if he won the popular vote but not the nomination. In March, his reversal of a pledge to support the GOP's eventual nominee was widely seen as Trump preparing for the possibility of a third-party run in that situation.