A rookie who is "learning fast," Trump remarked. | AP Photo Trump's new spin: I'm a rookie

Donald Trump has a new line to explain his Iowa loss: "I'm like a rookie."

During a telephone interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe," the Manhattan businessman talked up his chances in New Hampshire while assessing what went wrong on Monday night.


“Well, it’s a little different because the caucus system is very complicated," Trump told co-host Joe Scarborough. "I mean, you just never know what’s going to happen with the caucus. I mean, you think everything’s fine and it’s not like you walk in and you vote and you walk out — you’re in and out in 10 minutes, or two minutes. The caucus system is a complex system that I was never familiar with. I mean, I was never involved with the caucus system. Don’t forget, Joe: I’m doing this for the first time. I’m like a rookie."

A rookie who is "learning fast," Trump remarked, ahead of his sophomore sojourn in New Hampshire. "And I do learn fast, and I think we’re doing really — I think we did very well. Hey, look — there were many governors and many senators in Iowa that would have loved to have had the second-place finish. I am doing, I think really well in New Hampshire. The response is great.”

Trump also characterized his finish as a "strong second place," adding that he " was told always that I could not do well in Iowa. I was told, don’t go to Iowa."

"And I said, what are you talking about? And they said, it’s not your place, don’t go there. But I said, I know people there, I think I’ll do well. And I went there, you know, I started in 10th place and I ended up in second place. I guess there was a poll that came out that had me winning it by four or five points, a pretty close poll. But I came in second place, and you know, I’m happy with that," he said, before bashing the media narrative that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's third-place finish as "one of the great victories in the history of politics."

"And I said, well how come if he came in third place and I came in substantially better in second place, why isn’t mine one of the great victories in the history of politics? And they said, no, no, his is, and yours isn’t. And I said, oh, that’s wonderful. I didn’t understand that," he continued. "But, I came in second place. You know probably it’s a place I could have won if I really went there and did a little more work there. But I was satisfied with it.”

Asked whether he felt he needed to change anything, Trump again stuck up his political green thumb.

"Well, I think we could have used a ground game, a term I wasn't even familiar with," he said. "You know, when you say ground game, I say what the hell is that? Now I'm familiar with it. I think in retrospect we should have had a better ground game. I would have funded a better ground game, but you know, people told me that my ground game was fine, and by most standards it was."