--- title: Donald Trump Mocks Ben Carson After His Surge in Iowa description: Speaking at a rally Friday, Trump said "I honestly think those polls are wrong" of the new survey showing him behind Ben Carson in Iowa. canonical: https://time.com/4085969/donald-trump-ben-carson-iowa/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-24T03:02:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:39.633Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Mocks Ben Carson After His Surge in Iowa og:description: "We informed Ben, but he was sleeping." og:url: https://time.com/4085969/donald-trump-ben-carson-iowa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80f4cfefeb80a065/6988685dcf40a80e77c4034b/donald-trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Oct. 8, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Mocks Ben Carson After His Surge in Iowa twitter:description: "We informed Ben, but he was sleeping." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80f4cfefeb80a065/6988685dcf40a80e77c4034b/donald-trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Mocks Ben Carson After His Surge in Iowa > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson / Miami](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson / Miami Oct 24, 2015 3:02 AM UTC  Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Oct. 8, 2015. Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Oct. 8, 2015. Isaac Brekken—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson / Miami](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson / Miami Oct 24, 2015 3:02 AM UTC Real estate mogul Donald Trump recently [fell to second place in Iowa](http://time.com/4083568/ben-carson-donald-trump-iowa-poll-2/) behind retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and he was quick to dismiss the news at a campaign rally in Miami Friday night. Speaking at the Trump National Doral, Trump said “I honestly think those polls are wrong.” He lamented the wide coverage of his drop, saying “the press was so happy” about his apparent slip in the crucial caucus state. “If I were in first place, nobody would even mention it,” he said. After criticizing the press, Trump then turned to mocking the man who overtook him in Iowa. Imitating a newscaster and pretending to hold a microphone, Trump intoned, “Donald Trump has fallen to second place in Iowa behind Ben Carson. We informed Ben, but he was sleeping.” Trump followed up on Carson later in the speech, using an insult he’d previously used against former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “Ben Carson is super low energy, am I right?” Trump asked the crowd. “Super low energy. We need tremendous energy.” **Read Next:** [_Trump Deletes Corn Tweet After Insulting Iowa Voters_](http://time.com/4084000/trump-iowa-corn/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4085969/donald-trump-ben-carson-iowa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4085969/donald-trump-ben-carson-iowa/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Mocks Ben Carson After His Surge in Iowa","datePublished":"2015-10-24T03:02:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:39.633Z","description":"'We informed Ben, but he was sleeping.'","url":"https://time.com/4085969/donald-trump-ben-carson-iowa/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","Dr. Benjamin S. 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