Donald Trump attacks loyal supporter Vivek Ramaswamy for the first time ahead of Iowa caucuses: 'He is not MAGA'

• Trump has turned on loyal supporter Vivek Ramaswamy for the first time ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
• Trump accused him of "deceitful campaign tricks" and said he is "not MAGA."
• Ramaswamy responded by saying he is not going to criticize Trump.

Former President Donald Trump turned on fellow GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, his loyal supporter, for the first time.

"Vivek is not MAGA," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday.

"Vivek started his campaign as a great supporter, "the best President in generations," etc. Unfortunately, now all he does is disguise his support in the form of deceitful campaign tricks. Very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the "other side" — don't get duped by this," Trump wrote.

Ramaswamy has always been firmly faithful to the former president. He has repeatedly defended Trump and has criticized other GOP candidates for not supporting the former president enough.

Ramaswamy responded to Trump's words in a post on X, saying he does not believe "friendly fire" is helpful.

"Donald Trump was the greatest President of the 21st century, and I'm not going to criticize him in response to this late attack," he said.

Ramaswamy justified running against Trump by claiming that "the system" will not allow the former president to reach the White House.

An hour before Trump's post, his senior advisor Chris LaCivita described Ramaswamy as a "fraud" in a post on X.

Trump's latest attack comes before the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses will be held on Monday.

Trump currently dominates in the polls, with 52.8% of the vote, compared with Ramaswamy's 7.6%, according to The Hill/Decision-Desk HQ average of polls.

The other two candidates, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, have 17.9% and 15.5% respectively.

Trump's decision to go on the attack might be a calculation to prevent Ramaswamy from drawing any support away from his campaign, however minimal.