Nicknames

Trump rolls out a new nickname for Kasich

By Nick Gass

It took almost 10 months, but Donald Trump finally has a nickname for John Kasich, one of his two remaining obstacles on the way to the Republican nomination: "1 for 38 Kasich."

"Lyin' Ted Cruz and 1 for 38 Kasich are unable to beat me on their own so they have to team up (collusion) in a two on one. Shows weakness!" Trump tweeted Monday morning, following it up with, "Shows how weak and desperate Lyin' Ted is when he has to team up with a guy who openly can't stand him and is only 1 win and 38 losses."

The tweet came hours after the GOP front-runner issued a lengthier statement blasting both candidates for their "collusion," in reference to an agreement between both campaigns to cede states to each other in order to deny the front-runner the requisite 1,237 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination.

In that statement, Trump referred to the Ohio governor as "1 for 41," in an apparent reference to the total number of states and territories that have awarded delegates up to Monday.

It’s not clear how Trump arrived at his denominator, but the numerator is right: Kasich's sole primary victory came in his home state of Ohio on March 15, and he remains behind Marco Rubio in the delegate race even though the Florida senator left the race more than a month ago.

Trump has also won a number of delegates in territories that may or may not be included in his total. And it was Rubio who won the Washington, D.C., Republican convention on March 12, though Kasich finished a close second.