It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as smoothly as “Lyin’ Ted” or “Crooked Hillary,” but Donald Trump finally has a nickname for John Kasich.
The Republican presidential frontrunner debuted the new moniker on Twitter Monday morning.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2016
“1 for 38” refers to the number of state primaries Kasich has won, the only one being his home state of Ohio. Meanwhile, Trump has won 21 states and has claimed about 700 more delegates than the Ohio governor.
This comes as Kasich’s campaign announced that he and Ted Cruz will be teaming up against Trump. As Fortune reported, Cruz will focus on the upcoming Indiana primary, while ceding New Mexico and Oregon to Kasich. It’s unlikely that either candidate will reach the 1,237 delegates required to secure the nomination, so this joint effort is clearly meant to keep Trump from reaching that threshold himself, leading the way to a contested convention.
In the past, Trump has saved his creativity for candidates who threatened his momentum—Jeb “Low Energy” Bush (who was the original Republican frontrunner); “Lyin’ Ted Cruz,” Trump’s fiercest Republican rival; and “Crooked Hillary,” the likely Democratic nominee. Giving Kasich a nickname could mean that Trump now sees him as a threat.
