April 25, 2016
Source/YouTube
Donald Trump speaks at campaign event in Rhode Island on April 25, 2016.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump was in Rhode Island early Monday in advance of campaign events at West Chester University and in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. While skating through the various talking points that underly his mission to "Make America Great Again," Trump took a moment to rip rival John Kasich over what he deems the Ohio governor's "disgusting" eating habits.
"This guy takes a pancake and he's shoving it in his mouth," Trump said, referring to scenes from Kasich's recent eating tour across New York. "It's disgusting."
WATCH: Trump on Kasich: "I have never seen a human being eat in such a disgusting fashion" https://t.co/CFjSYlzTuR pic.twitter.com/TnwqyQODxb
— The Hill (@thehill) April 25, 2016
"Do you want that for your president?" Trump asked his supporters. "I don't think so."
Heading into Tuesday's primaries, Trump holds 45 percent of Pennsylvania Republican voters, leading Ted Cruz at 27 percent and Kasich at 24 percent, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll published on Sunday. On mathematical grounds, Trump has urged both candidates to bow out of the race.
At Trump's later stop in West Chester, students opposed to his presence on campus protested after an online petition garnered thousands of signatures. Trump again zeroed in on the footage of Kasich, describing him "shoving pancake - I never saw anything like it. It's pouring out of his mouth and the cameras are on him."
Kasich spokesman Chris Schrimpf issued a statement that did not respond directly to Trump's comments. But he said that, "Day in and day out Donald Trump demonstrates why he loses to Hillary Clinton in every poll and why he would give Democrats control of the White House, the Senate and the Supreme Court
In Philadelphia, meanwhile, presidential candidates are taking tips from their political predecessors on how to handle to the photo ops presented by the crucial cheesesteak test.
Trump, for his part, might have been brash or kind enough to at least recommend that Kasich wash his food down with Dock Street Brewery's "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Drumpf" beer series.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
