For months, Donald Trump ignored John Kasich. Now, he's letting him have it

John Kasich had been mostly off Donald Drumpf's radar screen for quite a while. Assessing his competition, Drumpf would occasionally mention Kasich as someone who attacked him in the early debates, only to suffer a withering Drumpf counterattack, after which Kasich quieted down and was no longer any trouble.

At least, that's how Drumpf told it. But now, after the Ohio governor's deal with Ted Cruz to double-team Drumpf — shaky and late as it might be — Kasich has moved squarely back into Drumpf's crosshairs. In election eve appearances here in Pennsylvania and in Rhode Island, Drumpf mocked Kasich mercilessly, over and over and over again.

First, in Drumpf's telling, Kasich occupies the lowest rung of the political hierarchy: he's a loser who won't get out of a hopeless race. "So what happens with Kasich, he just says, 'I'm staying,'" Drumpf told a raucous crowd at West Chester University Monday afternoon. "He's 1 for 41. And he's not even doing as well as other candidates who could have stubbornly stayed in the race. Chris Christie, who endorsed me, Ben Carson, who endorsed me ... They could have stayed in the race. They could have said, 'I'm not leaving.' That's what this guy does. He's not leaving, under any circumstances."

Second, Kasich, with decades of experience in the House and the governor's office, also occupies the next-lowest rung in the Drumpf hierarchy: he's a career politician who won't keep his word. Just hours after announcing the deal under which he would not compete against Cruz in Indiana, Drumpf explained, Kasich told reporters he actually wants Hoosiers to vote for him. "Kasich, this morning, he said, 'What are you talking about? I want people to vote for me,'" Drumpf told the crowd. "In other words, he broke the deal. He broke the deal. This is politicians, folks — they're all talk, no action."

Third, Kasich lacks resolve. "They made a deal that Cruz was going to take Indiana. How weak is that? How pathetic is it, when they use collusion? How weak does this make them look? I said to my people that's great, it's going to make them look weak and pathetic, which they are, as politicians."