Donald Trump, Confident Odds Are in His Favor in Wisconsin, Wants John Kasich Out
Kasich counters with call for Trump to quit the race.
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin -- GOP frontrunner Donald Trump made an early morning stop today at Miss Katie's diner –- a frequent spot for presidential candidates -– in downtown Milwaukee, where in addition to his eggs and hot chocolate his other order was for John Kasich to leave the race.
"Kasich shouldn't be allowed to run. Look, under the grounds that Rand Paul could've stayed in, and he had nothing. Marco Rubio could've stayed in. Jeb Bush could've stayed in. They all could've stayed. They could’ve just stayed in. That’s all he's doing. He's 1-for-29. And the one thing that he won barely, and if I spent one more day in Ohio, I would've beaten him," Trump told a small group of reporters that accompanied him on this trip.
Although his numbers are a bit off –- 32 states have voted –- Trump was pointing to the Ohio governor’s sole win of his home state thus far as an unclear path to the nomination, versus Trump who has won a majority of the contests held thus far.
Last week, Trump met with RNC officials in Washington about the state of the party and the course to the nomination. As part of that meeting, Trump says he raised his concerns regarding Kasich.
"I said, why is a guy allowed to run, all he's doing is he goes from place to place and loses and he keeps running," Trump said.
Trump later added he felt Kasich was taking away potential voters that would be supporting him over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Kasich's campaign responded via Twitter that he has no intention of dropping out of the race.
"That's not how our republic works, Donald. We'll keep fighting until someone reaches a majority of delegates," the campaign's tweet said.
Kasich spokesman Chris Schrimpf also released a statement suggesting that Trump drop out.
"Ted Cruz also has no possibility of accumulating enough delegates and Trump also will not receive a majority of delegates before the convention," the statement said. "Since he thinks it's such a good idea, we look forward to Trump dropping out before the convention. Trump living up to his own self-declared standard is best for the Party since he will lose the White House by a historic margin to Hillary Clinton and also cause Republicans to lose control of the Senate. It also shows that we are his strongest competition after Wisconsin."
Polls in Wisconsin have been tight over the last several weeks between the Cruz, Texas freshman senator, and the New York billionaire. In the last few days of campaigning around the state, Trump has sounded more and more optimistic about his chances come Tuesday.
"It feels very much like New Hampshire to me, where we started off where, you know, Trump wasn't going to win New Hampshire, and then all of the sudden we win in a landslide," Trump said referring to his double-digit win in the granite state back in February. "I could feel it with the people. I can feel it with the people in Wisconsin."
This has been Trump’s first full week back on the trail since taking a week off around the Easter Holiday. One reporter asked Trump how he felt over the eight-day stretch.
"I was so bored during the eight-day break," Trump said. "I'll be honest. I was so bored. No, I love doing it. I'm having a good time."