Donald Trump. AP Donald Trump lampooned John Kasich on Monday for staying in the Republican primary race, hours after Kasich made a deal with Ted Cruz in an attempt to thwart Trump's efforts at securing the GOP nomination.

After calling him "one-for-41 Kasich," a reference to how many contests the Ohio governor has won, he compared Kasich to a needy child.

"He's like if you have a child and he says, 'I want it, mommy. I don't care, mommy. I want it, daddy. I don't care. I want it,'" Trump said during a Monday rally in Rhode Island. "That's all he is."

Trump added that many of the Republican candidates would still be in the running if they said, "'I'm not getting out, I don't care.'"

The pact between the Cruz and Kasich campaigns called for Kasich to pull his resources out of Indiana, the next key battleground state. In return, Cruz, a Texas senator, would recede from New Mexico and Oregon.

It all serves as an attempt to stop Trump from accumulating 1,237 delegates, the total needed to secure the Republican nomination ahead of the July convention. Both campaigns announced the plan late Sunday night, but the candidates themselves have not asked supporters in those states to vote for the opposing candidates.

Both Kasich and Cruz are mathematically eliminated from securing the Republican nomination ahead of the GOP convention. The two are hoping that by joining forces, they can stop Trump from reaching the needed number of delegates as well, triggering a potential second ballot on which many delegates will be able to vote freely for the candidate of their choice.

Kasich, who took questions from reporters at a Philadelphia diner Monday, strongly defended the move. He was asked whether the plan was "desperate."

"Me? No, I'm not desperate, are you?" Kasich shot back. "Are you desperate? Cause I'm not."

"I don't see this as any big deal. I'm not going to spend resources in Indiana," Kasich added. "He's not going to spend them in other places. So what? What's the big deal?"

During the Rhode Island rally, Trump also made a point of mocking Kasich's eating habits after multiple networks broadcast his Monday remarks from the diner. The GOP frontrunner said Kasich should learn from Trump's children, whom Trump has urged to eat modest portions of food.

"Did you see him? He had a news conference all the time when he's eating. I have never see a human being eat in such a disgusting fashion," Trump said of Kasich.

"It's disgusting," he later said. "Do you want this guy for your president?"