WASHINGTON, D.C.—Donald Trump introduced a new catchphrase on Thursday. It may sound familiar to Toronto.

"I'm going to stop the gravy train," the Republican presidential nominee said at a rally in West Virginia.

"Stop the gravy train," of course, was the famously successful campaign slogan of late Toronto mayor Rob Ford, to whom Trump has sometimes been compared.

"Awesome," former Ford chief of staff Mark Towhey said on Twitter.

"OMG," wrote Toronto Councillor Josh Matlow.

"Yup, Groundhog Day," wrote former Ontario premier and MP Bob Rae.

“You know when you laugh, but no sound emerges...” wrote Jennifer Hollett, who was a senior campaign aide to 2014 Ford competitor Olivia Chow.

Trump used the phrase in criticizing the conservative activists behind the "Never Trump" campaign that tried to thwart him in the primary.

"You know that thing Never Trump? You know why it's Never Trump? Because I'm going to stop the gravy train for all these consultants and all of these people that are ripping off our country. It's called the gravy train," he said.

Ford died of cancer in March. Trump met him at least once, when the billionaire came to Toronto in 2012 to promote the Trump International Hotel & Tower.

Trump said then Ford "truly has a spectacular reputation." In 2013, at the height of Ford’s drug scandal, Trump said on Twitter, "Who would you rather have negotiating with Iran — President Obama or Toronto Mayor Ford? My money is on Ford."

Their many similarities have not gone unnoticed by Ford’s brother, who was also fond of the "gravy train" slogan as a councillor and mayoral candidate.

"Donald Trump is borrowing from us," Doug Ford told the National Post last year. "Rob blazed a new trail for politicians like that."

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