White House spokesman Josh Earnest sought to undermine Donald Trump's visit with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto by saying Trump wouldn't be as well received as President Obama was during his overseas travel when he was running for president.

"In 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama traveled overseas, both to the Middle East and Europe," Earnest told reporters traveling with the president on Air Force One, according to a CNN transcript. "And that's consistent with presidential candidates making overseas trips to America's closest friends and allies."

Earnest underscored how crowds gave Obama rock-star receptions during those overseas jaunts, and recalled how he was met with throngs of tens of thousands of admirers and won rave reviews in the press for his speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Germany.

"You'll recall that when President Obama took that trip, the highlight was a trip to Germany ... where the president spoke in Berlin to a crowd of 100,000 Germans who warmly received him and enthusiastically cheered the speech," he said. "We'll see if Mr. Trump is as warmly received."

His long-winded reply earned a top grade from Tal Kopan, one of CNN's digital political reporters.

"This is some A+ shade throwing from Josh Earnest," Kopan tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

Earnest was not-so-subtly referring to several Trump comments that have alienated Latino voters, including his notorious description of Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals early in the GOP primary.

Trump and his surrogates refer to NBC News/Survey Monkey polls that show Trump winning just under a third of the Hispanic vote, which is more than GOP nominee Mitt Romney garnered in 2012. Other polling, however, has Trump attracting far less support than Romney and other recent Republican presidential candidates.