Kasich joins growing list of GOP leaders rejecting Trump
Ohio Governor John Kasich says he will not endorse US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, retaining his position as one of the candidate’s toughest GOP critics.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Kasich said he could not be “fully enthusiastic” about Trump’s nomination.
"I've had a lot of people pound on me about 'you need to do this, you need to do this, this is about the party,'" Kasich said. "And I love my party, but I love my country. And I have to be true to myself. I wish that I could be fully enthusiastic. I can't be."
Kasich, who was the last GOP hopeful to bow out of the GOP nomination race, defended his decision to skip the Republican National Convention (RNC) last month, saying he wanted “to show respect to the nominee.”
"If I wasn't prepared to go there and get up and endorse a nominee, I just thought it was inappropriate to go into that convention hall," Kasich said.
Moving forward, Kasich revealed during the interview that he had turned down an offer to become Trump’s running mate.
He also predicted an uphill battle for Trump in the key battleground of Ohio, saying most voters there deemed his views too divisive for their taste.
The remarks put Kasich on a growing list of Republican leaders who are beginning to distance themselves from Trump.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who was Trump’s closest rival during the primary race, caused an uproar after refusing to back Trump in his RNC speech.
Moreover, when Trump arrived in Wisconsin on Friday, Republican Senator Ron Johnson refused to join him at a campaign event. Representative David Young of Iowa did the same when Trump left Wisconsin.
“The conclusion has become that the guy is incorrigible,” said Thomas Davis III, a former member of the US House of Representatives who has close ties with many of the party’s leaders.
However, perhaps the most sobering warning came from House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said at a recent GOP donors’ conference that Republicans could lose control of the House because of Trump.
Trump’s many feuds with major GOP figures, including Ryan and Arizona Senator John McCain, show he has no hesitation in confronting them, a quality many of his fellow Republicans say is self-destructive.
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