Dear Commons Community,
Republican Governor of Ohio John Kasich had a lot to say about the GOP yesterday on CNN’s Sunday morning talk show. “If the party can’t be fixed then I’m not going to be able to support the party, period,” he told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.” The governor’s comment came in response to a question about how Republicans should react to Alabama politician Roy Moore securing their party’s nomination for that state’s open Senate seat. Moore is a former judge who was twice removed from Alabama’s Supreme Court for violating legal standards, and Tapper noted that he has said homosexual conduct should be illegal, questioned the birthplace of former President Barack Obama and suggested Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not be allowed a position in Congress because he is a practicing Muslim.
Kasich said “Well, look, I don’t run the party. I can tell you for me, I don’t support that. I couldn’t vote for that. I don’t know what the heck I would have to do, but I don’t live in that state. I mean, those claims are ― I mean, they’re ludicrous and they’re divisive.” Kasich also said that the GOP needs to be “fixed” to limit the influence of far-right elements and he sees his job as trying to get that done.
Tapper explicitly asked if Kasich might split from the GOP if it continues being associated with figures like Moore. “What I’m saying to you is, we need to fix it. If our party, if the Republican Party is going to be anti-immigration, if it’s not going to be worried about debt, if it’s going to be anti-trade, this is not where our party can be. So I’m going to fight like everything I have… it’s why I’m on these shows, because I want this party to be straightened out. But I not only want the party to be straightened out, I want the country to be straightened out. And so it’s really a battle again inside of both parties, but people are beginning to say, I don’t like either of them. And that says something big. So hopefully our party leaders will pay attention to this.”
It is speculated that Kasich might consider running against Trump for the 2020 Republican Party Presidential nomination.
Tony
