Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich is a bit troubled with Roy Moore’s primary win in Alabama. Moore, who is on the fringe of the GOP, won Alabama’s Senate primary over incumbent Sen. Luther Strange. He’s a bit nutty, but Washington tried to tell Alabama voters what to do—and it blew up in their faces. Moore is expected to win against his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, who is a pro-abortion extremist. Kasich was quite adamant that he couldn’t support Moore or a similar candidacy. He wants to fix the party and if it can’t be fixed, he may not be able to be a Republican anymore. He relayed these feelings to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. Still, he pivoted to his hopes that things can change, that things won’t go off the hinges, and that we can have a civil debate about the issues. Kasich also didn’t give a straight answer as to whether he would become an Independent if he felt he couldn’t back the GOP anymore (via The Hill):
Ohio Gov. John Kasich on the GOP: “If the party can’t be fixed, then I’m not going to be able to support the party" https://t.co/MDw6MMGxOw
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 1, 2017
“If the party can’t be fixed, Jake, then I’m not going to be able to support the party. Period. That’s the end of it,” Kasich told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I mean, I’m worried about our country and my kids’ future. But have I given up? Of course not," he continued.
Kasich shut down the suggestion that he is planning to become an independent but emphasized the need for the GOP to reform.
“No, not at this — what I’m saying to you is we need to fix it,” he said when asked about becoming an Independent.
“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.”
First of all, being for border security and enforcing federal immigration laws is not anti-immigration. One could argue that voters didn’t want Trump to tackle the debt since he campaigned on not touching Social Security and Medicare. On trade, both parties have increasing numbers of voters within their base that are either hostile or increasingly skeptical of free trade.
Kasich already earned the ire of conservatives when he decided to jump on the Obamacare bandwagon and expand Medicaid in his state, which by the way is costing his state big league.