Kasich: It's 'hard to say' if I'll support Trump

It’s “hard to say” whether John Kasich will support Donald Trump, the Ohio governor said Thursday, adding that it’s “absolutely” possible he could go to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month and not endorse the billionaire businessman.

“Hard to say,” the swing-state governor said of whether he will back the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. “If you look at Twitter, they have this thing called ‘trending.’ It’s trending poorly.”


Kasich stressed that his message is vastly different than Trump’s.

“We’re like two companies. You know, we have a different vision, a different value system and a different objective,” he recalled telling the real estate mogul during an interview conducted Wednesday but broadcast Thursday with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer. “So it’s pretty hard to put that together. But the divisiveness, the division, the name-calling, it just doesn’t go down well with me.”

Kasich said he’s unsure whether he’ll have any additional conversations with Trump, suggesting that it’s on him to initiate that dialogue. But Trump’s recent attacks on an American federal judge presiding over class-action lawsuits against Trump University are “terrible,” he said.

Trump questioned whether U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel could be impartial, given his Mexican heritage and Trump’s pledge to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“This latest thing about this judge, it’s terrible. It’s just terrible,” said Kasich, who has called on Trump to apologize. “Look, I think the country needs a leader who can unify. A country needs a leader who can inspire confidence in everyone, to make everybody feel like they’re special. And then when you look at the entitlement stuff — ‘We don’t have to deal with entitlements’ — are you kidding me? Of course we have to deal with entitlements. We have to modernize them.”

Kasich, whose lone win in the Republican primary was his home state of Ohio, could have outsize impact in the crucial swing state that Barack Obama carried in 2008 and 2012. But he put the onus on Trump to win it in November.

“Look, the fact of the matter is that the qualities we need in a leader is very important to me,” Kasich said. “This is not a game for me. Look, I can’t go for dividing, name-calling or somebody that doesn’t really represent conservative principles.”

Kasich said the U.S. now more than ever before needs to be unified, insisting that partisans should stop fighting and realize that they’re Americans before Republicans or Democrats.

“I’m not gonna endorse Hillary Clinton, that’s for sure, but it’s not that simple,” he said. “It’s not simple. I said from the beginning that if somebody came into Ohio and they were a divider that they couldn’t win the state. It’s not on me as to how Donald Trump does in Ohio. It’s on him. It’s on him how he does in the country.”

“And, you know, if you’re going to insult Hispanics, if you’re going to turn off minorities, if you’re going to, you know, have reckless suggestions on foreign policy, that’s not good,” he continued. “Why would I feel compelled to support somebody whose positions I kinda fundamentally disagree with?”

Kasich argued that while he’s not yet sold, he’s giving Trump a chance, insisting that he has time to change but pointing to the spat with Curiel as a reason he’s not on board with Trump.

“Here’s a guy born in Indiana and this guy says that he’s biased or if he was a Muslim he’s biased,” Kasich said of Trump. “I mean, that’s not good stuff, Bill.”

It would take a “dramatic change” for a Trump endorsement to come, he said, explaining that to earn his support it takes a unifier with conservative principles to shrink the size and scope of the federal government.

“Somebody that gives everybody a sense that there’s an opportunity for them in America, not somebody who divides, puts down, scapegoats or anything else — or name-calls,” Kasich said. “Has to be a dramatic change.”

Kasich said he knows what the U.S. needs in a leader — or rather, what it doesn’t, condemning the type of candidate who is divisive and insults people.

“I just wish that there was a change, but it doesn’t look like there’s been any chance,” he said. “It looks like it’s gotten worse.”

The Ohio governor also laughed when asked about there being any chance that he would be Trump’s running mate.

“There was never a chance of that,” he chuckled. “Never. Not even a consideration. We’re too different.”