John Kasich blamed the media for the rise of Donald Trump. | AP Photo Kasich blames media for Trump

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has a message for media pundits asking how Donald Trump happened: Look in the mirror.

"What happened with Trump? How did Trump happen? You know, Jeb [Bush] announced a year ago today," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said, according to a transcript of the interview airing Thursday on "Morning Joe."


Kasich said he knew the reason: "The media gave him two billion dollars worth of free press. I mean, I could be having a press conference and they'd have an empty podium with Trump speaking there."

The New York Times reported in mid-March that Trump had earned close to $2 billion in free media attention, citing data from analytics firm mediaQuant. According to a more recent study from Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy released this week, Trump's coverage in eight major media outlets alone came in at $55 million.

"I mean, look, you guys have a lot of responsibility for this. You know it too. You all know it, you know?" Kasich continued.

Making reference to comments from CBS CEO Les Moonves, who told an investors' conference in February that the presidential campaign "may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS, that’s all I got to say," Kasich commented that "the elites have let us down in a lot of places, and I think, you know, two billion dollars worth of free press? You couldn't get enough of it."

"Was there ever a time though where you said you wanted to be on our show where we didn't let you be on our show?" Scarborough asked.

"I'm not talking about you, Joe," Kasich responded, going on to say that he was referring to the coverage and that the MSNBC host was "great."

Scarborough explained, "The thing about Trump was, though, he'd just pick up the phone and call. You could attack him, he'd pick up the phone and call. We actually at one point had an offer out to everybody, pick up the phone. Call us, we'll take your call just like we did Trump. Trump knew how to play the press."

"Well, but look, Joe, you guys covered him from -- look, it was all ratings. Come on, who's kidding who? I'd call in, you'd get no ratings," Kasich lamented. "He calls in, you get good ratings."

Scarborough shot back, "That's not true."

"Hey, Joe, come on, now you're not leveling with me," Kasich responded, to which Scarborough responded that he was indeed "leveling with you."

Trump "would say outrageous things," Scarborough said.

"So you focused on it. That's my point," Kasich responded.

"No, no, the thing is he figured out how to say something on a Saturday, or a Sunday that was outrageous," Scarborough said. "Everybody would say he'll never recover from that, and people would report on it for two or three days. All the candidates would talk about, 'How dare he say that about John McCain.' A poll would come out, he'd survive it."