Chrissie Thompson

cthompson@enquirer.com

He marks Donald Trump's election with an "alas," he says Hillary Clinton and her campaign represented "slow, tired and worn-out approaches" and he reveals details of backroom campaign conversations with former presidential rival Ted Cruz.

John Kasich's book, "Two Paths: America Divided or United," is scheduled for release Tuesday and is set to position the Ohio governor and 2016 GOP presidential candidate as a long-term critic of President Trump. In the book, Kasich shares his take on the 2016 campaign, along with plenty of philosophizing on leadership, faith and community.

The Enquirer obtained a copy of the book before the release date. Here's what we learned.

1. He's still not happy about Trump's election.

Kasich refused to endorse Trump in the general election and has continued to speak out against some of his policies, so we didn't exactly need the book to tell us this.

"In an election cycle filled with conduct unbecoming a presidential candidate, I'm afraid his conduct was the most unbecoming of all. Alas, Donald Trump is our duly elected president," Kasich writes. Then, he picks up the line he's sought to use during Trump's presidency: "We must now stand with him and look forward with optimism to a bright American future."

2. Not that Kasich is going to let Trump off the hook.

The "Two Paths" in the book are Trump's and Kasich's, to be clear. It's a line that comes from a speech he gave about a year ago, near the end of his campaign.

So the book calls out Trump for breaking a debate rule. (His campaign team would talk to him during commercial breaks, which was against the rules, Kasich writes. Those rules were changed to allow other candidates the same kind of coaching, he says.)

Kasich says Trump "unforgivably" derided John McCain for being captured during the Vietnam War. He criticizes Trump's disregard for women, immigrants and minorities. At Trump's rallies, Kasich says, "many people were driven to anger and blame."

And there's this humorous jab, while Kasich is extolling the "clubhouse" he and his team developed on his campaign bus, where they watched sports, drank wine and did plank exercises in the aisle. "Donald Trump had a bus, of course, and it was probably the best bus, but as far as I could tell, he never set foot in it."

3. "I could never have worked with Donald Trump."

The book retells a widely reported tale that Donald Trump's son, Don Jr., called a Kasich adviser and asked if the governor would consider being Trump's vice president. Kasich, Don Jr. said, could be in charge of "all domestic and foreign policy," and Trump would "be busy making American (sic) great again."

Kasich's interpretation: "He would leave the running of the country to someone else and keep his focus on the smoke-and-mirror aspects of the job of president, helping Americans feel that he was somehow making their lives better just by being at the helm."

Kasich reminds readers that Don Jr. has denied the account.

4. "Sometimes it's just not possible to do a merger."

That's what Kasich says he told Trump when the GOP nominee called to ask the Ohio governor for his endorsement.

"A lot of the people who were attacking me, they're now supporting me," Trump said, according to Kasich.

Kasich says he replied: "Well, Donald. I'm not a politician."

"I suggested that he read a copy of my 'Two Paths' speech. I never heard back from him on this."

5. Why not endorse Trump? Let's ask JFK.

To many Republicans, Kasich promised to endorse whoever won the party's nomination, then reneged on his promise. Kasich sees it differently.

"Why didn't I endorse Donald Trump simply for the good of the Republican Party? Well, to paraphrase John F. Kennedy, sometimes your party asks too much of you," Kasich writes. "I was comfortable with the stand I was taking – which, really, was no stand at all. I simply could not swallow hard and set aside everything I believed for the good of the party."

John Kasich: What does GOP even stand for?

Kasich also writes, as he's said before, that he made his decision in part because of his teenage daughters' and wife's views of Trump, despite the criticism Kasich therefore earned from some Republicans. He includes a letter from one daughter, Reese, written after Trump was elected president:

"So you mentioned how a lot of people were mad at you, and yeah it sucks but it's impossible to keep everyone happy. You can't please everyone. At the end of the day, you answer to God, and at the end of the day you're the one who has to deal with your decisions; you obviously would have compromised your integrity if you had supported Trump and I don't think you would have ever forgiven yourself for it."

6. So is he running in 2020?

On this topic, Kasich is silent. He does end the book with a letter to his daughters, whose first presidential election as voters will be in 2020. "I want to do everything I possibly can to ensure that when you fill out your first presidential ballots, you can vote for a candidate who inspires you, who challenges, you, who encourages all Americans to think freely and to dream bigly and to celebrate our differences."

(Yes, it says "bigly.")

Is he that candidate? It's clear he doesn't think it's Trump – at least, the Trump who is now serving as president. Kasich also makes it clear he hopes Trump will live up to Kasich's vision for presidential leadership. "I, for one, am hopeful that a Trump administration can accomplish great things," he writes.

After bitter feud, Kasich and Trump try to mend fences

But if the administration doesn't?

Kasich has denied he plans to run again, although he is taking steps, advisers have acknowledged, to keep his options open in case he gets another chance. One such step: writing this book.

7. Cruz to Kasich: "Drop out."

Now for the stuff about people not named Donald Trump.

As you'll remember, Kasich and Cruz emerged as the final two GOP opponents to Trump. Both men were trying to deny Trump the delegates to win the nomination outright. That would have forced the GOP vote to a second convention ballot, when many delegates could change their votes. Then, Kasich and Cruz hoped, one of them might be picked as the party's candidate.

They even made a few alliances of sorts. A public deal involved the Indiana primary. A private one, which Kasich discloses, involved trading campaign territory in Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.

These weren't exactly friendly pacts. In late April, Kasich says, Cruz asked to meet him when they were both in California. "You should drop out," Cruz said, bluntly, according to Kasich.

"Me? I think you should be the one to drop out," Kasich says he responded.

Then, Cruz essentially mentioned he was thinking about leaving the race after the Indiana primary. "I felt that Cruz's position was weakening," Kasich says.

In the end, Kasich lasted less than 24 hours longer than Cruz did.

8. On Clinton: 'stuck somewhere in the nineteenth century'

We'll give you part of one paragraph on Clinton. You'll get the point: Kasich wants you to know he didn't like either major party candidate in November.

"She wasn't exactly taking the high road. She referred to half of Trump's supporters as 'a basket of deplorables' and started putting people down in order to make her point. I couldn't look (wife) Karen and the girls in the eye and tell them I was for Clinton any more than I could have told them I was for Trump. Forget that Clinton's political philosophy was stuck somewhere in the nineteenth century – I just didn't think her behavior was all that presidential, either."

9. Team Kasich didn't have a lot of respect for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

They respected his money, all right, and the fact that he was theoretically competing with Kasich for people who were drawn to an establishment governor. But the book has little digs toward Bush.

On Kasich's first trip to New Hampshire, early in 2015, former New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu told him: "Bush can't win here in New Hampshire."

"For whatever reason," Kasich explains, "people weren't excited about Jeb's candidacy." That helped push Kasich into the race.

When Bush dropped out, after the South Carolina primary, Kasich says: "Voters just hadn't responded to his message." It's clear Kasich views his campaign differently.

10. OK, guys, he did hire a debate coach.

We share this tidbit for those of you who loved that GIF with video of Kasich's slashing debate hands, made to look like they were cutting fruit.

Partway through the debate schedule, Kasich's team brought in communication expert Tim Downs, the cartoonist, novelist and co-host of the "Communications Guys" podcast. Downs, Kasich says, helped with "my body language, my tone, my closing statement."

No word on whether that was before or after the fruit GIF.

Chrissie Thompson is Cincinnati.com's Statehouse bureau chief. Follow her on Twitter at @CThompsonENQ.

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