Chrissie Thompson

USA TODAY Network

CLEVELAND — As the gavel fell at the GOP convention Monday, John Kasich’s rift with Donald Trump and his campaign hit feud levels.

But when the drama on the convention floor peaked — in part because of a last-ditch anti-Trump push — Kasich was down the street in a dark-paneled steakhouse. Packed in by a couple dozen Illinois delegates and sweaty reporters, he gave low-key remarks about Illinois' Republican governor and U.S. senator.

That Kasich failed to appear during the most dramatic anti-Trump push highlighted his absence from the GOP gathering. Kasich, the Ohio governor who suspended his presidential campaign in May, has declined to endorse Trump and doesn’t plan to attend convention proceedings in his home state. Instead, he is speaking to some friendly delegations, meetings that could form the foundation of a 2020 presidential bid — if Trump loses and the GOP is looking for a new candidate in four years.

Trump campaign chief: Kasich 'embarrassing' Ohio

The Trump campaign’s irritation with Kasich boiled over Monday. Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, said on two morning TV shows Kasich was “embarrassing his state.” Kasich political strategist John Weaver, an outspoken Trump opponent, struck back — questioning Manafort’s “professionalism” and campaign management and mocking him for his past political consulting work in Ukraine.

Kasich later told NBC Nightly News he laughed when he heard Manafort's comments. People in Ohio still support him, he said. "I don't hold any personal animus towards Donald Trump." But for Kasich to speak at the GOP convention, "He'd have to change everything that he says. We can't be attacking Muslims and Hispanics, and trying to shut down trade, and not caring about the debt," Kasich said.

Trump didn't let him have the last word. Calling in to The O'Reilly Factor, which cut away from coverage of the GOP convention to air the interview, he said he beat Kasich "very, very soundly" in the GOP primary. "Maybe if I were in his position, I wouldn't have shown up either," Trump said. Still, he said, Kasich should come to the convention "from a standpoint of honor," because he pledged to support the GOP nominee, and because the convention is in Ohio.

The feud brought out praise of Kasich from his supportive Ohio delegation. But the GOP convention is about an attempt to unify the party after a long primary, many said. Delegates from around the country weighing in on Kasich’s 2020 chances gave comments ranging from uncomfortable demurs, given the implications for Trump’s campaign, to downright rebukes.

Soon after the Manafort comments aired, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges led an Ohio delegation breakfast in applause for Kasich. “He has a 60% approval rating in Ohio, and that’s not by accident,” Borges said. “We love our governor.”

Kasich makes brief, hard sell to NAACP on his accomplishments, goals

Trump’s name was not uttered at the breakfast — not even by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, a Trump supporter, who was a guest speaker to the Ohioans.

Still, after the event, Ohioans expressed doubts about Kasich’s anti-Trump stance and his plan to avoid the convention.

“I’m a strong supporter of Gov. Kasich, but I think this is a mistake,” said Mary Ann Christie, an alternate delegate and former mayor of Madeira. “I think we got the convention here in Ohio, the campaign for a candidate is over with, and if we’re going to win, then we better get together. …

“There are some people saying, ‘Let Hillary (Clinton, the Democrat,) have it, and we'll come back.’ That's a mistake."

John Kasich's awkward GOP convention plan

The idea of a Kasich 2020 bid is uncomfortable for Republicans. Most of the people at the convention either wholeheartedly or grudgingly say they want Trump to win in November. If that happens, the party theoretically won’t need another GOP candidate in 2020.

"Kasich is a non-factor at this point in my mind, as far as presidential politics," said John DeFrancisco, a Kasich delegate and deputy leader of the New York State Senate. "If and when he decides to run, he's not going to do it this year. My only concern is this year. What happens in the future is too speculative." DeFrancisco said he’s supporting Trump, because he won the nomination.

But the idea of a Kasich 2020 campaign is out there. While JohnKasich.com, the governor’s 2016 campaign site, still has a thank you message posted after he suspended his campaign in May, Kasich2020.com says only: “#BuckleUp,” one of Kasich’s presidential campaign slogans.

It’s not yet time to discuss 2020 with Kasich, said Tom Rath, a New Hampshire politico presidential campaign adviser who backed Kasich. But he hopes he’s keeping his options open — as Rath encouraged former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to keep his options open for 2012 after his failed presidential bid in 2008.

“You’ve created a whole bunch of assets and brand and favorability, and people like you and respect you. Let’s take care of those assets,” such as by campaigning for congressional candidates, Rath said — especially since Kasich lagged in fundraising in 2016. “At the end of the day, you want everybody to say, ‘I needed help, and he gave it to me.’ He creates IOUs.”

Kasich says he won’t endorse Trump unless he sees a change in tone and position akin to the apostle Paul’s conversion, as relayed in the Bible, from a persecutor of the Christian church to one of its chief missionaries. That’s won’t hurt him if a 2020 chance comes around, Rath said. “I don’t think anyone expects a John Kasich endorsement to sway the general election,” he said.

Republican convention puts down 'Never Trump' revolt

But others said Kasich is hurting potential 2020 chances by declining to support Trump.

“Anybody who sits this one out, or throws rocks on the sidelines thinking Trump is going to lose in 2020, is wrong on two accounts,” said Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Garrison. “One, Trump’s not going to lose. Two, if he does lose and they bear any blame for him losing, they’re going to be persona non grata in 2020.”

Kasich didn’t address his 2020 chances or the feud with Trump’s campaign in remarks to some of the Illinois delegation Monday afternoon. As the drama on the convention floor played out on cellphones in the steakhouse, some of Illinois’ delegates ate chicken skewers and mini-burgers and then clustered around the Ohio governor.

He told them about his speech at the NAACP in Cincinnati Sunday night — a convention Hillary Clinton addressed Monday but whose invitation Trump declined — and promoted his effort in Ohio to push reforms in community and police relations in cooperation with African-American Democrats. He told them to stand by their governor in his budget wars with the Illinois Legislature and promised to attend a fundraiser next month to support Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk’s re-election campaign.

“Really an inclusive reform agenda for the Republican Party is where my head is,” Kasich said.

Back at the convention arena, some delegates unsuccessfully pushed for a roll call vote on rules changes that could have put Trump’s nomination in question.

Cleveland's no-shows and trash talkers: Bill Sternberg

Competing shouts of “Roll call vote!” and “We want Trump!” bubbled up even as the Republicans were standing for a prolonged shoot of the official convention photograph.

Kasich has said he doesn’t support efforts to deny Trump the nomination or disrupt the convention’s seemingly inevitable nod toward Trump. And Pat Brady, a former chairman of the Illinois GOP, said Kasich’s stand against Trump didn’t contribute to tumult at the convention.

“It’s time to put that away. To just do it to create a problem, without an end game, is silly,” Brady said of the effort to deny Trump the nomination this week. Still, “we can be a loyal opposition within our own party. I think Gov. Kasich represents what the good part of our party is all about.”

In the end, the roll-call effort failed, and the party turned its attention toward nominating Trump on Tuesday. And Kasich?

“One time he talked about getting out of politics. I think he still has a lot to offer,” said Keith Faber, president of the Ohio Senate.

Like another run for president?

“If we have a President Trump, I don’t think so,” Faber said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Contributing: Jessie Balmert, The Cincinnati Enquirer; Scott Wartman, The Kentucky Enquirer; Jon Campbell, Gannett Albany bureau. Chrissie Thompson writes for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Follow her on Twitter: @CThompsonENQ