Ohio Governor John Kasich was one of the last two holdouts against Donald Trump during the 2016 GOP primaries and since then, he has become a go-to for the liberal media when they need a never-Trump Republican to bash the President. He has also become a name the liberal media love to throw around as a contender to knock out Trump in 2020. During an appearance on ABC’s This Week, Sunday, Kasich wanted advice from host and Clinton lackey George Stephanopoulos on a possible third-party run.
After Kasich said the American people want and deserve a better form of politics, Stephanopoulos wanted his guest to elaborate. “Does ‘better’ mean working across party lines,” Stephanopoulos wondered. “You talked earlier about this possibility about maybe running on a bipartisan ticket, including with perhaps former Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado. Is that something that's truly viable? And is that what you think Americans are looking for?”
Kasich responded by declaring that he didn’t know the answer to that important question. The outgoing governor then began asking Stephanopoulos questions about if he thought a “legitimate opportunity for a third-party” candidate existed and wanted to talk with him about it off the air.
“Let's say that Donald Trump is nominated and Elizabeth Warren is nominated and you have this ocean of people who sit in the middle,” he prefaced. “Is there a legitimate opportunity for a third-party, bipartisan kind of ticket to be able to score a victory or have a profound impact on the future of American politics? That would be something I would talk to you about offline and get your view, because we don’t know at this point.”
Instead of waiting to be off the air, a seemingly perplexed Stephanopoulos responded by flat out suggesting Kasich didn’t have a chance of winning a run as a third-party candidate. “But everybody who has looked at it in the past says it's just not possible. You’ve seen it before, there seems to be a ceiling,” he exclaimed over his guest. Of course, Stephanopoulos would be against it. In the scenario Kasich set up, he would not only be running against Trump he would be running against Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Despite previously claiming not to know the viability of a third-party run and getting Stephanopoulos’s advice against it, Kasich was defiant:
You know what, no one thought a guy like Donald Trump would be elected president. No one thought we would have electric cars. No one thought we could talk on phones and see the person we’re talking to. I mean, this is a time of change, dynamic change. And you can’t judge tomorrow on the basis of what happened yesterday. So, I don’t know about that.
Shortly before talking about the third-party run, Stephanopoulos pointed out to Kasich that beating Trump in the GOP primary was going to be difficult. “You complained in New Hampshire, just a couple of weeks ago, that the Republican Party has been hijacked by President Trump,” he reminded Kasich. “At the same time, he's got about a 90 percent approval rating inside the Republican Party. So, is a challenge inside the party even something that has any practical chance of success?”
Kasich touted how he was the “last man standing” against Trump (but only by a day, he dropped out shortly after Texas Senator Ted Cruz). “[A]ll options are on the table for me … At what point does somebody work and stand on principle, to say the direction we're going is wrong? You obviously want to have some sort of a practical opportunity. But you want to be able to make a statement,” he bloviated.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s This Week
November 25, 2018
9:27:46 a.m. Eastern(…)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And you’re up against a formidable challenge. You complained in New Hampshire, just a couple of weeks ago, that the Republican Party has been hijacked by President Trump. At the same time, he's got about a 90 percent approval rating inside the Republican Party. So, is a challenge inside the party even something that has any practical chance of success?
JOHN KASICH: Well George, I mean, all options are on the table for me. But let me ask you a statement -- let me ask you to think about this. At what point does somebody work and stand on principle, to say the direction we're going is wrong? You obviously want to have some sort of a practical opportunity. But you want to be able to make a statement.
Maybe I do that by running again or, you know – frankly, in the last election, I was the last man standing with very little money and very little name recognition. It grew over time. But what I ask myself is, what do I owe to my country? What can I do to help my country? Is it mean I run for office again or are there other ways in which I can impact the flow of events?
And I listened to your last interview with the Senator [Amy Klobuchar]. I thought she did a very good job. But I mean, it's the same old stuff. It's all this politics and mumbo-jumbo and we this and that bill. We've got to get out of this mire and out of this mix and it's going depend on raising the public to say we deserve and want better. I don't know where it's all going to lead, George, but it is a serious thought consideration every day.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Does “better” mean working across party lines? You talked earlier about this possibility about maybe running on a bipartisan ticket, including with perhaps former Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado. Is that something that's truly viable? And is that what you think Americans are looking for?
KASICH: Well George, I don't know if -- Let's say that Donald Trump is nominated and Elizabeth Warren is nominated and you have this ocean of people who sit in the middle. Is there a legitimate opportunity for a third party, bipartisan kind of ticket to be able to score a victory or have a profound impact on the future of American politics? That would be something I would talk to you about offline and get your view, because we don’t know at this point.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But everybody who has looked at it in the past says it's just not possible. You’ve seen it before, there seems to be a ceiling.
KASICH: You know what, no one thought a guy like Donald Trump would be elected president. No one thought we would have electric cars. No one thought we could talk on phones and see the person we’re talking to. I mean, this is a time of change, dynamic change. And you can’t judge tomorrow on the basis of what happened yesterday. So, I don’t know about that.
Hickenlooper, I love him, the name is too long. Hickenlooper/Kasich, you couldn’t fit that on a bumper sticker you’d need to go around with bill borders or something. You know? [Laughter]
