Ohio Gov. John Kasich interrupted his generally upbeat campaign pitch Saturday to bash Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump has created a toxic environment,” Kasich said at a press conference Saturday, reacting to violent clashes that preceded the cancellation of a Trump rally in Chicago Friday night. And a toxic environment has allowed his supporters and others … to come together in violence.”
“There is no place for this,” Kasich said. “There is no place for a national leader to prey on the fears of people who live in our great country.”
Kasich said it is “important to listen to” voices of Americans frustrated by limited economic opportunity, but that anger and frustration should not be used to divide.
“If our rhetoric is negative, if our rhetoric is divisive, we will not solve these problems that the American people expect us to fix,” he said.
Kasich hopes to make his home state primary the first contest he wins during this campaign. He is competing with Trump to win the state. Trump in recent days has launched attacks on Kasich, who the front-runner previously ignored.
Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have also faulted Trump for encouraging violence at this rallies.
Kasich said he is the only candidate in the GOP contest who has avoided negativity and name calling.
“The coverage of this campaign has been disappointing, because it seems that the attention goes to those that call names,” he said. “I refused to do it, even if it meant that I would be ignored, even if it meant that I would lose.
Kasich attacked Trump repeatedly last fall, but changed tactics in recent months, working to distinguish himself from rivals by sticking to a mostly positive message. The effort benefited from the decision by Kasich’s rivals to mostly ignore him, due to his deficit in most state and national polling.
