With fewer than two months until the GOP convention begins in his home state, Republican Gov. John Kasich said he’s unable to back Donald Trump for president.
Kasich told the Columbus Dispatch he cannot bring himself to back Trump, given the presumptive GOP front-runner’s willingness to “run people into the ditch.”
“Unless I see a fundamental change in that approach, it’s really hard for me to do a merger,” he told the Dispatch. “Think of it as a merger of two companies. If the values are not somewhat similar, if the culture is not somewhat similar, it’s pretty hard to do a merger.”
He continued, “If he changes, that’s a whole new ballgame. But if the cultures don’t change, mergers aren’t possible.”
In assessing his own campaign’s failures, Kasich noted that “money was never an issue for us” but said he could not compete with the free press coverage Trump had amassed.
Kasich also reportedly cited a “key campaign supporter” who told him that “part of the problem was Trump never stumbled.”
The governor told the Dispatch he plans to write about his experiences and Americans’ need for hope. He said he will meet with publishers soon about his plans for another book.
