Ohio Governor John Kasich has denied plotting a primary challenge against Trump for the 2020 presidency election, claiming he is ‘rooting for him to keep it together’.
Although the two men have been rivals in the past, with Kasich unsuccessfully running against Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he is now backing the president.
The Republican politician said he wasn’t planning on running against Trump on Sunday and added: ‘I’m rooting for him to get it together. We all are.’
Kasich continued: The President is going to learn from these episodes, and we’re going to do better. That’s what I hope is going to happen.’
Ohio Governor John Kasich said he doesn’t have plans to run for president in the 2020 Republican presidential primary, adding that he is rooting for Trump to ‘keep it together’, he said on Sunday
Kasich appeared on CNN’s State of the Union when he made the comment, adding: ‘The changes have to stop, and we have to have a team.
‘You can’t keep putting new people in the lineup and think you’re going to win a world championship.’
The Ohio governor was referring to the steady stream of Trump’s top staff members departing from the White House.
This week wrapped up the latest ousting of one of Trump’s top advisers, Steve Bannon. News broke that he was leaving Trump’s administration on Friday.
Trump tweeted on Saturday: ‘I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service. He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton – it was great!’
Bannon’s exit is the latest in a string of high-profile departures from the White House, which includes former chief of staff Reince Priebus and ex-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, among others.
The administration has also seen former National Security Director Michael Flynn depart in January, and Anthony Scaramucci, White House Communications Director, sacked in late July.
Kasich also added that he wished Trump would stop ‘putting new people in the lineup’. The Ohio governor was referring to the steady stream of Trump’s top staff members departing from the White House
Kasich seems to have slightly changed his tune this week, compared to when he admonished Trump for his comments regarding the Charlottesville protest last weekend.
He was one of several Republicans who turned on Trump after he said Tuesday that neo-Nazis and ‘alt-left’ liberal extremists shared responsibility for violence that turned deadly when a white nationalist ran over a woman with his car.
Kasich, who reminded the audience that he never endorsed Trump during last year’s campaign, said he worried Trump’s false equivalency would lead to the bullying of Jewish and African-Americans kids in the schools.
‘And to not condemn these people who went there to carry out violence and to somehow draw some kind of equivalency to somebody else reduces the ability to totally condemn these hate groups,’ Kasich warned.
Although the two men have been rivals in the past, with Kasich unsuccessfully running against Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he is now backing the president
Kasich continued: ‘It’s terrible, it’s just terrible. The president of the United States needs to condemn these kinds of hate groups,’ he said, adding that it’s ‘not about winning an argument.’
Earlier this year, Kasich met with his former rival – comparing his situation to being on a plane with a pilot who you hope won’t crash.
‘The man is the president of the United States. It’s sort of like being on an airplane. You want to root for the pilot. If you’re on the airplane with the pilot, you don’t want the pilot to screw up,’ Kasich said.