One of the biggest and most well-known GOP governors in the country came out on Sunday, saying he is thinking of leaving the Republican Party for good.
Ohio governor John Kasich, a former presidential candidate, told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he just can’t do it anymore.
“If the party can’t be fixed, Jake, then I’m not going to be able to support the party, period.”
Kasich made the comment after he was asked about Alabama politician Roy Moore, who won the Republican party’s nomination for that state’s open Senate seat. Moore has openly said homosexual acts should be illegal and that Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress.
“Well, look, I don’t run the party. I can tell you for me, I don’t support that. I couldn’t vote for that. I don’t know what the heck I would have to do, but I don’t live in that state. I mean, those claims are ― I mean, they’re ludicrous and they’re divisive.”
Kasich then said he “might give up on the Republican Party.” Tapper pressed him further on this and what he meant. “Would you become an independent?” Tapper asked.
“What I’m saying to you is, we need to fix it. If our party, if the Republican Party is going to be anti-immigration, if it’s not going to be worried about debt, if it’s going to be anti-trade, this is not where our party can be. So I’m going to fight like everything I have… it’s why I’m on these shows, because I want this party to be straightened out. But I not only want the party to be straightened out, I want the country to be straightened out. And so it’s really a battle again inside of both parties, but people are beginning to say, I don’t like either of them. And that says something big. So hopefully our party leaders will pay attention to this.”
Since Trump has been elected, Kasich has been extremely critical of the president. He called Trump’s Charlottesville response to white supremacist violence “pathetic” and has come out against Trump’s executive order against refugees as well as his vendetta against NFL players for taking a knee during the national anthem.
Watch the entire interview here:
