Yesterday, the Washington Post published an interview with former Ohio Governor-- and #NeverTrumper-- John Kasich, about how his party has virtually disintegrated, accepting Trumpets fascism in return for careerism and ome semblance of power. David Montgomery asked him i the GOP can still be a home for mainstream conservatives like himself if there's no path for challenging Trump from people like him and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. "What does that say about the Republican Party?"Kasich responded that he thinks "this is sort of a temporary deal. I think that the party is historically concerned about debt. They’re concerned about having free and open trade. They’re concerned about welcoming immigrants into the country. And I think that the Republican Party is stumbling around because there have been no new really exciting ideas coming out of the Republican Party for a number of years. They keep going back to Reagan. Well, I knew Reagan-- it was 100 hundred years ago. They don’t focus on the issue of workforce training, of dramatic reforms in education, the need to address climate change-- it’s like we’re sunk. And then you add where the party is right now. I don’t even recognize it. It’s Luddite in a way. I mean, it’s unbelievable. I think members of the Republican Party are in a coma right now, is what I think. And at some point they’ll wake up and say, What’s happened? And then we’re going to tell them, and they’re going to go, Really?
Montgomery: Is it a coma because of their allegiance to President Trump?Kasich: There’s a tribal instinct, and a willingness to only absorb that that supports what you currently think. Anything that is dissonant information should be rejected. And I think it’s true for both political parties, to be honest with you. I think that we live in a siloed, tribal world right now.Montgomery: When you were in the Congress, you voted to impeach Bill Clinton. And I was wondering how the current case that some Democrats would make against Trump compares to that situation?Kasich: I think it’s two different things. Look, that was a very difficult time for us, but it involved, you know, a grand jury and those kinds of things. I was not a main participant in that, I just wasn’t. It was a difficult decision for me. In terms of what they should do now, the country doesn’t want this man to be impeached. One thing the Democrats have to be careful of is that they’re not blinded by hatred. I’m not telling you that they don’t have a legitimate case to investigate, but some of them are bordering on really, you know, deep-seated anger, which is never a good thing.
Sound like a very serious guy to you? Not to me... at least not as serious as Morrissey. And Trump always laughed at him-- other that time he offered him the vice presidency. Trump isn't faring all that well lately. Opinion polls show that most Americans think he's doing a bad job. Even in swing states and red states he needs to win if he's to have any chance of being reelected, he's underwater with voters. This morning a series of state polls from Morning Consult had him with higher disapprovals that approvals in 9 out of 10 states he won in 2016:
• New Hampshire: 37% approval, 60% disapproval (-23 net approval)• Michigan: 40% approval, 55% disapproval (-15)• Wisconsin: 42% approval, 56% disapproval (-14)• Iowa: 42% approval, 55% disapproval (-13)• Pennsylvania 44% approval, 53% disapproval (-9)• Arizona: 45% approval, 52% disapproval (-7)• Ohio: 45% approval, 51% disapproval (-6)• North Carolina: 47% approval, 50% disapproval (-3)• Florida: 47% approval, 50% disapproval (-3)• Indiana: 49% approval, 48% disapproval (+1)
Other traditionally red states where his approval is way too close for comfort include Georgia (even), Missouri (1), Nebraska (1), Kansas (2), Utah (2), Alaska (3) and Texas (4).