John Kasich: The Republican Party left Me

While his record on LGBT rights is abysmal, Ohio Governor John Kasich is one of the few Republicans who did not rush to prostitute himself to Donald Trump and betray everything the Republican Party once stood for.  Like myself, most of my extended family and many friend who are former Republicans, Kasich says that he did not leave the GOP.  Rather, the GOP left him.  Just like it left so many others who reject religious extremism, racism, defunding public education and a rapacious economic structure that benefits the wealthy while harming the less fortunate.   CNN has excerpts from Kasich's comments on "State of the Union":

Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich expressed frustration with the current state of the Republican and Democratic parties Sunday amid rumors that he could pursue a 2020 presidential run.

"I'm still a Republican. I didn't leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me," Kasich said on CNN's "State of the Union." "In my state we have balanced budgets, surplus, we're up half a million jobs and then people say, 'Well Kasich's not a conservative.' What does that mean?"

"Come home to where we basically live," the 2016 presidential candidate added. "We should care about people from top to bottom, not just those at the top, but everybody. I can bring that party back. That's what I'm going to do in one way or another."

Kasich hasn't ruled out a presidential run in 2020, saying that he's keeping his options open. And though he's been rumored to be pursuing an independent candidacy, he told CNN earlier this month that it was unlikely.

The governor also said Republicans face a tough fight in this year's midterm elections because of voters' distaste for President Donald Trump's "harsh language" and "division." Kasich said he foresees "a big ocean of people in the middle who are up for grabs in November.  "These are people who are objective. These are people who are rational," Kasich said.

Sadly, "objective" and "rational" more or less exclude those who now comprise the core of the Republican Party.  I will not be holding my breath for Kasich to pull ff his restoration of the GOP.