He barks at his own party's president every chance he gets, pulled out of an opportunity to run for Senate, and flatly refuses to deny that he'll mount a primary challenge, begging the question — what exactly is Ohio Gov. John Kasich up to?
Planning to mount a primary challenge against President Donald Trump, according to analysis in The Washington Times.
Kasich was the last Republican to drop out of the party's 2016 primary, never endorsed — nor did he vote for — Trump, and might just be the first to challenge a sitting president since 1992, the Times reports.
"I think what they are doing is exactly what I would do," GOP strategist Tom Rath told the Times. "He is preserving the option."
Kasich never misses an opportunity to slam Trump on myriad platforms, and the termed-out governor raised eyebrows by deciding against a Senate run to take on Sen. Sherrod Brown in November.
However, Kasich would have two major obstacles if he decided to challenge Trump:
- Trump remains ultra-popular within his own party.
- Kasich remains ultra-unknown nationally.
A December poll had Trump leading Kasich 70 percent to 19 percent in a hypothetical primary matchup.
Kasich is likely biding his time to see what happens in November's midterms. If Republican fears are realized and they lose majorities in either or both houses of Congress, that could be the red meat for Kasich or other Republicans to decide to test Trump.
"I don't think the political situation or dynamic is fundamentally going to change until after the November elections," Fergus Cullen, former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican party, told the Times. "It is going to take Republicans getting defeated for a Republican to say, 'We have to make a change.'"