Kasich: Crisis at the Border 'Got to the Heart' of Division Issues

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Saturday there have been many things that he thought would lead Republicans to question the Trump administration, but the policy resulting in children being separated from their parents at the border "gets kind of to the heart of things."

"This one has been very, very difficult," Kasich, a GOP candidate for the presidency in 2016, told CNN's Michael Smerconish. "I think people understand this, when you have children who are separated from their family and crying and wailing, this one gets kind of to the heart of things. As to whether there can be a recovery, I don't know."

The border policy, he added, "kind of changed things."

"I understand there was only 58 percent approval on this policy, as opposed to 85 percent," said Kasich. "The problem is, in this country, we are so divided up on to our own team. I wear red, you wear blue, go to the game, we cheer. It's not helpful, not just on the issue of immigration, but across the board on so many issues that need to be addressed that are not being addressed because of partisanship."

This time, though, "what people saw was really breathtaking. This is not the America, Michael, that you and I learned about not only from our parents, but our grandparents, a welcoming, caring, loving country. We didn't see it. That's why I believe the people of all stripes were aghast of what they were witnessing."

The matter marked a humanitarian crisis, as well as a political one, noted Kasich.

"If people feel as though their families are being threatened by a drug lord, gang members, they are going to leave," the governor said. "You would leave, I would leave. There is a process to come here. It's called that asylum process. When you don't have enough people, enough asylum judges, a way to take families, things break down."

Under such a crisis, though, all hands are needed, not just the Border Patrol, and not just national security and health officials, Kasich said.

"All the people that touch this thing need to be put in a room," said Kasich. "Forget the politics. Think about the people. That's what the Lord wants us to do, think about the way we would want, that we should treat somebody else, the way we want to be treated, then put a policy together that deals with the crisis."

However, when there is worry about who gains or loses political points, "it's a terrible way to do anything," the governor added.

"We went through a little smidgen of this in Ohio when we thought we had a major ebola crisis," he said. "We got doctors, nurses, public health people, everybody that could be involved. We sat down and said, what is the right thing to do...when you have a crisis like this, you can't do it piecemeal. You can't leave it to somebody else."

The nation's leader, Kasich continued, "has to say, let's get together, figure it out, forget the politics. At the end of their lives, they will be remembered as having done something positive for human beings."

President Donald Trump has been blaming Congress for the issues, said Smerconish, but Kasich exclaimed that it is "time to stop pointing fingers."

"We should have fixed DACA long ago," said Kasich. "Michael, here's the problem. Here's what has everybody upset. I'm worried about my primary. I'm worried about my general election. The country? That's secondary. Let me take care of me, first. No, it's his fault. It's their fault. Michael, in your family, if you operated like that, your family would fall apart. I'm not interested in who is pointing fingers."

Meanwhile, Kasich said he has no way at this time of determining what his plans are for the 2020 election.

"Look, I'm governor," he said. "I have six months to go. By the way, we are up over a half million jobs in our state. We got a couple billion dollars in the bank from 89 cents when I came in. The beauty of Ohio, the people not just at the top, but top to bottom have the opportunity to be hopeful and think they have a better life...I can't tell you the political side of this because, frankly, I don't know. Even if we were alone, talking about our old days in Pittsburgh, I would have to say, Michael, I don't know."