Kasich for President…Again? Says Most Republicans are Pro-Immigration

Ohio Governor John Kasich, still enjoying the afterglow of winning his home state in the Republican primaries 18 or so months ago, told Fox News Sunday that he still believes that the party is fiercely pro-immigration, despite what Donald Trump’s victory might say.

“I think the bulk of the Republican Party – and I’ve been in the party since I was a college student – it’s one that believes that America has a place in the world. Reagan talked about it – it advances humanity. I agree. I think the bulk of the Republican Party does believe that immigration provides energy to our country,” he said. “I think the bulk of the Republican Party believes that America is special and has a place in the world to advance freedom and free enterprise and all those things. I think that this move towards nationalism where we are looking inward, has a lot of loud voices but I don’t think it’s the bulk.”

Kasich’s remarks on Fox News were accompanied by a long-form feature story in New York Magazine, which characterized the Ohio governor as laying the groundwork for a third run at the White House in 2020. In it, he called Trump’s ascension to the top of the party and the presidency as a “momentary lapse of reason” on the part of American voters. And he told his profiler that he reserved the right to redefine conservatism in his own image.

“I think we need to be pro-environment. I think we need to be pro-immigrant — of course we need to protect our borders. I think we need to completely redo education. Every piece of education now is behind the times and a hundred years old,” he said. “Look, I loved Ronald Reagan. I met Ronald Reagan. But Reagan was then. Now we gotta move on. I have a right to define what it means to be a conservative and what it means to be a Republican. I think my definition is a lot better than what the other people are doing.”

We don’t doubt that Kasich is sincere in his beliefs and, by all accounts, he’s been good for Ohio. But America does not need his brand of conservatism right now in Washington. The Democrats have pulled this country so far to the left that it is barely recognizable AS America, and we need a fighter in the White House who understands the game that’s being played. Someone who can play the game right back. We need a warrior, happy or otherwise. Kasich might have made a good president once upon a time, but that time has past. It’s Trump’s time now, and he is the right man for the job.