President Trump on Monday bashed former Ohio Gov. John Kasich ahead of the Republican’s address to the Democratic National Convention, dismissing him as a “major loser.”
“He was a loser as a Republican, and he’ll be a loser as a Democrat. Major loser as a Republican. I guess you can quote me on that. John was a loser as a Republican. Never even came close. And as a Democrat he’ll be an even greater loser,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while flying back from a day of campaigning in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
“People don’t like him. People don’t trust him. His health care in Ohio was a disaster,” Trump added. “He hasn’t done too well with Trump. He’s been easy pickings.”
Kasich, a two-term governor, is slated to speak on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in a nod to moderate Republicans the Biden campaign is targeting. He is expected to hail Biden as the right candidate to unite the country following Trump’s first term.
The former governor ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign against Trump in 2016. He won his home state of Ohio but no others. Since leaving the governor’s mansion in 2019, Kasich has emerged as one of the president’s most consistent Republican critics on cable news.
He has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle ahead of his address on Monday night. After Kasich questioned whether Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is representative of the Democratic Party, the first-term congresswoman shot back.
“It’s great that Kasich has woken up &realized the importance of supporting a Biden-Harris ticket,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Monday morning. “I hope he gets through to GOP voters. Yet also, something tells me a Republican who fights against women’s rights doesn’t get to say who is or isn’t representative of the Dem party.”