Kasich’s Tuesday speech will lay out ‘two paths’ for America

John Kasich on Monday night previewed a speech he’ll deliver Tuesday, which he says will tackle the negative rhetoric of the election cycle and remind Americans there are solutions to fix the country’s issues.

During a CNN town hall in which Anderson Cooper interviewed his entire family, the Ohio governor condemned Donald Trump’s and Ted Cruz’s proposals to monitor Muslim neighborhoods and ban Muslims from entering the United States, though he did so without naming his GOP competitors.

Kasich will deliver the speech, titled “Two Paths,” at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Women’s National Republican Club in New York City, exactly one week ahead of the state’s delegate-rich primary.

The speech’s title appears to be the same as a 2010 ad from when Kasich successfully ran for governor against then-Gov. Ted Strickland, according to the Toledo Blade.

“The first path is feeding on people’s fears and driving them into a ditch,” Kasich said, adding that it “creates more anger” and “it’s exploiting their anxiety.”

“The other way is to tell them, ‘Hey we have problems, but they can be fixed,’” he added.

Kasich went on to take some thinly veiled shots at Trump, blasting the GOP front-runner’s negativity and divisiveness. But when asked by Cooper which candidate he was referring to, the governor said “both of them.”

“We hear so much negativity, ‘We’re losers, we’re terrible, let’s go out and surveil neighborhoods, let’s ban people from coming into the country based on religion,’” Kasich said. “That’s not our country. Our country is one where we get together, we hang together.

“I’m going to lay this out along with solutions, so it should be interesting.”

Kasich has been making a play for the Empire State, which awards 95 delegates. He trails in the polls, but some recent surveys show him jumping into second place, above Cruz.