Kasich urges GOP candidates to ‘step up and say something’ after Trump gets target letter

Former Ohio governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said Tuesday he’s “proud” of decisions he’s made to publicly disavow former President Trump in the past and called on 2024 GOP presidential candidates to have the courage to do the same.

“When I took on Trump, from the beginning — refused to endorse him, refused to go to the convention, endorsed Joe Biden — I’m not calling myself out as a great leader. But what I’ll say is: So what? I did what I felt I had to do,” the former Ohio governor said in an interview on MSNBC. 

“And today, I look in the mirror, I’m proud of myself. And so is my family and my friends, and more people are coming to the conclusion that maybe Kasich was right,” Kasich added.

Kasich, a lifelong Republican seen as a moderate GOP presidential candidate in 2016, has opposed Trump’s candidacy from the beginning. In 2016, Kasich said he voted for former 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and in 2020, Kasich publicly endorsed the Democratic nominee, President Biden, in his bid to unseat Trump. 

After Trump announced Tuesday that he received a target letter in connection to a criminal probe into his attempts to stay in power after the 2020 election, Kasich urged fellow Republicans to use the opportunity to publicly criticize the former president. 

“I’d like to see more of these candidates, who are at the head of the pack, be willing to stand up and say something. And I’d like to see the donors step up and help them. The problem we have now is many people don’t want to make a winner, they want to be with a winner, but we just got to keep watching,” Kasich said. 

“We’ll survive this. We’ll get through this. We’ll get on top of it, but it’s going to take some great men and women to have courage, speak out and do some things they wouldn’t normally do,” he added.

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Kasich also pushed back against an earlier comment that, in light of the target letter, it was a shame that the country had to revisit the issue of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and events surrounding the riot. He said getting people to understand the risk posed to American democracy “could be a good thing,” adding, “Perhaps, it can burst this bubble.”

Few Republican presidential candidates have publicly criticized Trump after the target letter was reported. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a frequent Trump critic, reiterated previous statements that it should disqualify Trump from being president again. 

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley called the development “drama” and noted Trump’s legal issues are likely to cause “further and further distraction.”

“A leader is somebody that is willing to get out and say things and take the heat. Too many politicians are not leading indicators. They’re following indicators. They’re living in the fear that they’re going to make somebody upset,” Kasich said. “And it all gets down to what I’d like to think we teach our children: That … principle is the most important thing in life.”