‘Since becoming one of the leading Republican foils for President Donald Trump, Kasich’s star has grown…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) When it comes to NeverTrump Republicans, Ohio’s lame-duck Gov. John Kasich may not be the belle of the ball, but he can still make a pretty good living pooh–poohing the party leader on cable news shows.
An analysis by Cleveland.com showed a spike in Kasich’s appearances on five major Sunday talk shows in his second term as governor, up to and around his 2016 GOP presidential primary run, and continuing to flourish as he fashioned himself into a center–right critic of President Donald Trump.
“Since becoming one of the leading Republican foils for President Donald Trump, Kasich’s star has grown, and he’s devoted more and more time to national media appearances,” wrote the website’s Seth Richardson.
During his presidential run, between July 2015 and May 2016, Kasich made 42 appearances on the Sunday shows.
After a dip in the second half of 2016, as he presumably refocused himself on the task of running Ohio, Kasich’s appearances began to rise again, with 27 network segments in 2017 and 2018. No word on whether those were paid or unpaid appearances.
Kasich hosted the show “Heartland” on Fox News from 2001 to 2007, prior to his 2010 gubernatorial election, but curiously enough, his former network—and the one most often labeled as “conservative”—had him on the least both during and after the election.
His visits to Fox News since the 2016 election have numbered only three, while he has appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” 12 times during that span.
Kasich has publicly mused that he may try to return to a regular television spot, likely as the Republican token on one of the left-skewing networks.
However, he is also continuing to weigh the possibility of another Republican primary challenge against Trump, or even a third-party run.
Either way, he will continue doing what he does best: undermining the Trump agenda while masquerading for the Left as a voice of reason.
The Cleveland.com report said the brand-conscious Kasich, who began promoting his cable news appearances on Twitter around 2017, received his top retweets from posts that took direct aim at criticizing the president.
America is an idea. It’s not about money. That’s what President @realDonaldTrump doesn’t understand. Americans have died for our FREEDOMS, not so a select few can get rich. We need to stand for our values. pic.twitter.com/vaRRDhjat4
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) October 17, 2018
Of course, Kasich has met with his own share of criticism from Ohioans who bemoan his absentee stewardship and indecisiveness.
A June 2018 poll by Quinnipiac University showed that he had a 57 percent favorable rating from Democrats in the state, compared with only 46 percent from Republicans.
Likewise, the majority of Ohio Democrats (52 percent) wanted Kasich to run for president against Trump in 2020, while a whopping 73 percent of Ohio Republicans opposed the idea.