Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, says that there is no pathway back to the White House for former President Donald Trump.
In an interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, Kasich cites the recent indictment by Manhattan authorities, as well as a separate investigation in Georgia and the looming possibility of charges from a Washington D.C. special prosecutor, as events that have exhausted voters who he says will prefer another candidate in the 2024 election.
“And I talked to some folks this morning in the gym, they’re like, ‘We wish he’d just go away,’” he said.
“But here’s what I do know: There’s no way the guy’s gonna be president because there’s no way these independent voters and … traditional Republicans, there is no way in a million years that those people are gonna vote for him. So, my view is he’ll never be president.”
As of April 6, the Real Clear Politics average polling data shows Trump leading President Biden by 2 points in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup.
In the race for the Republican nomination, Trump is the clear frontrunner, with a 30-point lead over the second favorite, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
But, Kasich says that fatigue from a news cycle driven by scandals and outrage over issues surrounding Trump could tank the former president’s electoral ambitions.
“I think there’s a lot of exhaustion and even people who are supporting him at this moment thinking that this is some political deal, they’re exhausted now,” he explained. “I think exhaustion is sort of like water in a boat. It begins to overflow the boat and begins to sink him.”
Kasich also cites the momentum Democrats have gained over the last few elections cycles, chalking up wins in 2018, 2020, 2022, and special elections, as a sign that Republicans need to change course.
“When you keep losing over and over again, whether you’re a football team or a basketball team, or whether you’re a political operation, you’ve gotta decide when enough’s enough,” he said. “I can’t figure out what their agenda is. It’s anything Biden’s for, they’re against; or anything the Democrats are for, they’re against. They’ve got to start relating to people about what people care about.”
