Kasich on Endorsing Trump: I Can’t Go for Dividing and Name-Calling

Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) said he can not at this point support presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who is he said was “trending in the wrong direction.”

Kasich said, “Look the fact of the matter is, the qualities we need in the leader very important to me. This is not a game for me. Look, I can’t go for dividing, name calling or somebody that doesn’t really represent conservative principles.

He continued, “I have been this way since I was in politics. I call them before I see them. And never before than today does a country need to be unified. We need to stop the fighting. We need to remember we are Americans before we are Republicans and Democrats. It’s a matter of who I think and what I think we need to get this country moving in the right direction.”

When asked if not endorsing Trump would hurt him in Ohio Kasich said, “It’s not on me how Donald Trump does in Ohio. It’s on him how he does in the country. If you are going to insult Hispanics, and if you are and turn off minorities, if you are going to have a reckless suggestions on foreign policy, That’s not good. Why would I feel compelled to support somebody whose positions I fundamentally disagree with?”

He added, “I know what we need in a leader. We can’t have somebody that divide, we can’t have somebody who doesn’t lift. We can’t have somebody who calls names. I just wish there was a change but it doesn’t look like there has been any change. It looks like it’s gotten worse.”