Kasich a closet Democrat, says tea party leader

An Ohio-based tea party activist says he wasn’t surprised that his state’s Republican governor took a swipe at the tea party movement.

It was no surprise to hear Gov. John Kasich disparage the tea party in a Fox News interview, says Tom Zawistowski of the Portage County Tea Party, because Ohioans have been fighting Kasich since he was elected in 2010.

“They said he was a conservative and ever since he got elected, he’s been nothing but a liberal Democrat,” Zawistowski says of the U.S. senator-turned-governor.

After dropping out of the GOP presidential primary, Kasich refused to endorse Donald Trump’s nomination, claiming that he wrote in John McCain’s name instead of voting for the Republican nominee.

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Kasich mocked other politicians who “run around worried” about angering tea party conservatives.

“We’ve got to stop listening to all the yelling – to all the yelling and screaming,” Kasich said. “Those are the people that should be least listened to.”

Asked in the interview if he intended to run against Trump in 2020, Kasich said he is not thinking about that political future at the moment.

“Frankly, you’ve got a Republican President,” he replied. “We don’t know what the future’s going to hold.”

Zawistowski has another theory: Kasich will run for president – as a Democrat.

“He is not a conservative,” the tea party leader says of his governor. “I think that is what this is all about: him positioning himself to try to run as a Democrat in 2020 to try to beat Trump.”

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