OPINION:
This week, Donald Trump said he’d consider John Kasich for vice president. The move was most likely an offer to try to get the Ohio governor out of the presidential race — one which he has no mathematical chance of winning.
The reason? The longer Mr. Kasich stays in the GOP contest, the more he serves as a spoiler to an outright Trump victory.
You see, Mr. Kasich is running (somewhat) competitively in the New York primary, which is a must-win for Mr. Trump. According to the most recent Siena College poll, Mr. Trump led New York with 50 percent of the vote, compared with Mr. Kasich’s 27 percent and Mr. Cruz’s 17 percent.
After Mr. Trump’s embarrassing loss in Wisconsin to Mr. Cruz, and humiliating delegate defeat in Colorado, Mr. Trump needs a big win in New York to regain his momentum, a winning narrative and to have any chance at capturing the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the Republican nomination.
If Mr. Trump snatches more than 50 percent of the vote in New York — something that he’s hinging on (if it were not for Mr. Kasich) — he’ll seize all of New York’s 95 delegates — a “yuge” win, as Mr. Trump would say.
But Mr. Kasich’s not only poised to play spoiler in New York. It also appears he’s having some sway with moderate Republicans in delegate-rich Pennsylvania, where the Ohio governor also stands no chance of winning but could prevent a large margin of victory for Mr. Trump. The same holds true for Maryland, where Mr. Kasich didn’t even file a full slate of delegates.
Mr. Kasich might just be delusional enough to think he can win the Republican nomination at a contested convention in July despite losing all but one (his own state’s) primary or caucus. But there’s also a chance he considers himself a prime vice presidential option — being a popular in a must-win swing state, having a moderate resume, and projecting himself as the happy, experienced statesman.
Perhaps his declarations that there’s “zero chance” he’ll be vice president or that he’d be “the worst vice president the country ever saw” is just hogwash.
If that’s the case, Mr. Kasich, please get out of the race right now. Mr. Trump is waiting.
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