Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Sunday praised President Trump for his response to Saturday’s free speech protests in Boston, just one week after a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, resulted in the death of an anti-racism protester.
Mr. Kasich’s praise followed his criticism of Mr. Trump’s response to Charlottesville last week. During a press conference Tuesday that was supposed to focus on infrastructure, the president said there were “very fine people” on both sides of the protests. Mr. Kasich called those remarks “terrible.”
Mr. Trump continues to face backlash and pressure from members of his own party to condemn hate groups and white supremacists after he seemingly equated the violence of neo-Nazis with that of anti-fascist counterprotesters.
“I felt positive about what he had to say about Boston,” Mr. Kasich said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The president is our president, we want him to be successful.”
Mr. Trump sent out tweets Saturday during the Boston mostly peaceful protests, praising the police and those demonstrating against bigotry.
“Our great country has been divided for decades,” he tweeted. “Sometimes you need protest in order to heal, & we will heal, & be stronger than ever before!”
“I want to applaud the many protestors in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate,” Mr. Trump added on Twitter. “Our country will soon come together as one!”
Mr. Kasich said Mr. Trump’s upcoming rally in Arizona, which is scheduled for next week, is an opportunity for him to unite people.
“He has it within him to overcome this and move forward, because if all we are doing is questioning his motives and what’s in his heart … how does the country make it?” said Mr. Kasich, a 2016 GOP presidential candidate.
He also refused to say whether a Republican should challenge Mr. Trump in 2020.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” the Ohio governor said.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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