Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told CNN’s Michael Smerconish that he believes Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich could be “a great alternative” to President Donald Trump if the President fails to deliver on his promises.
“People are going to judge the President before they go to the polls by his performance,” Schwarzenegger, who is a Republican, said in an interview. “If Trump does a great job, then there’s no reason to replace him. But what I’m saying is that John Kasich is a great alternative should he (Trump) not perform, because we don’t know yet. We are only one year into his term.”
The former California governor also lamented extreme partisanship in American politics and predicted “independents are going to take over” the Republicans and the Democrats because people “are upset about the fact that the Democrats are too far to the left now and getting stuck in their ideology and Republicans are too far to the right.”
Schwarzenegger expressed concern that the Republican Party is not doing enough to appeal to voters, saying the party “is dying, like the Titanic.” But, he added, “we don’t have to go under completely. We don’t have to wait for that moment. Let’s change.”
Schwarzenegger said that the GOP should “be more open” and go back to the idea of acting as a “big tent.”
Schwarzenegger has previously talked up Kasich, who unsuccessfully vied for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. At a recent event in California, Schwarzenegger said that the Ohio governor’s “vision and inclusiveness is just what our nation needs.”
In his interview with CNN, Schwarzenegger said he told Kasich “he should run in 2020,” adding “I think he should run against President Trump, and I think that he should go and show the American people an alternative.”