'Not our nature': Former GOP governor slams Trump's 'intrusion into the private sector'
26 August
John Kashich on MSNBC on August 26, 2025 (Screengrab / MSNBC)
Former Ohio Gov. John Kashich (R) criticized President Donald Trump's administration Tuesday for what he called its "intrusion into the private sector," saying that the U.S. government acquiring a significant stake in tech company Intel goes against Republicans' fundamental values.
During an appearance on MSNBC Tuesday evening, Kasich, who served as the governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2017, said, "I set up an economic development operation in Ohio when I became governor, and I told him at the time, we are not going to invest in private companies. We are not going to do it. We'll help companies to come to Ohio, but we're not going to take a stake in them. Because anytime you do, it doesn't turn out well at all."
He continued: "And you can just think, even when we made a loan, it ended up being a disaster."
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Kasich said conservatives consider government interference as a last resort, not as a first resort. "It's in our nature. I mean, I didn't grow up as a Republican. I grew up as a blue-collar kid using common sense, but I never thought that it made sense to impose government in all these things, that government should be the last resort and sometimes necessary, including in areas of social services. It is not in the nature of conservatives to want to continue these policies."
He went on to predict that the Republican Party will "reclaim its general philosophy over time."
"I don't think this is what the future is going to portend for Republicans or for the country, for that matter."
When asked what evidence he has to support this belief, he said, "it's the nature of who you are. It's the nature of being a conservative as opposed to being the nature of what it is to be a liberal."
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Kasich added: "In terms of intrusion into the private sector, it's just not our nature to want to do that. You kind of knee jerk against it. the same way the Democrats feel that government ought to be more involved in many different things."
Watch the video below or at this link.