Former GOP Govs. Kasich, Whitman go turncoat, back Biden at Democratic convention

Former Republicans Govs. John Kasich and Christy Todd Whitman will take the stage Monday night at the Democratic National Convention during the event's "We the People – Putting Party Over Country" programing.  

They will be joined by fellow Republicans Meg Whitman, a former California gubernatorial candidate, and former New York Rep. Susan Molinari.

This is not the first time Kasich, among the most outspoken President Trump critics in the GOP, has harrumphed about his own party nominating Trump at its convention. 

In 2016, Kasich, then governor of Ohio, declined to attend the Republican National Convention in his own state, after being defeated by Trump the GOP presidential primary.

He also cast a write-in vote for then-GOP Arizona Sen. John McCain, infuriating Trump by breaking a pledge signed by other 2016 Republican candidates to endorse the eventual nominee.

This time Kasich has taken his objection to Trump's words and actions a step further – backing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on primetime TV. 

"I will be speaking at the #DNC Convention because I believe that America needs to go in a different direction," Kasich, now a CNN contributor, tweeted last week. "I've searched my conscience and I believe the best way forward is for change - to bring unity where there has been division. And to bring about a healing in America."

A former GOP House member, who spoke Monday on the condition on anonymity, told Just the News, "What John is doing is gutsy, but he is getting hammered in Ohio."

Kasich isn't getting plaudits from Democrats, either.

Over 120 Democratic delegates signed a letter last week requesting Kasich's speaking invitation be rescinded.   

The speaking gig for Whitman, a former New Jersey governor, was announced early Monday.

Whitman has been very critical of Trump, calling him"unfit" in recent years, and her support for Biden, like Kasich's, has roiled fellow Republicans, as reported in the New Jersey Globe.

Molinari attended White House meetings endorsing the Trump administration's policy against human trafficking, and Whitman, the CEO of Quibi, in 2010 won GOP primary for the California gubernatorial race but was defeated in the general election by Democrat Jerry Brown.

Molinari even lobbied Joe Biden in the Obama administration on behalf of Vladimir Putin, as reported by FOX News. 

Whitman donated $500,000 to a Biden Political Action Committee, according to Federal Election Commission filings in June 2020.

"Kasich and company addressing the Democrat convention is hardly about party lines," says Carolyn Ewing, a long-time Republican grassroots and state's organizer. "It is about ego and injured egos. The principles of the Republic and the Republican Party remain strong even if some of its progeny are wanting in integrity."