GOP Gov. John Kasich Tears Into Trump’s ‘Bankrupt’ Response To Saudi Murder Of Jamal Khashoggi

Ohio’s Republican Gov. John Kasich blasted Donald Trump on Tuesday for what he suggested was a morally “bankrupt” response to the alleged Saudi killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the Ohio governor blasted the president for putting the sale of American weapons ahead of the murder of a journalist that was a legal U.S. resident.

“Don’t sell them any more weapons!” an emotional Kasich said. “Don’t do that now until we get to the bottom of it.”

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Kasich said:

We also believe that there are principles that underly profit. Look, you’re a guy that studies a lot of these philosophers. Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian – he said a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with a set of values is bankrupt. We’re not gonna go around and say, “Okay, we can sell more weapons to Saudi Arabia, therefore we ought to look the other way.” Listen, Chris, this is this unanimous. This is a bipartisan outrage about this. In the meantime, you don’t go to the conference, Mnuchin shouldn’t go to the conference. Praise the CEOs that are not going to the conference, and don’t sell them anymore weapons! Don’t do that now until we get to the bottom of it. And we will get to the bottom of it.

To Trump, money is more important than anything else

Even as the evidence piles up against the Saudi government, Trump has been looking the other way – or, worse, spewing the kingdom’s talking points for them. He has essentially been running a public relations campaign to make the Saudis look clean and transparent as they face condemnation from much of the rest of the world.

All the while, Trump has been citing financial dealings the U.S. has with Saudi Arabia as reason enough to ignore the brutal murder of legal U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

But as Gov. Kasich said on Tuesday, there are more important things than how much money the U.S. can get in a weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

“Money should never trump our foreign policy actions,” the Ohio Republican reminded the president on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, whether it’s Trump’s personal, business or political life, money trumps everything – even the murder of a journalist and U.S. resident by a foreign government.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.