John Kasich Stunned GOP Isn't Defending Democracy Against Trump

John Kasich, the former Ohio governor who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2016, said Sunday that he found it “amazing” that fellow Republicans are “sitting on their hands” and refusing to defend the integrity of the election against President Donald Trump.

Kasich, a frequent Trump critic, said on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” that he believes the lack of action is because Republicans are “either in complete lockstep” with Trump — “or they’re afraid of him.”

“They’re afraid that they’ll be ‘primaried’ or they’re afraid they’ll be severely criticized,” Kasich said. “It’s a pretty remarkable situation” in which GOP lawmakers are “frozen in place.”

The GOP’s part in enabling Trump is “extremely disappointing for someone who has been a Republican all of my life,” he added.

Kasich called Trump’s refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden “absurd.” Trump has repeatedly complained of massive fraud without a shred of evidence and is seeking to steal the election by convincing state lawmakers to disregard the vote.

Biden “clearly won this election, and it is just sort of amazing to me that Republicans just keep sitting on their hands. It makes no sense,” said Kasich, who endorsed Biden and spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

Kasich said the most dangerous aspect of Trump’s failure to concede is the hold up in the transition, which threatens national security and the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

Check out the entire interview below:

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.