ELECTION/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s mission is to rally Republicans behind GOP candidates in the nation’s premier swing state. But when he steps into battleground Ohio on Friday [8-24-18], he’s entering a state — and a Republican Party — deeply divided by his presidency. The Republican president is set to offer the keynote address at a state GOP dinner, an annual fundraiser that traditionally features the region’s Republican royalty. Republican Gov. John Kasich, a fierce Trump critic and 2016 presidential primary opponent, won’t be there. A spokesman said the term-limited governor, who lives in a suburb of the city where the president is speaking, had a personal scheduling conflict. No state features an uglier public clash between Trump and a sitting Republican governor. And ahead of high-stakes elections for governor, Senate and several House races, the red-hot intraparty feud threatens to undermine the GOP’s chances come November — and could linger into the next presidential campaign. Trump’s chief Ohio lieutenant, Bob Paduchik, the president’s hand-picked Republican National Committee co-chairman, cast Kasich as ‘childish’ and ‘insanely jealous’ in an op-ed this month. In a subsequent interview ahead of Friday’s dinner, Paduchik repeatedly dismissed any suggestion that Ohio’s GOP is divided.”
–The Associated Press, “Trump to Enter Divided Republican Party in Battleground Ohio,” The New York Times online, August 24, 2018