Hours before President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday, former Ohio Governor John Kasich, who ran against Trump in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, shared his optimism on social media.
Kasich wrote of Trump: “The President has a real opportunity at the State of the Union: Bring the country together. Remind us who we are. We saw it for brief moments recently celebrating Olympic medal wins by Team USA. Politics disappeared and we were simply Americans cheering together. We need more of that.”
The President has a real opportunity at the State of the Union: Bring the country together. Remind us who we are. We saw it for brief moments recently celebrating Olympic medal wins by Team USA. Politics disappeared and we were simply Americans cheering together. We need more of…
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) February 24, 2026
More than one X user replied “lmao” and other shows of sarcasm. Political scientist Ian Bremmer replied, “you sure we are talking about the same president here?” Actor Jon “Bowzer” Bauman — who campaigned for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election — replied, “Oh please stop. Are you an adult or a child? You mean if he just ‘changes his tone’ tonight he’ll be a different person? He is who he is. He is 79 years old. This is the real him. Deal with it. Harshly. It’s UN-AMERICAN!!!”
One of Kasich’s advisors on his 2016 presidential campaign, Jeff Timmer, Chief Operations Officer at The Lincoln Project, replied to his former boss:
“I respect the hell out of you, my friend. But this is so far afield from anything Trump is capable of that it defies all reason. He was incapable of normal human behavior in 2015-2016 and he’s only become more deranged, yet totally predictable, in his inability to do anything but destroy and fail.”
I respect the hell out of you, my friend. But this is so far afield from anything Trump is capable of that it defies all reason. He was incapable of normal human behavior in 2015-2016 and he’s only become more deranged, yet totally predictable, in his inability to do anything but…
— Jeff Timmer (@jefftimmer) February 24, 2026
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are expected to skip Trump’s address to show their displeasure with the President, while others intend to attend and bear witness. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries acknowledged both methods of protest, telling Democrats last week that “the two options that are in front of us in our House is to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend, and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion.”