MAJOR PROBLEM FOR TRUMP – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:   The Republican National Convention is being held in Cleveland, Ohio.  But we've all noticed the absence of the governor Ohio, John Kasich, who competed against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.  The governor of the state always greets the convention of his party.  I've not seen what is happening this week happen before.  Byron York notes that it can have sever consequences for Donald Trump in November.  From the Washington Examiner:   

CLEVELAND — Walk around the Republican convention and talk to Ohioans, to Republicans from around the country, and to party strategists about the feud between Donald Trump and John Kasich, and here's the short version of what you'll hear: Kasich is being a jerk, but Trump is crazy to fight with him.

The Trump-Kasich spat is more than a sideshow. It's at the very heart of the presidential campaign. Of the various ways, none of them easy, for Trump to win the White House, the most direct is: Win all the states Mitt Romney won in 2012, and then, on top of that, win Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. Any other path starts to get really complicated. So a Republican who loses Ohio loses the presidency.

This fall, and especially in October, the GOP presidential candidate will need a huge assist from the Republican power structure in Ohio. He simply has to have it. And at the moment it looks very much like that won't happen.

"The governor has said that the nominee has to have a positive, inclusive vision, and unless there is a Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus conversion, he is not going to support [Trump]," Kasich spokesman Chris Schrimpf told me in a phone conversation Tuesday. "Whatever happens in Ohio for Donald Trump is a choice that Donald Trump will make, based on how he chooses to campaign."

The feud started as bad blood during the primary campaign. It continued after Kasich dropped out and refused to support Trump. And now, Kasich has made history by boycotting his own party's convention in his own state. Finally, on Monday, came the shots from Team Trump.

"He's embarrassing his party in Ohio," Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort said of Kasich during at a breakfast meeting, reported by the New York Times. "Negotiations broke down because John Weaver thinks that John Kasich will have a better chance to be president by not supporting Donald Trump."

COMMENT:  I suspect that's true, but read the rest of  York's well-reported story.  I'm sure Kasich has legitimate grievances against Trump – just about every opponent does – and some of Trump's foul behavior is now coming back to haunt him.  But I still think Kasich should have greeted the convention.  He is looking small.

July 21, 2016