Ohio Governor and Republican primary hopeful John Kasich said Sunday that Donald Trump’s controversial comments about Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly, “just doesn’t seem to bother” him and that Trump’s rhetoric does not affect his campaign’s overall strategy.
“It’s up to me to tell people about me and not be worrying about somebody else,” Kasich said during an interview with Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.”
Related: John Kasich: The surprising standout of the GOP debate
The Ohio governor also said he doesn’t think Trump’s candidacy is reflective of the entire Republican brand. “At the end of the day, you have a nominee. And the nominee is the person that reflects the views of the Republican party. And all the things that go on in these primaries are just simply things that are, you know, they go on today, but they’re forgotten tomorrow,” Kasich said.
The former nine-term Congressman in the U.S. House, said, “I have a right to define what I think is the Republican Party,” and he defended the right of others in the party to do the same.
While Kasich wouldn’t directly go after Trump for his comments about Kelly and other women, he took time to laud the women in his life.
“Whenever women touch anything, they always make it a little bit better,” Kasich stated, He also pointed to his female campaign manager and his Ohio administration’s female presence as “strong women” heavily involved in his own political life.
Additionally, Kasich responded to positive feedback on his Thursday night debate performance.
When told he was described by Time Magazine as the Republican Party’s potential “Pope Francis candidate,” Kasich welcomed the moniker, saying, “To me, that’s a compliment.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com
