Ohio governor John Kasich is a masochist.  He is sounding more and more as if he wants to challenge Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2020.

To deliberately set oneself up as a Twitter piñata for Trump when there's a ghost of a chance of prevailing takes a special kind of ego.  This is especially true when you insult the majority of Republicans who side with the president.

The Hill:

"I'm still a Republican," Kasich said.  "I didn't leave the Republican Party.  The Republican Party left me."

"We should care about people from top to bottom, not just those at the top, but everybody," he told Tapper.  "I can bring that party back.  That's what I'm going to do in one way or another."

Actually, anyone who believes in fiscal sanity and good governance is not a Republican, but let's not quibble.  John Kasich is making noises as though he will run the vanity campaign of all vanity campaigns and challenge Trump in 2020.

Washington Times:

"In my state, we have balanced budgets, surplus, we're up a half-million jobs, and then people say, 'Kasich's not a conservative.'  What does that mean?" he asked.

Mr. Kasich, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, has been floated as a potential Republican challenger to President Trump in 2020, telling Politico last month that, "All of my options are on the table."

Speculation heightened after CNBC reported Thursday that Mr. Kasich met last month with billionaire investor and donor Ron Burkle in Los Angeles.

The term-limited governor, who has criticized the GOP's direction under Mr. Trump, said Democrats are also failing what he called "the great middle."

"You have a department store that's red and a department store that's blue, and neither of them right now are providing products to the great middle, and you know what happens?" he said.  "That's how another store opens up in the neighborhood."

A lame metaphor from a lame candidate.  Who under the age of 30 even knows what a department store is?  And Kasich is not conservative – at least as the term is defined by those who claim to adhere to it.  It is no longer conservative to fight massive spending increases and skyrocketing debt.  If Kasich believes he is "conservative," he is sadly mistaken.

Donald Trump owns the Republican Party.  The state parties are beholden to him, and he controls the national party apparatus.  Yes, there are a few outliers like Kasich, but they are insignificant.  Trump will roll to the nomination in 2020 with no trouble at all – barring impeachment – and, for better or worse, be the GOP standard-bearer.