poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201609/985/1155968404_5131817641001_5131812686001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Kasich camp bashes Priebus, warns of national GOP 'wipeout' They are at odds over the Ohio governor's continued refusal to endorse Trump. 
 
 Ohio Gov. John Kasich's war with the national Republican Party exploded into the open Sunday night, when his top adviser thrashed GOP leader Reince Priebus and hinted that the presidential election may be out of reach for Donald Trump. 
 
 The statement, issued on official campaign letterhead, followed remarks by Priebus earlier Sunday suggesting the party might block the Ohio governor from running for president again because he has refused to support Trump. 
 
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 "Thankfully, there are still leaders in this country who put principles before politics," said John Weaver, Kasich's adviser, adding, "The idea of a greater purpose beyond oneself may be alien to political party bosses like Reince Priebus, but it is at the center of everything Governor Kasich does." 
 
 Weaver derided Priebus as "a Kenosha political operative," referring to Priebus's Wisconsin home, and said the three-term Republican National Committee leader should be thanking Kasich for "an inclusive, conservative vision that can actually win a national election." 
 
 "The Governor is traveling the nation supporting down ballot Republicans and preventing a potential national wipeout from occurring on Reince's watch," Weaver said. 
 
 Kasich's statement was a stunning act of open hostility between the national Republican Party and the governor in perhaps the most crucial swing state — and at a sensitive moment in the election. Trump has risen in national polls and inched closer to Hillary Clinton in swing states. He's even passed her in Ohio, perhaps his strongest chance to capture a state that Mitt Romney lost in 2012. 
 
 RNC spokesman Sean Spicer shrugged off the Kasich camp's statement. "We are totally focused on winning back the White House and maintaining our majorities in the House and Senate," Spicer said. 
 
 But another national GOP strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Kasich may end up getting punished by Republican voters for breaking his word to support the party's nominee -- which he made along with other rivals last fall. In fact, the party also makes its lists and resources available to campaigns based on similar agreements, and Kasich was a beneficiary of those lists. 
 
 "Politicians who sign their names on pledges and agreements then not honor them, are only doing harm to themselves, as they do nothing but illustrate to prospective voters their word means nothing," the operative said. 
 
 Yet, Kasich has persistently refused to endorse Trump since dropping out of the presidential primary on May 4. In an interview that aired Sunday on "Meet the Press," Kasich ruled out voting for Clinton but said "it's very, very likely I will not" vote for Trump. 
 
 Endorsements are rarely critical in national elections, but Kasich defeated Trump in a March primary in Ohio and has deep ties with local GOP leaders, giving him outsized influence over the machinery of the party. 
 
 Throughout the race and especially since dropping out, Kasich has presented his sunnier brand of politics and ties to the GOP establishment as an alternative to Trumpism. And in the process, he's infuriated party officials and Trump backers for continuing to needle their nominee. 
 
 "Those people need to get on board," Reince Priebus said of leading Republicans who have yet to endorse Donald Trump. | AP Photo 
 
 At the Republican National Convention in July — in Kasich's backyard in Cleveland — Kasich refused to attend but held a string of events on the margins to push his own version of Republicanism. 
 
 That steadfast refusal to fall in line prompted Priebus to hint Sunday that the party might not forgive its leaders who refused to back Trump in the home stretch of the campaign. 
 
 "Those people need to get on board. And if they're thinking they're going to run again someday, I think that we're going to evaluate the process — of the nomination process and I don't think it's going to be that easy for them," he said on "Face the Nation" on CBS, after he was specifically asked about Kasich. 
 
 "In order to be on the ballot in South Carolina, you actually have to pledge your support to the nominee, no matter who that person is. So what's the penalty for that? It's not a threat, but that's just the question that we have a process in place," Priebus continued. 
 
 Priebus worried that the lack of unity among Republicans was hurting Trump's electoral chances, even as signs of coalescing had begun. 
 
 "We need to do a couple more percentage points better and we're doing that as we move forward," he said. 
 
 

 Story highlights A top aide to John Kasich slammed the chair of the Republican Party in a statement late Sunday 
 
 RNC Chair Reince Priebus had warned of consequences for not backing nominee 
 
 (CNN) A top aide to Ohio Gov. John Kasich criticized Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus after the party chairman warned of consequences for former presidential candidates like Kasich who've refused to back Donald Trump for president, despite signing loyalty pledges during the primary. 
 
 "The idea of a greater purpose beyond oneself may be alien to political party bosses like Reince Priebus, but it is at the center of everything Governor Kasich does," said John Weaver, Kasich's chief strategist. "He will not be bullied by a Kenosha political operative that is unable to stand up for core principles or beliefs." 
 
 Weaver was responding to Priebus' appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. During that interview, the RNC chairman suggested that GOP presidential candidates who'd signed pledges to back the eventual Republican nominee during the 2016 primary, but who have since withheld support for Trump's candidacy, could be prevented from running for president again by the party. Kasich has repeatedly said he does not plan to endorse Trump. 
 
 "Those people need to get on board," Priebus said. "And if they're thinking they're going to run again someday, I think that we're going to evaluate the process -- of the nomination process and I don't think it's going to be that easy for them." 
 
 "People in our party are talking about what we're going to do about this. I mean there's a ballot access issue in South Carolina. In order to be on the ballot in South Carolina, you actually have to pledge your support to the nominee, no matter who that person is," he explained. "So what's the penalty for that? It's not a threat, but that's just the question that we have a process in place."
– Over the weekend, Republican National Committee chief Reince Priebus warned Donald Trump's former rivals in the primaries that they should endorse Trump or risk retribution from the party if they ever run for office again. Well, one of those former rivals isn't having it. On official campaign letterhead, an adviser to Ohio Gov. John Kasich said the governor "will not be bullied by a Kenosha political operative that is unable to stand up for core principles or beliefs," report Politico and CNN. Kenosha is Priebus' hometown in Wisconsin. "The idea of a greater purpose beyond oneself may be alien to political party bosses like Reince Priebus, but it is at the center of everything Governor Kasich does," wrote John Weaver. What's more, he said Priebus ought to be thanking Kasich, who is currently working on behalf of GOP candidates he sees as endangered with Trump at the top of the ticket. The governor "is traveling the nation supporting down ballot Republicans and preventing a potential national wipeout from occurring on Reince's watch." Kasich and others, including Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush, signed a pledge to support the eventual nominee but have not done so.