 With a White House in disarray and a looming battle in Congress over the federal budget, let's get some perspective now from Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is also the author of Two Paths, America Divided or United and Governor. It's great to have you here. Thanks so much for your time. I want to begin with President Trump's budget proposals, $3.6 trillion in cuts, increases for defense spending. You have plenty of experience working on budgets, not just as Ohio governor, but also during your time in Congress as chairman of the House Budget Committee. What was your reaction to Trump's budget? Well, it's just a piece of paper with a lot of numbers on it, and you know, every president submits it. You know, sometimes they declare a dead-on arrival, other times they don't. I mean, now the hard work begins to take a look at the priorities, you know, and the assumptions that underlie, you know, the projections. But you know, it's too, I don't get too worked up about this. I guess if I were chairman of the Budget Committee, I'd be more worked up. Those were days gone past. And so what is important in all of this is that you make sure that your economic assumptions are realistic, because that determines your growth. And when I think about that, it takes me back to the 90s when we went through a government shutdown, of which I was a part, because the Clinton administration had been projecting a very significant economic growth, way, I mean, totally unrealistic, rosy scenario. And that was how they were going to get the budget balance, and of course, that doesn't work. So we actually came out of that shutdown, got some more realistic economic projections, and we were able to achieve the first balanced budget since Man had walked on the moon. So these assumptions are very important. Well, we seem to have rosy assumptions in this budget, right, 3% economic growth, which is much higher than what the Congressional Budget Office is projecting. You know, what are the consequences of having such a rosy outlook? And do you think the Trump administration will kind of come back down to earth with their assumptions? Well, that's going to be up to the House and the Senate to determine that. And so the White House has a chance to, you know, kind of get the first thing in. And I don't know that it's unrealistic to say that we couldn't grow at 3%. I mean, I would hope in America if we could have more business investment, higher productivity, along with some tax reductions, I don't think we ought to be settling for 2%. I don't think we can get the 3%. But also when you do tax cuts, of course, even though you might want to say you're going to have all this extra revenue, and some of it you will have, you also don't want to be blue-skying that and be unrealistic. So I just think that they put a proposal together. They send it to the Hill, and now it works its way through the committees, and it's a long process. And I want to talk about tax cuts in a moment, but what about the hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid in the budget? I mean, you expanded Medicaid in your state. Yeah, I mean, this is a long talk about health care policy. But I think they're proposing somewhere around $6 to $800 billion. I mean, that's just not realistic. But you notice I'm not all that worked up because this is just not that significant. I mean, White House has always submit their budgets, and then Congress goes to work, and then ultimately you get into a negotiation. But there's no effort to fix or improve modernized social security or Medicare, and $600 billion, some projecting $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid, that's not going to happen. So you can either walk around with your hair on fire or you just say, look, it's a long way to get this resolved. But does this looming negotiation delay some of the rest of Trump's agenda, like tax reform? Because the budget isn't exactly a middle of the ground proposal. And for our investor audience out there, they want tax reform. No, I don't think so. I don't think they even spelled out the details in tax reform. I'm not sure whether the president submitted a tax cut package, which I thought the best parts were, of course, lowering the corporate rate and going to a territory approach. The other thing I really liked about it was the idea that there would be some incentives for small businesses. Because we know small businesses create most of the jobs. I'm not particularly enamored with the top rate cut. I mean, I think the wealthy are doing just fine. But if the tax relief could be fashioned at the working poor and the middle class, I think that would be good. But ultimately, the reduction in corporate rates and also for these past two entities I think is very positive. All right, now how should people take this budget seriously when we have a host of damaging media leaks where it seems as though Trump has been trying to interfere with the investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election? How does the Trump administration move forward legislatively with these distractions in the background? Well, you have to be able to chew gum and walk at the same time. And so do I think that it's possible that they can carry on normal business? Probably not, as I never worked in the White House. But I would think it's distracting to some. But I think it's also important, and I think they realize it, that it's also important to sort of change the message. And so if they can be talking about tax cuts and economic growth, I think that's a good message out of there. And I think whenever anybody is under duress, everybody wants to change the message. And so I think you can do both. Now, when you read these reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post that Trump reportedly asked James Comey to end the Michael Flynn investigation and that firing Comey relieved a lot of pressure, do you see an obstruction of justice case brewing? And I mean, what are the chances of an impeachment of President Trump in your view? Look, we're going to have a full investigation. Probably the Senate Intelligence Committee is going to carry on effectively, at least I hope so. You have Robert Mueller, who's been brought in. He's very well respected. And they just need to get to the bottom of it all with great transparency. And when it's all over, with Mueller being the special counsel, he's got great credibility. And what we really want to do is have the American people say, OK, they looked at it, we're done. We move on. And I hope there'll be nothing there because for the good of the country, there are a lot of things we have to tackle, which are things like the debt of this country, the tax reform, the issues of trade, the issues of preparing our education system or driving our education system to the 21st century challenges to make sure that our people have the skills they need. I mean, these are all critical issues. So I hope at the end, there'll be a kind of a clean report and we'll be able to move on. All right, but when we hear people throw around the impingement word, is that farfetched at this point? Well, they throw around words all the time if you haven't noticed in order to get eyeballs. And I hope you guys and ladies don't do that. I mean, it's all hyperbole now because we got to get somebody to look at what we're saying. So I don't use words like that because I just think it's just where we live today. Everything is hyped up. Everything is hyperbole. And did you see that? And did you hear that? Everybody calmed down a little bit. And Governor, when we see all this chaos in DC, I think it only exacerbates the problem you clearly outlined in your book, which is the division in this country, the anger, the bitterness. How do we go about fixing it? Well, I think, first of all, it's not just in Washington. I mean, you guys report business news, OK? How'd you feel about Wells Fargo? How'd you feel about United Airlines? How'd you feel about EpiPen? I mean, how do you feel about athletes that are taking the field who are involved in domestic violence? I mean, it's affecting all of us when we forget whether our mothers and fathers have taught us the virtues and values that we're supposed to move forward on. We're not looking for sainthood. But we are looking for a sense that, as the second great commandment is, love your neighbor as you want your neighbor to love you. And so I think we all need to take a deep breath. We need to show respect to people that we don't agree with. Frankly, everybody in America ought to take 10 minutes every day to absorb something that they don't agree with. And we will never get anywhere in this country if all we're doing is fighting, dividing, and polarizing ourselves. And I talk about this everywhere I go. I was in Austin last night talking about it. And people at the beginning didn't like it. But over time, I think they got it. So treat your neighbor as you want your neighbor to treat you. Run your business as you would want some business to be treating you and your family. And we'll be in better shape. So is Donald Trump making this division worse with the tweets, the rhetoric, the remarks, and the press conferences? Well, look, again, we're spending too much time here on Donald Trump. I think what we need to think more about is what's happening in our neighborhoods. I mean, everybody wants to focus on Washington. I mean, by and large, I mean, obviously, Washington impacts the economy, health care, and all those things. But on a day-to-day real basis, the things that affect your life happen at the workplace. They happen in your home. And they happen in your neighborhood. Why don't we focus on that? And why don't we all become a little bit better at unifying? Doesn't mean we have to change our views. Look, believe me, the next time you turn around, I'm probably on a camera phone yelling or arguing with somebody, OK? That doesn't mean we get it right. But we know what the way we ought to conduct ourselves. Because that's what creates a legacy that we live a life a little bigger than ourselves at times. And that's the interesting thing about this book. Many people, when you see a politician writing a book, they think it's just all going to be about political gobbly book. But I would like people to read it, because it is about our culture. It's about our country. It's about how we got to where we are and how we can improve. Governor, I want to talk about your future. Are you going to run for president in 2020? Very unlikely. I don't have any plans. If I were thinking about running for president, I'd be behaving in a much different way. My job is to finish my term as governor. I have about a year and a half left. And be very strong in terms of getting that done. But in terms of what the future is, the only thing I can tell you about my future is I know it's in front of me. All right, Governor, I don't mean to take a complete U-turn here, but I want to end on this note. We're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Sergeant Pepper's album from the Beatles. Are you a fan of the album? And do you want to share any memories from that time? Well, I want to share one memory with you now. And not about so much Sergeant Pepper, obviously an incredible album. But I just was down at the Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio, and had a chance to spend some time with the band Live, which I'm not sure you're familiar with. But they're a great band. They came together for the first time in eight years. And following Live on that night, Friday night, was supposed to be Soundgarden. And of course, we had the death of Chris Cornell. All of it ultimately connected to drugs and depression and all these other things. And we were all saddened by that. And these musicians, they can touch our souls. And we're all going to miss Chris Cornell. We were inspired by the music of the Beatles. And here's an interesting thing. As politics gets to be less about fighting and more about the poetry, some of which we find in music, we'd be a heck of a lot better off. All right, Governor John Kasich from Ohio, author of Two Pass, America Divided or United. Governor, it's great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for letting me be here. Thank you. All right, I'm Scott Gamm, and you're watching The Street.