By Henry J. Gomez @ BuzzFeed.com, April 27

[....] “I’m pro-environment, I’m pro-trade, I’m anti-debt, I’m pro-immigration, I’m pro-NATO,” Kasich continued. “And when I look at the party, I see it moving in a different direction. But I’ve always said I have the right to define what it means to be a Republican and a conservative.”

At a time when he clearly wants to remain a player on the national stage, Kasich is struggling with his political identity — and so is his party. If and where he fits in a GOP led by Donald Trump will say a great deal about the kind of Republicans who can succeed in it, and whether there’s still space for the open and internationalist values Kasich and other Republicans long have cherished.

Twice Wednesday — once during a forum at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and later in the SUV — Kasich said the day is coming when a well-funded independent can win the White House.

“Both parties, I think, are missing it,” Kasich said. “That’s why I said tonight, and I’ll say again in this car, that I think they’re going to matter less and less unless they get their act together.”

The big story of Kasich’s big media week isn’t the predictable swipes he takes at President Trump in the book. And it’s not that he is refusing to rule out a Republican primary challenge to Trump in 2020, though his visit here Thursday raises such speculation.

It’s that Kasich seems tempted by the idea of running for president as an independent [....]