'Congress has gone totally silent': Ex-GOP governor puts Republican leaders on notice

Reacting to House Speaker Mike Johnson suggesting Ukraine needs a new leader in the wake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's dust up in the Oval Office, one Republican spoke out forcefully against GOP lawmakers.

Johnson, a fierce ally to Donald Trump, recently said, "Either he [Zelensky] needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country to do that."

Former Gov. John Kasich (R-OH), a longtime Trump skeptic, appeared on MSNBC to discuss the comments and the GOP response to Trump publicly berating Zelensky.

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Asked by the host, "What do you make of this reaction from fellow Republicans?" Kasich asked, "Where are the Republican senators?"

"There has been a history in the United States senate. People like Bob Dole... there has been a history of people there who've been able to operate independently, basically from the executive, you know, in our country today, the congress has gone totally silent," he said. "And so the executive has all the authority."

He continued:

"You know, you think about those children, those Ukrainian children in those air raid shelters experiencing bombings... they're frightened out of their minds. Are they ever going to have a life? How are they going to recover from this? We talk about PTSD. Think about the children there. Think about the women and the men who have given up their lives for freedom. That's all they're doing. They're fighting against an authoritarian dictator. And we're going to be saying that Zelensky overreacted. He's the leader of a country that's paying in blood and death for their people to maintain their freedom."

He then directed a message to GOP leaders:

"Knock it off, politicians. Come on. This is clear as anything we can see... Come on, senators, speak up. Do your job."

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