Of course you can say "But Democrats would have used the character assassination strategy on him like they did with Romney", okay, but what did they do with Trump? They basically destroyed him on the airwaves, outspent him badly and defined him as a monster very early on... and it didn't work. Clinton ran one of the most negative campaigns in history, and she lost. Why would the same failed strategy work with someone like Kasich?
Because the attacks on Trump were so over the top (Nazi, fascist, rapist, etc.) that no sane person took them seriously. That combined with his political talent and perceived "openness" make him a different animal from most Republicans when it comes to being able to weather attacks from the left.
