‘Backstabber’: Chris Christie Dismisses Kasich’s Biden Endorsement as Meaningless

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie slammed former Ohio governor John Kasich on Monday for his endorsement of Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention, calling him a “backstabber” and an “untruthful guy.”

A group of Republicans — which included Kasich, former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman, and former Representative Susan Molinari (N.Y.) — spoke at the DNC on Monday night in support of Biden. When asked on ABC News “how big a threat” Republican endorsements would be to President Donald Trump, Christie, a Republican, said “Zero. Zero. They’re absolutely meaningless,” before zeroing in on Kasich, who was one of his opponents in the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

“Just to show you where John Kasich’s standing is in the Republican Party: When he was the only Republican governor left on the stage in 2016 — Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich, [were] the three candidates left — do you know how many Republicans governors, of his colleagues, his sitting colleagues, endorsed John Kasich? Zero,” Christie said.

“And the reason they didn’t endorse him is because he’s a backstabber, and he’s an untruthful guy. And so, tonight, Republicans are going to look at that and go, ‘you can have him. Please, believe me, give us a break, get him out of our party, you take him for a little while, because on top of that, I’ve worked with John a lot. He’s exhausting.”

“Joe Biden’s going to be getting calls from John Kasich — he’s going to want to change his phone number,” Christie added with a laugh.

President Trump tweeted his support of Christie’s remarks on Tuesday morning, saying, “John Kasich did a bad job in Ohio, ran for President and was easy to beat, and now went to the other side desperate for relevance. Good Job by Chris C in exposing yet another loser!

Ahead of Kasich’s speech at the convention’s opening night, Trump had taken aim at the former Ohio governor, calling him a “major loser,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

“He was a loser as a Republican, and he’ll be a loser as a Democrat. Major loser as a Republican. I guess you can quote me on that. John was a loser as a Republican. Never even came close. And as a Democrat, he’ll be an even greater loser.”

Kasich delivered a pre-recorded speech about the country being at a “crossroads” from an actual gravel crossroads.

“I’m a lifelong Republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country,” Kasich said. “That’s why I’ve chosen to appear at this convention. In normal times, something like this would probably never happen, but these are not normal times.”

He added, “We can all see what’s going on in our country today and all the questions that are facing us, and no one person or party has all the answers. But what we do know is that we can do better than what we’ve been seeing today, for sure. And I know that Joe Biden, with his experience and his wisdom and his decency, can bring us together to help us find that better way.”

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