Christie rips ‘backstabber’ Kasich over Biden endorsement: ‘He’s exhausting’

Chris Christie ripped former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) for endorsing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention late Monday, with the former New Jersey governor calling his fellow Republican a “backstabber” and saying it was “exhausting” to work with him.

“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 [the 2016 GOP primary] — 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,” Christie, who is now an ABC political analyst, continued. “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 also said.

Chris Christie absolutely destroyed John Kasich pic.twitter.com/lgfY9Arifk

— Joel Fischer (@JFNYC1) August 18, 2020

President Trump took note of Christie’s criticism of Kasich in a tweet to his more than 85 million followers.

“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!” he tweeyed.

Ahead of Kasich’s speech at the Democratic convention’s opening night, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the former Ohio governor was a “major loser.” 

“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,” he said.

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! https://t.co/WZw2U7lcrf

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2020

Kasich and several former Republican officials, including former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former Rep. Susan Molinari of New York, spoke at the mostly virtual convention on Monday to rally behind Biden in appearances that Christie called “absolutely meaningless” in terms of impact.

Kasich, currently a CNN contributor, delivered a pre-recorded speech in front of gravel crossroads in making the argument the country itself is at a crossroads.

“I’m a lifelong Republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country,” he 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.”

“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,” he said.

Democratic convention speakers for Tuesday night include Jill Biden, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and former President Clinton, among others.

Biden, 77, is expected to accept the party’s presidential nomination on Thursday evening.