Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had harsh words for fellow Republican and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who spoke Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in favor of presumptive nominee Joe Biden.
What are the details?
Christie, who is now a contributor on ABC News, was asked for his take on “how big a threat” Republican endorsements of Biden might be to President Donald Trump.
“Zero. Zero,” Christie replied. “They’re absolutely meaningless.”
Focusing in on Kasich, the New Jersey Republican, who was a rival of Kasich’s during the 2016 presidential primary, continued, “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 explained, “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 laughed.
Two other Republicans, former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (N.J.) and former Rep. Susan Molinari (N.Y.), also spoke at the opening night of the DNC convention. Christie dismissed them both, too, saying they are not prominent names in the party.
What did Kasich say?
Kasich delivered his pre-recorded speech standing literally at a gravel “crossroads.”
“I’m a lifelong Republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country,” Kasich said in his address. “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.”
The Republican was given more time to speak at the convention than Democratic socialist firebrand Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Anything else?
The Hill reported that ahead of Kasich’s appearance at the DNC, Trump said of Kasich, “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.”