Chris Christie said Wednesday that he definitely won’t vote for former President Trump, but he isn’t sold on backing President Biden, who he said is “past the sell-by date.”
The former Republican New Jersey governor said he is sticking with the #NeverTrump stance he ran on in a failed GOP presidential bid, citing his deep concerns about Trump’s fitness for office.
“I’m not voting for Trump under any circumstances. If he’s the only person on the ballot, I’m not voting for Trump,” Christie told the Washington Post in a 90-minute sit-down interview. “I know him too well, and he is wholly unfit to be president of the United States in every way you think.”
He echoed the fears of other Trump critics that a second Trump presidency would be focused on exacting revenge.
“He will be on the vendetta tour against all enemies that he perceives,” Christie said. “And that’s a scary thing for the country.”
Despite ruling out a vote for Trump, Christie said he doesn’t “think” he will vote for Biden either, citing concerns about the president’s age.
“President Biden, in my view, is past the sell-by date,” Christie said. “Right now, I couldn’t say to myself, I think Joe Biden is capable of being president today, let alone at 86.”
Despite the criticism, Christie stressed that he does not agree with Republican smears of Biden as senile or stupid.
“And that’s not an observation on his intellect,” he said. “That’s an observation on his age, and how the aging process has affected him.”
In a telling remark, Christie admitted that his calculus about voting for Biden is easier because he votes in deep-blue New Jersey, not one of the battleground states that will effectively determine whether Trump returns to power.
“I don’t know what the hell I’d do,” Christie said, noting that Biden has not asked for his support.
Christie ran against Trump in 2016 but endorsed him after dropping out of the race.
In the recent GOP contest, he ran as a #NeverTrump moderate along with former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. He dropped out before the New Hampshire primary amid poor poll numbers.
Haley, who left the race in March saying she could not beat Trump, has not yet endorsed Trump or anyone else.
Ex-Vice President Mike Pence, who has also broken from Trump, ruled out voting for either Biden or Trump but has not said for whom he will cast his ballot in November.
