Callers blast Christie as he hosts radio show
TRENTON, N.J. — With a new poll showing voters are outraged that Gov. Chris Christie sunned himself on a closed beach during a government shutdown last week, the term-limited governor auditioned for a sports talk radio job on Monday, brashly fighting back against angry callers.
Christie, a Republican, began co-hosting the afternoon show on New York’s WFAN shortly after the first poll released since “Beachgate” showed his approval rating holding steady at a dismal 15 percent, an alltime low. Eighty percent of respondents disapproved, the Monmouth University poll showed.
The New Jersey governor, a big New York Mets fan, revealed that he had donned a Mets T-shirt, shorts and hat the day an NJ.com photographer in an airplane snapped pictures of him lounging in a beach chair at Island Beach State Park, which was offlimits to the public.
Christie was filling in for host Mike Francesa on WFAN on Monday afternoon and will again Tuesday afternoon. The station said the appearances are an audition as it seeks a replacement for Francesa, who’s departing.
One caller told Christie he had done a “horrible job” and asked what he thought of the job being done by President Donald Trump.
“I’m enormously relieved we don’t have a criminal in the White House like Hillary Clinton,” Christie said.
Another caller referred to Christie, who’s portly, as a “fat ass.”
“I’m not the one who came on the air and swore on the air,” Christie said. “You’re a bum.”