Politics & Government

Chris Christie Calls COVID Testing Shortage 'Unacceptable,' Blames President Biden

Mendham resident Chris Christie also took a swing at President Joe Biden for his handling of the teachers unions.

Mendham resident Chris Christie took a swing at President Joe Biden’s administration and their handling of the COVID pandemic.
Mendham resident Chris Christie took a swing at President Joe Biden’s administration and their handling of the COVID pandemic. (Courtesy of Rick Uldricks)

MENDHAM, NJ — New Jersey’s former Governor Chris Christie hammered at President Joe Biden in a recent Fox News segment that recently aired, criticizing him for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and calling him a "captive of the teachers union."

In an interview with Martha MacCallum on FOX, Christie said Biden was incompetent "on a monumental scale" after Biden recently said the United States was "on the right track" in handling the COVID pandemic.

Christie said Biden's optimism about COVID was wrong, commenting to MacCallum that his mother used to tell him, "Actions speak louder than words."

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He called it unacceptable that after Biden "forced the Congress to appropriate $1.9 trillion additional dollars," in fighting the pandemic in January 2021, the COVID testing lines are still, what Christie describes, "monumental."

Christie called the testing shortage "unacceptable nearly two years into this pandemic, with all the money that President Biden has thrown at this problem."

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Christie went on to criticize Biden for "bowing down to the teachers union," commenting specifically about Chicago’s, asking if the schools there will make up time over the summer.

Chicago's teachers were striking and lost four days of pay, with classes for 330,000 students now back to in-person learning after the union and Chicago Public Schools struck a tentative agreement for more COVID testing, contact tracing and N95 masks within the city's schools.

"Martha, he [Biden] needs to let his actions speak louder than his words," Christie continued.

Christie made a comparison between Biden and former President Ronald Reagan and Reagan’s handling of the air traffic controllers who weren’t working and refused to return, later firing them.

"Joe Biden is a captive of the teachers union," commenting that with First Lady Jill Biden a teachers union member, the administration "might as well have a permanent teachers union office in the White House."

He said kids need to be back in school and the "harm that’s being caused to our children every day and our short-term and long-term future is ridiculous."

Biden’s quick fix, Christie said, is for the President to tell every teacher in the country to "get back to work," saying, "If he did [tell them to get back to work] they’d do it."

MacCallum addressed former President Trump’s handling of Operation Warp Speed calling it "impatience," stating Biden should act with more impatience in ensuring COVID testing is moving along and prioritizing it for those who especially need it.

Having sparred with Trump throughout the end of 2021 by taking swings at him on talk shows, including reminding him of his loss to Biden in the 2020 election, in his interview with MacCallum, Christie this time, said about Trump, "That’s what leadership looks like."

"Instead what we see is somebody who looks lost," Christie commented about Biden.

"This is not a leader," Christie said. "This is someone who was put into place by the Democratic Party, purely to get rid of Republicans and Donald Trump."

He called Biden a "tool of the far progressive, woke left."

Watch the full segment in Christie’s Facebook post below:


This story contains reporting by Mark Konkol

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.

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