Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told Charlie Rose during an interview with 60 Minutes that New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, wasn’t chosen for President Donald Trump’s Cabinet because he didn’t support Trump during the whole “grab ‘em by the pussy” situation. (Because how dare Christie refuse to blindly support the then-Republican nominee, regardless of what controversial statements he made in the past.)
We’re all familiar with the outrageous comments that Trump said during an interview with Access Hollywood, with then-host Billy Bush, back in 2005. Mention of this scandal has resurfaced, though, because Bannon was able to gather a valuable “lesson” from the terrible remarks that Trump made.
“The Billy Bush Saturday to me is a litmus test. It’s a litmus test.” Bannon told Rose. “Billy Bush Saturday showed me who really had Donald Trump’s back to play to his better angels. All you had to do, and what he did, was go out and continue to talk to the American people. … People didn’t care. They knew Donald Trump was just doing locker room talk with a guy.” Apparently, Bannon took a valuable lesson from the Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood interview (which he dubbed “Billy Bush Sunday.”)
Unfortunately, the lesson that Bannon learned from the interview had nothing to do with respecting women or improving sexist rhetoric. Instead, he learned that he would use this scandal to see how many Cabinet candidates truly supported Trump, despite the horrendous things Trump said raunchy “locker room talk.”
Shortly after Bannon’s statement about the litmus test, Rose asked if Bannon noted anyone who reacted negatively to Trump’s clearly offensive comments. Naturally, Bannon explained that Christie wasn’t chosen for a Cabinet position, due to his reaction. How dare Christie be disgusted by Trump’s disgusting “locker room talk.”
Newsweek explains that Christie’s team responded shortly after CBS released the 60 Minutes interview. “He chose to stay as governor and complete his term. Any assertion to the contrary is simply factually incorrect,” Brian Murray, a spokesperson for Christie told NJ.com.
We don’t know if Christie’s failure of the “litmus test” was the determining factor as to why Trump didn’t offer Christie a spot in his cabinet. Regardless, it’s clear that Christie did not feel comfortable with Trump’s comments during the Access Hollywood interview.
But maybe Christie’s better off not being a part of the Cabinet, after all.