Trump targets Christie and the N.H. paper that endorsed him

NASHUA, N.H., Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Donald Trump started the week with his sights set on the New Hampshire Union Leader, as well as its candidate of choice for the 2016 presidential race -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Monday night at a campaign event in Nashua, N.H., Trump called the paper a "pile of garbage," accusing editor Joseph McQuaid of being "dishonest" and a "lowlife," and capped off his rant by throwing a copy of the paper off the stage.

Trump was responding to an editorial McQuaid published Sunday calling Trump a "crude blowhard" and comparing him to Biff Tannen, the bad guy from the Back to the Future film franchise.

It's not a new comparison -- Back to the Future screenwriter Bob Gale told The Daily Beast in October that he actually had the mogul in mind when writing Tannen's character.

Trump then took aim at Christie, who received the paper's endorsement a month ago. Trump tore into Christie, slamming everything from Christie's infamous hug with President Barack Obama in 2012, the multiple credit downgrades New Jersey has suffered under Christie's leadership -- and even the closing of the George Washington Bridge in 2013 which ignited a scandal implicating members of Christie's administration.

Trump also accused McQuaid of being Christie's "lapdog." Later Monday, in an interview with WMUR in New Hampshire, Trump accused Christie of weighing in on McQuaid's editorial.

"This is the way Chris is, and he's the one who got McQuaid to do this, there's no question in my mind," Trump said.