Slamming 76-year-old President Donald Trump for the “big lie” that he was cheated by Democrats out of the 2020 election, 60-year-old former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tried to put his toe in the water, testing any receptivity to a 2024 presidential run. Christie ran in 2016, never gaining any traction at under 5% of the vote. Christie backed Trump in 2016 and 2020, serving as a transition team leader before Trump occupied the White House Jan. 20, 2017. Christie becomes the latest Michael Cohen, all for political purposes, betraying Trump thinking that he has a shot of reinventing himself in 2024. Gastric bypass surgery hasn’t changed much for the portly former New Jersey governor whose Bridegate scandal almost landed him with his close colleagues in jail. Yet Christie rides on his laurels of taking down Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) in a South Carolina primary debate.
Christie considers himself a GOP option to Trump, largely because he’s thinks he masters the one-liners, the only candidate capable of taking down Trump. Christie considers it a strategic error that he didn’t do the same thing to Trump what he did to Rubio in 2016. Like so many failed politicians, it’s always about “what if” he had done things differently. But Christie fails to recall he was angling in 2016 for a vice presidential offer from Trump that never happened. Forgetting he was under investigation by New Jersey authorities for Bridgegate in 2016, Christie was radioactive. “When you put yourself ahead of our democracy as president of the United States, it’s over,” Christie said, referring to Trump’s “big lie,” that Democrats cheated him out of the 2020 election. Christie says nothing about his legal trouble in 2016 when he was consumed by the Bridgegate scandal.
Christie fantasizes that the he could land on knock-out punch if given the chance in the 2024 to get rid of Trump. Republicans don’t look like they have another candidate to coalesce around, thinking that may it could be him. Christie spoke March 27 at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, a springboard for wannabe presidential candidates. Problem with Christie is that he had not traction in 2016 and isn’t likely to gain any in 2024. Republicans have big problem with Trump heading into next year’s GOP primaries because he retains just a enough of his base to maintain frontrunner status. No other GOP candidate currently in the race or considering jumping in has the charisma needed to wow GOP voters. Christie keeps boasting of what he did to Rubio in the 2016 debate, exposing him in a national TV debate. There’s little chance of Christie landing a knock-out punch on Trump.
Christie has nothing good to say about other possible 2024 candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence, another close confident of Trump that stabbed him in the back. Pence was dragged into the Jan. 6, 2023 Capitol Hill controversy, where Trump insisted that Pence could stop the Electoral Vote count. Pence, as VP, played a ceremonial role only in the Electoral College vote certification. While rabble-rousers turned the Capitol upside down, Pence huddled with his Democrat colleagues to certify the election for 80-tyyear-old President Joe Biden. “You have to be fearless because he will come right back at you,” Christie told the New Hampshire audience. Christie tries to sell himself at the one who can take down Trump. GOP voters find the disloyalty all the more sickening just like former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen currently working with the Manhattan DA to indict Trump.
Christie has no political position that distinguishes him from Biden, especially on the Ukraine War. Slamming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fl.) for saying Ukraine was a territorial dispute with Ukraine, Christie aligns himself with GOP war mongers like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who thinks 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin tires to conquer Europe. Unlike other GOP wannabes, Trump made his Ukraine War position clear as day: He would end the war before taking office. Christie agrees with the Biden policy of proxy war against the Kremlin, something turning Europe into another possible battlefield. Christie ripped DeSantis for not subscribing to the untenable Biden foreign policy, where the U.S. killed its longstanding diplomatic relations with Russia to back a proxy war against the Kremlin in Ukraine. Christie offers a continuation of the failed Biden foreign policy.
Offering himself to New Hampshire voters at the option from Trump, no one’s buying what Christie’s selling. “So you need to think about who’s got the skill to do that and who’s got the guts to do that because it’s not going to end nicely. No matter what, his end will not be calm and quiet,” Christie said about knocking Trump out of the race. Many of his audience at St. Anselm College back Trump. Undecided about running in 2024, Christie has no real backing to run a presidential race. If Christie thinks he can run on the Biden policy, he’s sadly mistaken. GOP voter know one thing, they want Biden out of the White House was soon as possible. Thoughts of a second term frighten GOP voters knowing damage to the economy and foreign policy in his first term. Christie offers GOP voters in New Hampshire or anywhere else just hot air, testing whether he’s got any appeal.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma..
