Tag: Christie

Christie, Trump take aim at DeSantis over Disney rift

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“I don’t think Ron DeSantis is a conservative, based on his actions towards Disney,” Christie said.
Former President Donald Trump also criticized DeSantis’ feud with Disney on Tuesday, writing in a Truth Social post that DeSantis is being “absolutely destroyed by Disney.”
“Disney’s next move will be the announcement that no more money will be invested in Florida because of the Governor — In fact, they could even announce a slow withdrawal or sale of certain properties, or the whole thing. Watch! That would be a killer. In the meantime, this is all so unnecessary, a political STUNT! Ron should work on the squatter MESS!” Trump said.
Christie told Semafor Editor-at-Large Steve Clemons that he’ll make a decision in the next couple of weeks on whether he’ll run for president in 2024.
DeSantis has not yet announced a bid for president.
“If you’re going to be serious about this, you probably have to make a decision by May,” Christie said.
Christie was seen speaking to more than three dozen of his former staffers and advisors about a possible 2024 presidential run Monday night in Washington.
“If we go forward, we want all of you to be with us,” Christie told the room Monday. “Thank you to all of you for everything you’ve already done for us. It’s been really, really an amazing ride. And you know what? It might not just be over yet.”

Christie said Tuesday the field for 2024 looks “vacant compared to what I dealt with in 2016.”
“In 2016, none of us took Trump seriously,” Christie said about the primary field of his last presidential campaign.
Christie ran for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination but dropped out in late February of that year. He went on to become one of the first high-profile endorsers of Trump, though the two aren’t close anymore following the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“You have someone who has had an affair with a porn star, paid her off $130,000 to cover it up, to keep that information from the American people … That’s not the character of somebody who I think should be president of the United States.”
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#Christie #Trump #aim #DeSantis #Disney #rift
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 18, 2023
Chris Christie takes wait-and-see approach to Trump indictment news

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Christie, a Trump acolyte-turned-critic and potential 2024 presidential rival, said Sunday that while criticism of Trump’s attacks on the judicial system is fair, there are “legitimate questions,” about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s motives.
“You can be incredibly critical of the way Trump treats all of our institutions, the judiciary, being part of it. And he has called for the use of prosecutorial power against people that he’s opposed to without knowing at all what the facts are. He should be criticized for that. I’ve criticized him for it and others have,” Christie said.
“At the same time, there can be legitimate questions to be raised about Alvin Bragg’s conduct and his lack of use of prosecutorial discretion here,” said, Christie, who argued that Bragg may not be making the best use of his limited resources.
“What I hate about our conversations about this right now, George, is that you have to be in one camp or the other. It’s not true,” Christie told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
The charges, Christie noted, could contain some unexpected material. “I do think there may be surprises in there for us,” he said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 2, 2023
Christie sees a lane in the GOP primary: Trump destroyer

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Christie’s former supporters in New Hampshire hope it’ll be him.
“We definitely need somebody strong and optimistic,” said Hillary Seeger, a conservative activist who backed Christie’s 2016 presidential bid. “We need to have somebody that can win the primary and the general election.”
Christie reunited a group of his New Hampshire backers on Monday night, when he returned to the state for a town hall at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics — a prerequisite for any presidential hopeful — followed by a private dinner with close friends, former supporters and some donors.
Christie was cagey about whether he is actually running for president again. But if he is — he’s said a decision could come in 45 to 60 days — he spelled out a clear lane for himself as Trump’s critic in chief.
Christie doesn’t see one in what is shaping up to be the 2024 Republican field.
“They’re going to wriggle right up next to him and say ‘I’m almost like him, but I’m not quite as bad,’” Christie said of his would-be rivals. “Let me tell you something, everybody. That’s going to lose as certain as he lost in ‘20, as we lost the House in ‘18, as we lost the Senate in ‘21, as we underperformed in ‘22.”
Christie later told reporters that “no one has to wonder” whether he’s got the chutzpah to take on Trump.
But just as Christie puffed up his own abilities, one audience member at Saint Anselm College openly questioned his credentials in that arena. Christie had plenty of opportunities to take down Trump in 2016, before he dropped out after a dismal sixth-place finish in New Hampshire’s primary, so why didn’t he do it then?

Christie chalked his performance in that primary up to “strategic error” — one that he doesn’t plan on making again.
“Trump said a few weeks ago: I am your retribution. Guess what everybody? No thanks,” Christie said. “The only person he cares about is him. And if we haven’t learned that since Election Day 2020 until today, we’re not paying attention.”
Christie also took direct shots at former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — hitting the former for not doing more to stand up to Trump and the latter over his mangled forays into foreign policy.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not a “territorial dispute,” as DeSantis said in now-walked-back remarks, but an act of “authoritarian aggression,” Christie said. And the U.S. doesn’t have to worry about being dragged into a “proxy war” with China over Ukraine — as DeSantis suggested — because “we’re in one.”
But even as he jabbed his would-be rivals, Christie also spoke repeatedly of injecting optimism and civility back into politics that these days is defined by “anger and retribution.”
And his old supporters who gathered in Manchester on Monday consider that to be a selling point for potential presidential candidates like Christie and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, another moderate-leaning Republican considering a run.
“You have Trump, and you have the alternative to Trump,” former New Hampshire GOP Chair Wayne MacDonald, who chaired Christie’s 2016 campaign in New Hampshire. “Once you start comparing his record in New Jersey with DeSantis’ record in Florida, you’re going to see a much more viable and effective leader than Governor DeSantis is. And I think that’s going to enable him to emerge as the alternative to President Trump.”
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#Christie #sees #lane #GOP #primary #Trump #destroyer
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 28, 2023