GOP Presidential candidate Chris Christie has positioned himself as the only politician in the Republican field with the skill set and desire to take on nomination frontrunner Donald Trump.
Christie has been virtually alone so far among his competitors in his willingness to attack Trump and to declare the former President unfit for the POTUS job. (The other GOP candidates, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are inclined to thank Trump for his previous service and try to convince voters it’s a new day — and time for a change.)
But over the post-indictment weekend, even as Christie condemned Trump’s “conduct” and praised the DOJ’s “evidence-filled indictment,” Christie also did Trump some rhetorical favors– taking shots at the DOJ’s credibility and mentioning Hillary Clinton, striking two of Trump’s favorite targets.
Is this the type of conduct we want from someone who wants to be President of the United States? We have to focus on the conduct, and the conduct is bad. pic.twitter.com/9RNMLKMXAM
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) June 10, 2023
Christie touts his bona fides as a former U.S. Attorney who brought “130 political corruption prosecutions against Republicans and Democrats” — and he declares that the facts in the Trump indictment are “devastating.”
But Christie also subtly downplays the gravity of what Trump is accused of when Christie says that if Trump had just “given all the documents back, we wouldn’t be here today.” Christie’s statement implies that Trump’s lack of cooperation was the central problem.
Christie will sound like a lion compared to the lamb-like responses of others in the GOP race, who largely echoed Trump’s refrain of “witch hunt” when responding to the indictment. (Note: GOP candidate Asa Hutchinson also broke with MAGA, saying no one is above the law.)
But a careful listen reveals that while Christie is confirming the legitimacy of the DOJ charges against Trump, he is at the same time giving air to some of Trump’s main claims — including that the DOJ has been wrong not to prosecute Democrats.
Christie says Trump’s “conduct is bad,” but he also says, “I think the prosecution, DOJ is at fault for not charging Hillary Clinton, it’s at fault for what happened in the Russia investigation, because it undercut people’s confidence in the system.”
And while Christie goes on to say that the DOJ being (in his opinion) wrong on those previous cases doesn’t make it wrong this time — it doesn’t make Donald Trump innocent — Christie’s inability to criticize Trump without also criticizing the DOJ gives Trump a rhetorical gift.
Because Donald Trump’s primary message is that people should not have confidence in the system, that the system is “rigged” against him and that he is a victim of its biases.
As a party, we have to ask ourselves: are we going to actually prosecute a case against Joe Biden? Or continue to defend the criminal conduct of Donald Trump? pic.twitter.com/GqXaWXFstB
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) June 10, 2023
