Former New Jersey Governor and GOP Presidential candidate Chris Christie continues to slam GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, a man he once supported so strongly that he helped Trump prepare for his debates with Hillary Clinton.
Christie says he began to see Trump in a new light after Trump’s one-term presidency, and he now believes Trump is unfit to serve as he campaigns — while under multiple indictments — for a second term in office.
Christie has repeatedly characterized Trump as a liar, recently adding “con artist” and “grifter” to his Trump name-calling. (Christie also says that “most Republicans” know that Trump is too “self-consumed to ever be an effective president” and that he’s a “political failure.”)
This week he told CNN that Trump’s supporters should question why they need to send $25 or $50 of their hard-earned pay to billionaire Trump to pay his legal fees, since — as Christie puts it — Trump’s own conduct is the reason why he’s in legal turmoil.
“He is using these people in a way that I don’t think they completely know about,” Christie says, portraying Trump’s supporters and donators as ignorant of Trump’s real intent. “He is conning them out of their money.”
Christie: You really need to have people who are donating 10, 20, $50 to your campaign, pay for your high-priced lawyers for indictments that you all brought on yourself by paying off of a porn star, by holding back classified documents.. pic.twitter.com/aZUgNPsAoN
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 21, 2023
Christie targets his appeal to Never Trumpers and Lincoln Project types who believe the real GOP and Donald Trump’s MAGA are different animals, whereas there is a lot of recent evidence — see Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kevin McCarthy — that these days the real GOP is MAGA.
The comments on Christie’s more vituperative posts show that his relentless attacks on Trump don’t have the broad appeal, so far, that he hopes — and Christie is still polling below 5%.
This is so stupid I have no clue what to do with it. But donate to get me on the debate stage and maybe I’ll have something by then….https://t.co/LRga8vxF51 pic.twitter.com/IhgEbLciFg
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) July 11, 2023
In the tweet above, Christie says a wild accusatory Trump post in which the former President calls Special Counsel Jack Smith “deranged” is “so stupid.” The comments, however, dominated by MAGA adherents, seem to indicate Christie will have to expand his appeal beyond pure Trump attacks if he hopes to make inroads in the new GOP.
