Global Courant
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced that he is running for president, injecting a dose of anti-Trump criticism into a Republican primary field largely reluctant to cross paths with its leading nominee.
Christie spoke unscripted at a town hall event in Manchester, New Hampshire, calling out the former president by name as he spoke at length about what he saw as a leadership crisis at a critical time in American history.
“A lonely, selfish, selfish mirror pig is not a leader,” Christie said.
“The person I’m talking about, who’s obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a mistake,” Christie then clarified, “is Donald Trump.”
Christie also seemed to acknowledge that he is considered a long shot in the Republican primary, where Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are the clear frontrunners.
“I’ll tell you tonight I can’t guarantee you success in what I’m about to do. But I guarantee you that at the end of it you won’t have any doubts about who I am and what I do.” stand for and whether I deserve it,” Christie said.
“I intend to seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2024, and I want your support,” he said.
Christie, 60, announced his campaign in the same state where his last presidential bid was overturned.
Christie placed sixth in that state’s primary in 2016 and retired from the race soon after. In a surprise move, Christie endorsed then-candidate Donald Trump a few days later. He then helped Trump prepare for his debate against current President Joe Biden in the 2020 contest.
But his support for Trump dried up soon after, as the former president, following his loss to Biden, fed his supporters a firehose of conspiracy theories and false allegations of widespread voter fraud as he pushed to reverse his defeat.
Like many Republicans, Christie criticized Trump after a violent mob of then-president supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, derailing the peaceful transfer of power to Biden. But as much of the GOP establishment softened its stance on Trump in the months that followed, Christie kept up his criticism.
“I think he’s a coward and I think he’s a puppet of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Christie said. last month in response to Trump’s comments about the war in Ukraine during a CNN town hall.
Christie, whose aggressive removal of Senator Marco Rubio in a 2016 Republican debate was a highlight of his campaign, has stressed that Trump’s current challengers must vigorously confront him on the debate stage.
“You better have someone on that stage who will do to him what I did to Marco, because that’s the only thing that’s going to beat Donald Trump,” Christie said. said in March.
“It’s not going to end well either way,” the former governor said of Trump. “His end will not be a calm and quiet conclusion.”
Christie has suggested in recent months that he wouldn’t run unless he sees a viable path to victory. For many political viewers, that path remains unclear.
Polls from the upcoming primary show that Christie has little support from Republican voters. A recent Monmouth University questionnaire found that Christie was the only declared or potential GOP candidate to receive a net negative preference score of 21% to 47% from Republican voters.
Christie’s announcement comes less than two weeks after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially joined the Republican primary and became the top non-Trump contender. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott ran in the primary that same week. Former Vice President Mike Pence is expected to join the fray on Wednesday.
Allies of the former New Jersey governor recently launched a super PAC, Tell It Like It Is, to support his presidential candidate.
Christie was elected governor of the historically blue state in 2009 and served for two terms, the maximum allowed under term limit rules.
He gained national attention in 2012 for his response to Superstorm Sandy, which ravaged his state and caused billions of dollars in damage. Christie’s vocal praise for then-President Barack Obama’s support during the crisis angered some of his fellow Republicans, but the governor’s polls rose in the aftermath of the storm.
Those high approval ratings would crater towards the end of Christie’s second term, which was marred by his connection to the 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal.
In September of that year, commuter lanes on the George Washington Bridge connecting New Jersey and New York were closed for days in retaliation to a mayor who refused to support Christie’s reelection bid. The road closures caused massive traffic congestion.
The Supreme Court in 2020 reversed fraud convictions against two of Christie’s aides who had played key roles in the scandal.
Christie was succeeded by Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, who won a second term in 2021. Christie joined ABC News in 2018 as a political officer. In 2020 he was hospitalized with a severe case of Covid-19 that he said put him in ICU for a week.
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