It’s been a minute since we’ve heard anything from Chris Christie, which has been nice. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. And it sounds like we’ll be hearing a lot more from him in the coming weeks and months. Whomp, whomp.
The former Trump sycophant-turned-critic called into Fox New host Brian Kilmeade’s radio show the other day to say he’s seriously considering another bid for the White House–since his last one went so well!
“I’m definitely thinking about running, probably make a decision in the next 60 days on what to do or not to do,” he teased, adding, “You know me. When I make a decision, I’ll let everybody know.”
Yes, generally speaking, when you decide to run for the presidency, it’s a good idea to let everybody know.
Christie last ran for president in 2016 but dropped out after failing to get any traction and making a disastrous showing in the New Hampshire primary, where he received less than 8% of the vote. He went on to endorse Trump and head his transition team, even though Trump constantly attacked his weight when they were opponents.
Christie endorsed Trump again in 2020 then famously caught COVID from him that October, resulting in the former governor, who was both extremely obese and asthmatic, needing to be hospitalized for a week.
After January 6, Christie finally decided that maybe Trump wasn’t so great after all and started distancing himself from him. Although he told CNN’s Dana Bash, while promoting his 2021 bookstore bomb Republican Rescue, that he wouldn’t take back his vote for the one-term, twice-impeached ex-president, even after the deadly insurrection he incited.
Related*
Chris Christie slams people who attack his weight, forgets he supported guy who attacks people’s weight
Not only did Christie give Trump a pass, he endorsed him for president twice and helped him prepare for his debate with Joe Biden.
Prior to his chat with Kilmeade the other day, Christie appeared on ABC’s This Week to criticize Trump and the “circus” that surrounds him, as if he himself weren’t a willful clown in that very circus for years and years.
“The circus continues,” he said. “I mean, look, he only profits and does well in chaos and turmoil. And so he wants to create the chaos and turmoil on his terms. He doesn’t want anybody else’s terms … he wants it on his terms.”
Then at a town hall at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire on Monday, Christie said if Republicans don’t want Trump to be the nominee in 2024, they need to find a strong candidate (read: him!) who can attack him the same way Christie attacked Marco Rubio during a 2016 debate, when he mocked the Florida senator for using the same “25-second memorized speech” over and over.
“You better have somebody on that stage who can do to him what I did to Marco, because that’s the only thing that’s gonna defeat Donald Trump,” Christie said. “And that means you gotta have the skill to do it. And that means you have to be fearless because he will come back and right at you.”
There’s just one glaring problem with Christie’s strategy here: it didn’t work. Not only did he end up dropping out of the race a full month before Rubio, but neither of them went on to win their party’s nomination.
In response to Christie’s recent attacks on the ex-president, a Trump campaign spokesperson responded, “Who’s he?”
Meanwhile, here’s what folx on Twitter are saying…
In case everyone forgot, Donald Trump almost killed Chris Christie by having him help prep to get beat in the debates by Joe Biden and sending him to the ICU with COVID.
— The Biden Accomplishments Guy™ (@What46HasDone) March 29, 2023
Related*
It sure seems like Ivanka has officially broken up with her father
In case it wasn’t totally clear already, Ivanka Trump wants absolutely nothing to do with her dad right now.
Fahd
As regards the headline, I don’t know if one can call it a “failed bid” if it is in the future, even though we all know it inevitably will be. But it hasn’t failed yet, so it isn’t “another failed bid” yet. Not very busy today.
DBMC
These people just don’t seem to realize when the moment has passed. Him, Pence, Hailey, Williamson… They must be surrounded by yes-people who are lying to them.
Mattster
This is definitely part of the reason. Politicians tend to have big egos, and it’s easy to surround yourself with people telling you what you want to hear. This goes doubly for convincing someone to run for president, as there’s a whole industry of publicists, pollsters, and consultant that make good money from campaigning, regardless of how well the candidate does.
Several elections ago Karl Rove tried to become a kingmaker by marshaling funds for big media buys for favored candidates, etc. He spent tens of millions (if not far more) and it accomplished nothing. But no one getting paid to make the ads or take polls was going to tell him that. Rove pretty much disappeared after that fleecing.
dbmcvey
Ya done Chris! Hang it up!
SFMike
Since he knows he isn’t going to win one has to think that he has found some way to skim most of those election donations into his personal bank account. Lessons learned from his old pal lying Trump.
Toofie
Yes, clearly there’s some back door reason people with ZERO shot are thinking of getting in the race.
still_onthemark
What Chris likes best about campaigning is the food: the greasy spoon breakfast diners, and county fair corn dogs and fried dough, etc. Sadly, not every state has cannoli and zeppole as good as New Jersey’s. Mangia, mangia!
inbama
If laughing were a winning strategy, Trump would never have been elected president, abortion would still be legal, and Pelosi would be Speaker of the House.
scotty
fat chris is fat. hide your gabagool.
Kangol2
Mr 15% approval? Just NO!
cuteguy
He will fail at his White House bid like he has any diet