Christie’s calculus: Trump is ‘in the rearview mirror’

[ad_1]

While Christie’s criticism of the party’s focus on 2020 election results and subtle knocks on other aspects of Trump’s term is designed to create a unique path for him in the 2024 primary, he is also flirting in confrontation with a former president who still leads in the allegiance of the Republican Foundation.

“He travels the country, saying what he has learned and saying he is not afraid of Donald Trump. That sets him in a different lane from anyone who might run as party president, ”said veteran Republican strategist Scott Reed.“ Christie is someone who knows how to make a narrative. He can punch and he can punch. ”

Christie boosted his enthusiasm in recent days in media appearances where he featured how Trump lost his re -election and suggested he was a “loser” for residency in 2020. In a speech Saturday to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Christie is just one of six potential presidential candidates who have dared to suggest that the November recall is a bad idea.

None of the other 2024 hopes have come close to the level of disobedience to a topic that Trump continues to be obsessed with.

“We can no longer talk about the past and the past election-wherever you stand on that issue, wherever you stand, it’s over,” Christie said Saturday.

But Christie didn’t just beat the former president’s baseless claim about a rigged election. He also inclined to cite the enormous debt that grew on Trump’s watch and nodded in Trump’s praise for China’s dictator during his presidency.

“Any president, especially a Republican, should not throw bouquets at a murderous communist dictator in China,” Christie said, referring to Xi Jinping. “We shouldn’t tell that person they’re doing something good.”

When Christie first tested his message in a speech in September at the Ronald Reagan Library, Trump remained silent. After Saturday’s speech – and Christie’s national media attention – Trump released his former ally.

“Chris Christie, who just finished a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) in Las Vegas, was completely killed by his statements that Republicans need to move from the past, which is the 2020 Election Fraud,” he said. by Trump in a written statement on Monday. “Everyone remembers Chris leaving New Jersey with less than a 9% approval rating — a low record, and they don’t want to hear it from him!”

Christie’s calculated positioning is far from 2016, when he was the first Republican governor and the first candidate to quit the main GOP and endorse Trump. Christie stood up for Trump’s Democratic opponents in preparation for that year’s debate and then led Trump’s transition team – all facts he mentioned on Saturday, in his only mention of Trump’s name.

“For all the people who say they are supporters of President Trump, the line starts behind me,” he said.

However, Christie began to distance himself from Trump after the January 6 rally that ended in chaos at the U.S. Capitol. At the time, Trump’s former United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, spoke out against the president but then backed away amid a blowback from the MAGA opposite.

Haley also has an interest in running for president, but she said she won’t run if Trump runs.

Christie did not make the same promise.

There is a strategic logic to that approach. Christie, according to those familiar with his psyche, will occupy a middle lane in a potential premiere, positioned between those who will embrace Trump without hesitation and never criticize him, and any candidate who sought to get the Never Trump vote.

Christie thinks Trump’s influence in the party is waning, according to several sources who spoke to him. They say Trump has lost his mojo since being deplatformed from his formerly powerful Twitter account and Republicans like Virginia’s governor-elect, Glenn Youngkin, last week showed a way to win indirectly. embraces Trump.

A Trump spokesman had no further comment about Christie, beyond Trump’s written statement. But those familiar with his psyche say the former president feels Christie was dishonest in his criticisms – one of the lowest forgivable sins in his orbit – and suggested Christie was angry that he wasn’t made White Trump’s House chief of staff or attorney general.

“Christie is trying to create a lane, but right now it’s a bike lane that he needs to expand with the help of the media,” a Trump adviser said. “Christie did not say Trump was a liar. You give him credit for the balls he didn’t show. ”

Trump supporters and critics say Christie benefits from softball interviews where he doesn’t have to respond to Trump’s stance on his four -year term of turmoil and controversy. Only now that Christie can politically benefit from being critical, they say, is he speaking out.

Ed Rollins, who heads a pro-Trump super PAC, said Republican voters would not reward Christie for trying to run as Trump’s former loyal insider who is also a critic.

“To the Trump people he will be seen as a traitor. And they will follow him, big-time,” Rollins said.

Although Christie’s speeches have no direct criticism of Trump, a preview of his book on his publisher’s website is even bolder.

“In Republican Rescue, Christie revealed how absurd grievances and self -wounds sabotaged Donald Trump’s many victories and allowed Democrats to capture the White House, the House, and Senate in two years, “read the website. “In his straightforward and persuasive voice, Christie dissected the last year of the Trump administration – which resulted in nothing but conspiracy theories and controversy – and he laid out an honest and hopeful vision, explaining how Republicans can capture the future and save America from today’s destructive times. Democratic excesses. ”

As part of the media blitz at the start of the book’s release, CNN teased an interview with Christie aired Monday of, “What does it feel like to be a high -profile Trump supporter who has become a sharp critic?”

FILE – In the image in this file on Nov. 20, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump, left, waved to the media while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie arrives at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse, in Bedminster, NJ After being inadvertently dropped from President Donald Trump’s transition team, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dipped his fingers into the administration as he headed a commission in the White House to fight opioid addiction. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) | Photo by AP/Carolyn Kaster

The closest Christie came to criticizing Trump by name appears in an Axios-HBO interview aired on Sunday. “I’m not going to get back at Donald Trump,” he said in the sitdown. “But what I will say is this: When I ran for reelection in 2013, I got 60 percent of the vote. When he ran for re -election, he lost to Joe Biden. “

That provocation, which is guaranteed to infuriate Trump, is symbolic of a relationship that has been complicated over the decades. As a U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Christie prosecuted Trump’s father-in-law Jared Kushner for tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions. Christie’s role in putting Kushner’s father in prison has never been forgotten by Kushner, who pushed Christie to emerge as chairman of Trump’s 2016 transition team, Christie said, and, he suggests, played a role in the decision. Trump not to choose him as vice president, according to in his 2019 book, “Let Me Finish.”

Christie’s removal from Trump’s inner circle at the start of the president’s term didn’t cause him to stay away for long. Christie speaks regularly with Trump and has been appointed to co-chair a bipartisan commission with presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway aimed at tackling the opioid crisis. He helped prepare the debate in the 2020 campaign. Bill Stepien, Christie’s former adviser in New Jersey, also went on to manage Trump’s failed re -election campaign.

Those who know Christie have little doubt that he is serious about running for president in 2024 – and say he’s not just trying to sell his new book.

“He is very ambitious, always. And he’s very, very smart and knows how to calculate probabilities, ”said former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, who has known Christie since high school and who Christie called a mentor.“ He felt the last election that Trump replaced him. He thought he was carving a space for himself, the rough speech, things-as-they-are position. But that is Trump. Now he thinks maybe Trump is in the rearview mirror and what position he can enter now. “

One of Christie’s advisers said the former two -term governor had not yet made a decision, “but I certainly think he was doing things that if the opportunity arose he would be ready. He said if he felt he could win, he will run, paraphrasing him. “

Another Republican familiar with Christie’s thinking explicitly said “Christie isn’t afraid of Trump. They’ve known each other for a long time, even before one of them went into politics. What matters to Christie is if he has something realistic. chance to win. ”

Christie’s measures of criticism and media tours bear all the hallmarks of an early presidential campaign, said Gregg Keller, a Republican strategist.

“There is almost no downside to running for president. This is big business. This will give you a bigger speaker fee. It helps you sell books and gives cable news networks a reason to take you, “Keller said.” I think he’s learned that if he’s willing to say things that sometimes cut against Trump – sometimes goes against MAGA’s belief – that he will continue to get interview requests, even if he is no longer governor. “

[ad_2]