2024-01-11 07:15:07
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie during the announcement of his withdrawal from the Republican primaries, in Windham, New Hampshire, January 10, 2024. ROBERT F. BUKATY / AP
Five days before the opening of the Republican primaries in Iowa, the field of contenders is narrowing. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced his withdrawal on Wednesday January 10. During a final public meeting in Windham (New Hampshire), in a solemn speech stripped of his usual humorous features, the Republican recognized that no ” path “ did not appear before him to obtain the investiture.
His decision was thus presented to his activists a few hours before a final televised debate, on the CNN channel, which was held in Des Moines (Iowa) between Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. A debate once again ignored by Donald Trump, big favorite of the primaries, interviewed during this time on Fox News.
For Chris Christie, the failure had been clear for months. “My goal has never been to simply be a voice against hatred, division and selfishness” reigning in the Republican Party under the aegis of Donald Trump, he explained, despite evidence to the contrary. The ex-governor had entered the race precisely against Donald Trump, and not for an improbable victory. He continued to challenge Republicans, without fear of boos, about the party’s identity drift and the cult of personality around the former president, focused on his own fate.
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But the “Grand Old Party” (GOP) has changed its face during the Trump era. Its base is now dominated by the MAGA movement (“Make America Great Again”), insensitive to ethical admonitions, mired in mass disinformation.
On Wednesday, Chris Christie once again questioned the personality of Donald Trump, whom he knows “for twenty-two years”. In 2016, after withdrawing from the Republican primaries, he supported the entrepreneur, before advising him during his 2020 presidential campaign. Trump’s lies about imaginary electoral fraud, then the January 6, 2021 assault against the Capitol, in Washington, given by his supporters convinced Chris Christie of its harmfulness. On Tuesday, the former governor used an expression popular with Joe Biden, speaking of a “battle for the soul” of America, beyond that of the Republican Party.
A sort of parallel political universe
A microphone inadvertently picked up, before he went on stage, a few sentences dropped by Chris Christie in a private conversation. They were less solemn than his speech to follow. Obviously referring to Nikki Haley, he promised her a scathing defeat against Donald Trump. “She’s going to get smoked.”he said.
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