Chris Christie enters the Republican primary and attacks Trump

2023-06-07 02:22:36

And 9! Former New Jersey governor, Republican Chris Christie, a former ally of Donald Trump who has become one of his most virulent detractors, announced on Tuesday that he was embarking on a the 2024 presidential racepresenting himself as the only candidate capable of standing up to the ex-president.

Christie, 60, known for his combative style, registered his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) before announcing it publicly on Tuesday evening at a rally in the state of New Hampshire.

He joins an already crowded arena of right-wing White House contenders, like the Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis and former vice president Mike Pencewho has completed the official paperwork and must formalize his candidacy on Wednesday.

1% in the polls

Chris Christie, still very low in the polls around 1%, has already begun to attack Donald Trump, favorite of the opinion polls, portraying him on Tuesday in front of his supporters as self-centered and dishonest. The former Republican president, “always finds someone or something to blame for what goes wrong, but always finds a way to take credit for whatever works,” Christie blasted.

In 2016, Chris Christie had already sought the nomination during the Republican primary, torpedoing Marco Rubio during a debate before bowing and supporting Donald Trump. At the time, he had become one of his close advisers. But he says he broke up with him when the tycoon refused to acknowledge his 2020 presidential defeat to Joe Biden and then was slow to call his supporters to calm during the storming of the Capitol.

Trump ‘Putin puppet’

Donald Trump has hinted that he could skip at least one of the first two debates. “If he really cares about the country – and I have serious doubts about that – then he has to go, and he shouldn’t be afraid,” Christie also said on a radio show.

The former governor criticized Donald Trump on several other fronts, notably referring to the multiple investigations targeting him and calling him a “Putin puppet” after the businessman’s ambiguous remarks on the war in Ukraine.