Chris Christie was in peak form on Monday evening as he laid into former President Donald Trump in his second town hall-style appearance as a presidential candidate.
The governor’s performance on CNN was in many ways a repeat of his initial launch event at St Anselm College in New Hampshire a week earlier. But the governor fine-tuned his attacks over the days ahead of his first cable news spot, and came out swinging against the Republican frontrunner.
He largely ignored his other GOP rivals as he took questions from voters and moderator Anderson Cooper, while landing every blow he could on his main rival (and former ally). Mr Christie hit his opponent on nearly every topic, from his most recent indictment for the mishandling of presidential records and violations of the Espionage Act to the performance of the Republican Party electorally since 2016, blame for which he laid squarely at the the feet of the de facto GOP leader.
“He flew the boxes up to New Jersey for summer vacation. What is this, like, they’re a family member?” Mr Christie vented at one point, referencing recent reporting on the 37-count indictment Mr Trump faces in the Southern District of Florida.
“This is vanity run amok, ego run amok,” he continued.
His only criticism for the others in the race was reserved for the failure of other Republicans to call out Mr Trump by name, and to denounce his alleged criminal behaviour. He was even willing to critique his own performance back in 2016, offering a political analyst’s view of the race: The “establishment” lane, as Mr Christie dubbed himself and his fellows like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, fought against each other and ignored Mr Trump’s rise to power to their own detriment.
By the time that battle was over, Mr Christie noted, his rival had already largely won the fight for the GOP nomination.
If there was one main difference between his previous performance and Monday’s, it was that. The surgical precision with which Mr Christie depicted the character (or lack thereof) of his opponent had only improved over the past few days, and the governor’s ability to answer for his evolutions in policy positions and past “BridgeGate” scandal had clearly been practiced as well.
It was evident when he attacked Mr Trump’s electoral record, with the governor depicting the 2020 election as just one step in a long trail of mediocre performances for the former president since 2016. Even that election, he said, was lost by Hillary Clinton — rather than won by Donald Trump.
“The American people and Republican primary voters have to start to understand this. When did we get to the point where we’re always blaming our adversaries for the weakness of our candidates? ‘Oh, it’s the Democrats fault,’ ‘It’s DOJ’s fault.’ ‘It’s this person’s fault.’ ‘It’s the media’s fault,’” Mr Christie said. “How about: ‘It’s his’? He hasn’t won a damn thing since 2016. Three-time loser.”
He pointed to midterm elections that resulted in surprisingly favourable results for Democrats in 2018 and 2022 for context.
“Loser. Loser. Loser. Now we’re going, ‘It’ll be different this time.’ Why? Why will it be different this time?” Mr Christie questioned.
And his proficient media training was also evident when Cooper asked Mr Christie about his time in an intensive care unit (ICU) during the 2020 race, following his diagnosis with Covid-19. The governor was ready for a seemingly random question about what his ex-boss had said to him on the phone as he recovered with a revelation that Mr Trump had sought his assurance that the governor would not blame him for infecting those present at a debate preparation session — even though Mr Trump had not notified those attendees that he had tested positive for the virus that morning.
Then, he spun the anecdote further, revealing that two White House reporters had later given him the off-the-record details of Mr Trump’s own response, which he said had been to blame Mr Christie for supposedly being the “Patient Zero” of the superspreader event, despite contradictory evidence.
The former governor also had a notable moment when took a stand for the integrity of the Justice Department, vowing to tell his attorney general to remain independent and avoid contact with the White House on day one. In past years, this would be an unremarkable statement. In 2024, it’s not, thanks to a declaration earlier on Monday by the former president that he would direct the Justice Department to go after Joe Biden’s entire family should he be elected to office again.
Other Republicans in the race have avoided questions on that same topic, or given wishy-washy answers degrading the Justice Department and accusing the Biden administration of weaponising the agency; Mr Christie firmly rejected that characterisation, calling the agency’s indictment of Trump “pretty damning” from the ex-president’s perspective. With his statements on Monday evening, Mr Christie clearly defined himself as the only Republican in the race seeking a return to the traditional relationship between president and attorney general embraced at least publicly by Joe Biden and Merrick Garland, respectively.
He also reused a line from his New Hampshire town hall in this regard, dubbing Mr Trump the “Voldemort” (of Harry Potter fame) whom other candidates were afraid to name.
It remains unclear whether Mr Christie’s aggressive, targeted town hall performances will seriously move the needle in his favour as the GOP primary season officially kicks off, and campaigning heats up in early primary states.
What is clear, after Monday, is that the New Jersey governor has a clear, defined strategy for winning the nomination — and it’s one that promises a spectacular debate-stage showdown with his old friend along the way.
