A conservative pro-Trump commentator has accused former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie of committing a “sin” for criticizing the Trump administration’s ongoing war with Iran.
Over the weekend, Christie, who once served as the head of President Donald Trump’s 2016 transition team, accused his fellow Republican of not thinking deeply about all the implications of launching a war with Iran.
“The president plays checkers, not chess,” Christie said during a panel on This Week on ABC News on Sunday. “This is a guy who just looks at what jump he can play today. He doesn’t look if there’s a double jump coming in the other direction.”
Christie pointed to the spiraling consequences of the war, which has sent the price of oil spiking, causing the U.S. to ease oil sanctions on Iran to slow the price hike. The conflict has also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil-shipping lane.
“This goes to competence,” Christie added.
Digesting the comments a few days later, a group of panelists on the right-wing news network Real America’s Voice said the president had shown his strategic acumen many times over by winning the White House twice, and accused Christie of being green with envy.
"You know, some might say that big green monster will just hop up to bite you every now and then, and that's what that is," panelist Gina Loudon, a former Trump campaign delegate and adviser, said. "That's the biggest, greenest monster I've ever seen."
“This is why the Bible warns about jealousy as such a fundamental base of problems in humanity that leads to so much lack of wisdom, lack of discernment, and outright sin,” she added.
She went on to joke that there might be a “subchapter” in the Bible about Christie’s conduct.
Christie isn’t the only one with doubts about the war, though.
The conflict has further isolated the U.S. from its NATO allies, who have avoided joining the conflict, and a majority of U.S. respondents to a recent poll said they are unsure why the administration is battling Iran.
President Trump has tried to paint an optimistic picture of the ongoing campaign, claiming this week that the U.S. would hold off on strikes against key Iranian infrastructure amid what the president called “productive conversations” with Tehran.
However, Iranian leadership has called these claims “fake news” and has vowed to continue fighting the conflict to the bitter end.
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