A familiar face of US politics joined the Republican race on Tuesday to get the nomination for the US presidency: Chris Christie, former Governor of New Jersey and White House hopeful in 2016.
Christie announced his candidacy at a meeting with voters in New Hampshire, a state that campaigns take very seriously because it is the second to vote in primaries and serves to relaunch or destroy applicants.
For now, in addition to donald trump, Christie is the only Republican who was a candidate in 2016 and who repeats his bid for 2024 (in 2020, with Trump in the White House, no one tried to take away his nomination). Eight years ago, Trump emerged as the agitator of the primaries, with Explosive statements, impossible promises, insults, nicknames to rivals. The rest of the candidates tried to stay out of the game and attacked each other. The push of the media and the seduction of the voter did the rest, and Trump won the nomination.
From New Hampshire, Christie assured that he has learned his lesson. “So I did what was conventional politics,” she said. “It was a mistake not to confront Donald Trump in 2016”.
His strategy in these primaries, as he has been warning for some time, is just the opposite: go for Trump. “The reason I’m going to do it is twofold,” he explained. “One, because he deserves it,” he said of the former president, whom he accused of not fulfilling his promises – he mentioned, among others, the construction of the wall with Mexico or the reduction of the deficit – and whom he criticized for his role in it storming the capitol after not accepting his defeat in 2020. “And two, because it is the way to win.”
Christie perfectly portrayed the climate in which the Republican primaries live. Trump is by far the favourite, with more than 50% of the support and more than thirty points of difference with the second, Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida and the only candidate who has been given opportunities to topple the former president. Despite this command of the primaries, the rest of the candidates are not doing what is expected: attacking the leader. DeSantis, Mike Pence -who was vice president with Trump and announces his candidacy this Wednesday-, Nikki Haley -ambassador to the UN with Trump- or Tim Scott -senator from South Carolina- have only pinched the New York billionaire, fearful of unleashing their fury and turn against his loyal base of voters. Many don’t even mention his name.
“It’s like Voldemort”Christie joked in reference to the character in the Harry Potter book series, whose protagonists are afraid to mention his name.
He made it clear that he will not stop doing it. “Someone lonely, self-centered, selfish and in love with the mirror is not a leader,” Christie said. “The person I’m talking about, the one who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits wrong, who never admits fault, who always finds someone to blame if something goes wrong, but who takes credit for everything.” what is going well is Donald Trump.”
During his speech and in the questions put to him by voters, Christie did not spare references and attacks on Trump. He accused him of lying about the days that he would play golf as president. She imitated, with a certain grace, his voice. He accused his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, of enriching themselves with Saudi money. after leaving the White House. He downplayed his business empire and recalled the bankruptcies of his casinos in New Jersey.
That will be his primary strategy. He does not have much to lose because his chances are slim, despite the fact that he said that he is the “only viable option against Trump.” Without much of a campaign machine at the moment, without a big presence in the battleground states or an army of donors, Christie hopes that his fixation with Trump will give him media attention and thus manage to climb the ranks.
The problem for Christie is that her past with Trump, whom she has known for decades, does not fit well with the current animosity. After losing in the 2016 primaries, he was the first Republican governor to endorse him. He sounded to be the vice-president of him. He oversaw the White House transition team after the 2016 victory. He was said to have turned down government jobs from him. And he maintained his closeness with Trump until 2020, when advised him in preparing debates against Joe Bidenas he also did in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.
In his account, the break with Trump was due to the tragic turbulence of his campaign against the 2020 results. At that time, a good part of the Republican party seemed that it would turn the page with Trump. That barely lasted a few days and almost all of them restored their relationship with the former president, aware that he had not lost support from his bases and that his power was still almost intact. Not so Christie, who maintained her anti-Trump position. Perhaps he was already anticipating the role he will play in the coming months. As seen in his candidacy announcement, the show promises.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism