Former New Jersey Governor
Chris Christie
launched his primary campaign
tonight in Manchester, New Hampshire,
and aimed at straight
the former president
a lonely, self consumed
self-serving
mirror hog
is not a leader.
Well, let me be clear, in case
I have not been already
the person I am talking about
who is obsessed with the mirror,
who never admits a mistake,
who never admits a fault,
and who always find someone else
and something else
to blame for whatever goes wrong,
but finds every reason to take credit
for anything that goes right.
Is Donald Trump
and if we don't have
that conversation with you,
we don't deserve to ask for your vote.
We don't deserve
the mantle of leadership.
We don't deserve
to have you think of us
as people worthy of leadership.
As former
Governor Christie tonight,
he has famously had a bumpy history
with the former president
who was sharply critical
during the 2016
primaries and dropped out,
reentered the fold as a born again
Trump supporter,
then broke with him again
after January six.
Here's a sampling
of some of the tough words
he's had for the former president
in the 2016 race
and the run up to tonight
he gets criticized
he can't take it
he is jamming to Trump Tower and phones.
I'm happy to take any observations he has
even if he can only do them
in 140 characters or less.
When you say that it is patriotic
to suspend the constitution
if you believe the election
is being stolen from you
that person is disqualified
in my view from the United States.
Can we keep losing and losing and losing.
And the
fact of
the matter is the reason we're losing
is because Donald Trump
has put himself before everybody else.
The question now
and it's no longer academic,
how will he turn that critique
into primary votes?
Joining us tonight, CNN
political commentator, former
Obama special adviser Van
Jones, former Georgia Republican
Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan.
Also CNN chief political analyst
Gloria Borger.
Gloria,
what does Governor
Christie believe his lane
in this race is?
Well, we always ask about these lanes.
And I was talking to a senior adviser
to Christie
and asked him that exact question
and he said
Chris Lane is going through Trump.
It is the only way someone can win.
And as you saw today,
what Chris Christie did was
take him on frontally,
which quite frankly,
the other candidates are not yet doing
in a way that Chris Christie is doing it.
Remember, how
he took on Marco Rubio in 2016
and that infamous debate
and kind of destroyed him.
He may have destroyed Marco Rubio
but he also destroyed
himself in the process.
And I think that's
a little bit of the danger here
because he's not really popular
with the Republican
electorate at this point.
So he has to ingratiate himself
to Republicans
while taking on their favorite soldier,
Lieutenant Governor Duncan.
Do you think he has a lead?
Yeah, I certainly do.
I mean, what I heard tonight
was somebody who wants to win
but not afraid to lose.
I think that's a dangerous combination
for somebody
like Donald Trump to have to face that
that type of music.
I think Chris Christie
needs to stick to the stick to the script
that he was a two time governor
in a blue state.
He's been a Republican longer
than Donald Trump ever has.
I think he needs to stick to that script
and continue to hammer.
It's interesting then because, I mean,
Chris Christie has pushed
against this notion
that he's simply,
you know,
going to attack
Donald Trump in the primary.
He says he wouldn't run
if he didn't believe
he could actually win this thing.
He's got the same chance
of getting the Republican nomination
as he has gotten
the Democratic nomination.
I mean,
he has no support in that party
that even rival
some of the people
who are in the single digits.
So I think it's important for the country
that he's doing it.
I think it's important for the country
that somebody with his backbone
and courage does challenge the president.
It's been remarkable to me
to see someone
like Donald Trump
who lost the White House,
lost in midterms,
basically be able to skate by even people
who want to be
president are scared to say
anything bad about him.
So I think it's good for the country.
But the chances
that his chance
of getting the nomination, this party,
he has about the same chance
to get nomination.
This party's he does a Green Party.
Any other party. No, zero.
Gloria, Christie's relationship
with the former president's
obviously been a roller coaster.
Does that
give him a credibility problem
with voters?
Yeah, I think I think it obviously does.
I mean,
we all remember that he was prepping
Donald Trump
for the debate
when he famously caught COVID
after that debate.
And he was supporting Donald Trump.
And then he turned on him
after January six
and his advisers said to me, look,
we're going to make that distinction
that after
January six, Chris
Christie could no longer
support Donald Trump.
But there is a flip side
to this, Anderson,
which is he's out there already saying,
I know Donald Trump
better than most of you,
so I can testify firsthand
about what kind of human being he is
and what kind of president he would be
if he's elected. This next time.
So it kind of works both ways,
but he does have to get over that hump of
why were you so close to him
and now you hate him.
Do you think, Governor,
do you think the race
that there are too many
candidates already?
Well, look, I'm one of those Republicans.
I said this earlier today.
I'm excited to see qualified
candidates show up.
And I think we've got
to put our best foot forward.
You know,
I'm just also one of those Republicans
who think the weight of gravity
is going to catch up to Donald Trump.
I mean, he's going to have three
or four indictments
that are going to be wrapped around him
all the way through this entire process.
And I think we've got to have
somebody who's qualified and ready to go.
Right.
But even with three or four indictments,
if you got a whole bunch of candidates
who divide up vote,
you know,
those who don't want Trump
and Trump has a base of 30 35%
is not inevitable.
It's a math problem.
But you're never going to limit
this field
out of the gates
for three or four candidates.
So you're going to have
a whole slew of them.
You're going to have to have cream rise
at the top.
I think a guy like Chris Christie,
I think
Tim Scott, Nikki Haley,
Ron DeSantis,
these are qualified candidates
that could legitimately win a nomination.
But you've got to have Donald
Trump fall apart
and I think that's possible.
The problem is,
I mean, cream rise
to the top of the froth
stays around for a long time.
You know,
like some people can run with no money
and just keep showing up
and saying, well,
I mean, if you look at
what happened to the Democratic Party,
Bernie Sanders was getting out front
scared shit out of everybody.
As soon as one person
got ahead with Biden,
everybody just dropped out.
And so there is at least
an example in the
modern context of a party
coming to its senses.
You know,
I love Bernie Sanders, who doesn't?
But people in the party
didn't feel like
he should be the standard bearer.
Biden won,
and then Cory Booker dropped out.
Everybody else dropped out.
Somebody got to beat
Donald Trump in one of these races.
And whoever that person is
could make a credible case.
The rest of you guys get out of my way.
Let me go one on one.
But nobody's going to drop out
before somebody
who's actually put
a win on the scoreboard.
Gloria, I mean, the first Republican
primary debate is in August.
Do you think Christie has enough time
to qualify between then and now?
And also,
would he commit
to the RNC rule
supporting the eventual
Republican nominee?
I think that's a good question.
It's unanswered right now.
They refuse to answer that.
I think Chris Christie,
it's a high bar for him.
He's not popular right now
in the Republican Party,
but he has to get on that debate stage.
He has to be able to take on Donald Trump
if Donald Trump participates.
Remember, Donald Trump is saying,
you know,
why would I show up
if I've got such
a large percentage of the vote
he needs to go mano
a mano with Donald Trump
and I
right now
can't see how he's going to get
to do that.
I don't think Trump wants
to share a debate stage with him.
That would be pretty toxic to watch.
All right. Appreciate it all.