Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed the audience at a Republican religious convention on Friday for telling former President Donald Trump he ‘let us down’, ‘lacks character’ and ‘belittles our country’.
Christie, who is battling Trump for the GOP nomination, fired up the crowd Friday at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference, which draws an audience of Christian conservatives.
Mike Pence called on all Republican candidates in 2024 to support a 15-week nationwide abortion ban and called for a ‘different leadership’ from Trump before Christie took the stage.
Christie began his speech by saying he planned to talk about ‘character’ before hitting the former commander-in-chief about halfway through – ‘We love Trump!’ from the crowd
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed the audience at a Republican religious convention on Friday for telling former President Donald Trump he ‘let us down’, ‘lacks character’ and ‘belittles our country’.
‘I’m running because he let us down. He let us down because he is unwilling, he doesn’t want to take responsibility for any mistakes. And he has no fault. And whatever he did,’ Christie said.
‘And it’s not everyone’s leadership, it’s a failure of leadership,’ added the former New Jersey governor.
This comment prompted a roar of cheers from the crowd.
‘You can scold me if you want,’ he shot back.
‘But here’s the thing. Our faith teaches us to take responsibility for what people do. People need to stand up and take accountability for what they do,’ he continued.
Christie noted that as soon as he began criticizing Trump, the former president began calling him names.
‘And cut me short,’ offered Christy.
And I will tell you. If that’s what you do, that’s what you do, disagree with somebody and that’s what you get in return, I join a great list of Americans like Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis and Mark Esper and Mick Mulvaney. And John Kelly,’ Christie said, ticking off names of Trump allies-turned-critics as the audience continued to boo him.
A handful of people started chanting ‘We love Trump’.
‘And you can love him all you want,’ replied Christy.
‘But I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you, things like this make our country smaller. It makes our country smaller and it makes us smaller,’ he added.
Afterward, Christie spoke to reporters and continued to tear Trump apart.
He mentioned how Trump once offered him the job of chief of staff.
‘And then yesterday on a podcast he said he never believed me,’ Christie noted.
Christie began his speech by saying he planned to talk about ‘character’ before hitting the former commander-in-chief about halfway through – ‘We love Trump!’ from the crowd
Christie noted that as soon as he began criticizing Trump, the former president began calling him names
‘Well what does it do to him? Liar or fool?’ Christy is impressed. ‘It’s one or the other.’
Christie told the press that he fully expected to be hacked.
“I will not come here and pander to them like other candidates,” the former governor said. ‘I knew there were a lot of Trump fans out there and I knew I would probably get scolded.’
‘But you know what? I guarantee you one thing – I made every person in that room think today. And that’s part of your job as a leader,’ he added.
He said he believes Trump still has the support of many Republicans ‘because I think they have no respect for President Biden and he’s the latest frame-of-reference for them to compare.’
‘And I don’t think anyone in that room could honestly say he was a man of character from his behavior. He didn’t,’ said Christie.
‘Now if they’re dismissing the issue of character in deciding the president of the United States, I think that’s wrong, but that’s their choice,’ the former governor argued.
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