Christie says he’ll vow to back GOP nominee to get on debate stage – but won’t take it ‘seriously’

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie vowed to get on the debate stage to take on Donald Trump — even if he has to sign a “loyalty pledge” that the Republican National Committee demands of participants.

“I will be on the debate stage and I will take the promise the RNC makes before me as seriously as Donald Trump did eight years ago,” Christie said Wednesday, hours after making blistering attacks on Trump at a town hall. in Manchester where he announced his campaign.

“I’ll do what I have to do, George, to be on that podium,” Christie told interviewer George Stephanopoulos, who noted his past statements never to support Trump, the leading GOP candidate for president.

Christie was referring to Trump’s own decision in 2016 to pledge to support the nominee and not run an independent challenge, but to walk it back during a live CNN debate.

“I’m going to do exactly what the RNC told us to do,” Christie said. “I’m going to do what I have to do to save my party and my country,” he added when urged in an appearance on “Good Morning America.”

The RNC is led by Trump loyalist Ronna McDaniel. Christie also has to meet other criteria: 40,000 backers nationwide and 1 percent in the polls, something he said he would achieve.

Christie made the comments in his first TV interview after his brash announcement. He spoke from the stadium of the city’s minor league Fisher Cats stadium after appearing with Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” for years.

“I’m going to miss you on the round table,” the former Bill Clinton adviser told him. But his former colleague noted that Christie was far behind in the polls and pressed him how he would prevail.

Christie revisited some of his attacks on Trump from hours earlier, when he attacked his former ally for “broken promises like this, George, are not acceptable to the American people.”

These include building a border wall, repealing and replacing Obamacare, and balancing the budget.

Christie told Axios in March that he could never support Trump again. ‘I can’t help him. No way,’ he said.

During an early Fox News debate in 2015, Trump was the only candidate to raise his hand and say he would refuse to endorse the final nominee and refuse to run as an independent.

On September 15, he signed a pledge, but backed out of it in March 2016 amid his angry clash with Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

“No, I don’t do that anymore,” he said at a CNN town hall.

Christie kicked off his return to the national political stage with an opening message: “Go big” – then showed he was capable of going for the jugular.

He denied running for president as a spoiler, but said he wanted to take down Donald Trump — whom he slammed for “coddling” Vladimir Putin, running “botched casinos” and “reprehensible” bartering with Ukrainian aide which was the subject of Trump’s second impeachment. .

He said Americans knew Trump was “full of it” when he said Mexico would pay for the border wall, then vowed not to make the mistake of letting Trump’s claims go unchecked.

Christie, who filed paperwork to run for president on Tuesday, railed against the “disrespect, narcissism and lying over four years” of the Trump era. “The people in the middle said enough,” he said, pointing to the 2020 results.

He pledged to usurp Trump’s four-year record and attacked fellow Republicans for not even saying his name, like “Voldemort” in the Harry Potter series.

Christie took on Trump for “lying” about issues like the budget deficit and saying he wouldn’t play golf during his presidency. He even went after Trump’s family.

“The grief of this family is breathtaking,” Christie told a crowd at a Manchester town hall. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walk out of the White House and months later receive $2 billion from the Saudis. Do you think it’s because he’s some kind of investment genius?’ he said, pointing to the deal Trump’s son-in-law signed with the Saudi investment fund months after Trump left office. “That’s your money he stole and gave to his family. Do you know what makes us? A banana republic,” he said.

Christie once sued Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, who pardoned Trump in his last days of office.

He said he “can’t imagine” pardoning Trump, but said he should learn what he is accused of and hypothetically convicted of as his rival faces multiple investigations.

Christie started a city hall in Manchester, New Hampshire by listing leaders from the founders to Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and John F. Kennedy, who he said were willing to go big if it mattered.

He then tore up rivals he called “pretenders,” who he said tried to divert attention by focusing on petty issues in an attempt to divide the nation in their own favor.

“We have presidential candidates talking about issues so small that sometimes it’s hard to even understand them,” he said in a remark that appeared to be aimed at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

He said Donald Trump “has made us smaller by dividing us even further and pitting one group against another, different groups against different groups every day.”

He said that “pretends” tried to “divide you further, to make it easier for them to rule you.”

Christie spoke at a town hall of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College in Manchester, bringing him face-to-face with voters in a state he focused heavily on during his 2016 campaign, but which he finished sixth.

He initially spoke without dropping a name about a leader he called “lonely, selfish and selfish mirror pig.”

Then, in blunt language, he intends to once again make a feature of his campaign, Christie said: “The person I’m talking about who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a mistake… . is Donald Trump.’

Christie made it clear from the start of his remarks that he would keep his promise to take on Trump, who is well above rivals in the GOP field.

His first question came from a clinical psychologist who said the nation is “traumatized.”

Christy denounced “chaos” and “constant yelling, yelling,” as well as “fake power.”

“If you lead that chaos to elevate yourself… well, you traumatize the nation,” he said.

“Trump voters don’t exist,” he told a 15-year-old questioner. ‘He doesn’t own them. He did not possess them. They are not one of his buildings. They are not one of his failed casinos in New Jersey. They’re not that wreck he has in Las Vegas.”

Christie ridiculed the story that he is running on a kamikaze mission to take down Trump as a spoiler.

This man is leading in the polls. Who should I worry about, Nikki Haley?” he said in response to a question about what he learned from his failed run in 2016.

He vowed not to make “the same mistake” by letting Trump’s brags go unchecked on the assumption that people won’t believe them.

“The reason I’m going after Trump is twofold. One he deserves. And second, it’s the way to win,” he said.

Even after joking about his sixth-place finish, he said his run for the White House is real.

“I’m going out to take out Donald Trump. But here’s why: I want to win. And I don’t want him to win.’

“There are not multiple paths to the nomination,” he said, mocking the political science talk.

There’s one road to the Republican nomination, and it’s on it. And do you want to win? You better go right through him.’ He then spoke of Trump’s penchant for attacking rivals: he attacked Christie’s weight days ago.

“He’s going to try and get through me,” Christie said.

Christie credited Biden for helping Europe arm Ukraine, but didn’t go easy on him either.

‘He’s a nice guy. I’ve known him for 40 years,” Christie said. “He’s out of his depth because he’s not the man he used to be,” he said.

He snapped photos of former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley as she danced around her criticism of Trump. He even mentioned future North Dakota governor-designate Doug Burgum. “They don’t know Doug Burgum in South Dakota,” he joked.

Christie mentioned Bridge-gate twice, once when asked if he had any regrets. He spoke of officials he designated who “used my power and authority to play a fraternity joke, and it cost me dear,” speaking of the closing of the George Washington Bridge.

‘It was a mistake on my part. I didn’t see who they really were. And I have to be responsible for that,” he said.