Former President Donald Trump believes former Gov. Chris Christie is "not fit to run or president," The Hill reported. Trump took aim at Christie on his Truth Social Friday.
During Wednesday night's debate, Christie took several shots at Trump from his spot near the bottom of the Republican primary field. Trump being Trump, he couldn't let that go answered.
"Sloppy Chris Christie is not fit to run for President. He is suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome," Trump wrote.
"According to all, he came in LAST in the debate, and I came in FIRST, as I have in all of the debates, without even being there. MAGA!" Trump said.
Using the same tactic from 2016, Christie has tried to garner popularity by attacking Trump. Of course, the former president wasn't even on the debate stage, but Christie had a contentious exchange about Trump with Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.
"There’s no mystery to what he wants to do. He started off his campaign by saying, ‘I am your retribution,'" Christie said about Trump.
"Eight years ago, he said, ‘I am your voice,'" he added, noting the contrast. "This is an angry, bitter man who now wants to be back as president because he wants to exact retribution on anyone who has disagreed with him, anyone who’s tried to hold him to account for his own conduct, and every one of these policies that he’s talking about are about pursuing a plan of retribution," Christie said.
The former U.S. attorney for New Jersey had sparred with Trump in the past and was equally swatted down. "Chris Christie is talking about the job he did as Governor. He had a 9% approval rating. N.J. wanted to throw the ‘bum’ out," Trump posted on Truth Social in September.
Trump is correct in his assessment of Christie. He has the distinction of being the most unpopular governor in the history of New Jersey, Business Insider reported on January 18, 2018, Christie's last day in office.
It wasn't always that way for Christie as governor. At the beginning of his tenure, he held nearly an 80% approval rating and was the next great hope for the corrupt and struggling state.
However, several scandals and political missteps soon took their toll, not the least of which was the so-called Bridgegate scandal in 2013. Christie closed two lanes on the George Washington Bridge in retribution to the mayor of Fort Lee for not supporting his bid for reelection.
This caused major backups in and out of New York City, and New Jersey residents were furious. Two of Christie's high-ranking officials went to jail for their role in it, but Christie refused to resign.
Then, during a government shutdown over the weekend of July 4th, photos emerged of Christie sunning himself on the beach at Island Beach State Park. This was at a time when other revelers were kept away from the Jersey Shore because of his government's failures.
As usual, Trump was deft at destroying Christie and cutting right to the heart of the matter. People have a visceral hatred of the former governor, and attacking Trump has done him zero favors in letting people forget that.
