Chris Christie Announces Presidential Campaign, Calls Donald Trump A “Bitter, Angry Man”

Chris Christie, a former governor of New Jersey and opponent of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential primaries, announced that he would seek the 2024 Republican nomination on Tuesday.

With Chris Christie’s 2024 presidential ambition, the has set up a rematch with the former president and increased the number of G.O.P. candidates.

However, unlike other Republican candidates, Chris Christie is all out against Donald Trump, and he is not shy to make it known.

He is also all out against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has maintained the second position in nearly every public Republican primary poll for months.

While declaring his run on Tuesday evening at a town-hall-style event in New Hampshire, Christie called Donald Trump “a bitter, angry man,” and said his record in office was a failure and, in an unusually personal attack, accused the ex-president and his family members of profiting off the presidency, referring toan investment from the Saudi crown prince.

“The grift from this family is breathtaking,” Mr. Christie said. “It’s breathtaking. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walk out of the White House and months later get $2 billion from the Saudis?”

“That’s your money he stole,” he continued, adding, “That makes us a banana republic.”

Mr. Christie also scolded other Republican candidates saying they were too timid to criticize Trump by name, mocking their indirect swipes.

Despite Chris Christie being the most unpopular 2024 candidate among Republican voters, he had called Mr. Trump a loser due to his 2020 defeat in re-election and said that he was unfit to return to the White House due to the Jan. 6 Capitol event.

Christie, however, could get a small but passionate group of supporters from the many who disapproved of Mr. Trump.

“He’s a very capable guy,” Paul R. Kfoury Sr., a retired judge from Bedford, N.H., said of the former governor. “Very centrist. Not a right-wing nut like so many of them, frankly, if I may be candid.” But he was skeptical of Mr. Christie’s chances in his party. “It’s a heavy lift,” he said.

Mr. Christie says he is seeking nomination not to take on Donald Trump like a “paid assassin” for the benefit of other candidates

On Tuesday, Mr. Christie cited in a mocking voice, what was said about him; “Christie doesn’t really care about winning, all he cares about is destroying Trump”. Then he added: “How are those two things mutually exclusive?”

“Let me be very clear,” he said. “I am going out there to take out Donald Trump, but here’s why: I will win. And I don’t want him to win.”

However, Chris Christie’s unpopularity might be a stumbling block on his presidential quest as he needs to meet the criteria set by the Republican National Committee to get on the debate stage, which includes 40,000 unique campaign donors.