What’s Chris Christie’s angle?
His massive unfavorable rating among Republicans almost guarantees that the ex-governor of New Jersey can’t win the GOP presidential nomination, but Christie is a gambler who’s always looking for an upside… for himself. During a Monday pre-debate appearance on Fox News’s The Story, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leaned into the prevailing wisdom that Christie is running in 2024 for something other than above-board reasons.
“What about Chris Christie?” host Martha MacCallum asked DeSantis. “He’s also come at you pretty hard. Do you expect that there’s gonna be some moments where you’re going to want to put him in his place? He’s doing very well in New Hampshire. I think he surpassed you in some of the polls in New Hampshire. He is not engaging at all in Iowa.”
“Well, look, bring it on,” DeSantis responded. “People can do what they want. I can tell you this, though, Martha, of anyone on the stage, I’m the only one whose sole purpose is running to be the 47th president of the United States and to reverse this country’s decline. I’m not running to be vice president. I’m not running to be in the cabinet, and I’m not running to be a contributor on cable news. We’re running to win, and we’re gonna show people that we’ll get the job done.”
Christie very much started it, taking shots at DeSantis with regularity prior to the Floridian’s recent polling slump on issues ranging from Trump and Ukraine to the ex-congressman’s record in Tallahassee.
The GOP Milwaukee debate is scheduled for Wednesday night at 9:00 PM EST. Christie and DeSantis both made the final cut for the stage while Donald Trump – the frontrunner – opted instead for a streaming sit-down with Tucker Carlson on X.
