Chris Christie is one of the more interesting names when it comes to the 2024 potential GOP field because unlike Ron DeSantis, Mike Huckabee, Rick Scott, or even Ted Cruz, Chris Christie will not run within the “America First” playbook or coalition, the autocratic movement down which the rest of the GOP is headed, a movement that is far broader than Trump. Christie made it clear on Saturday during a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition, according to The Hill:
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Saturday urged the Republican Party to move on from Donald Trump, just days after the former president announced his third bid for office.
“It is time to stop whispering,” Christie said at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting. “It is time to stop being afraid of any one person. It is time to stand up for the principles and the beliefs that we have founded this party on and this country on.”
“We keep losing and losing and losing,” Christie said on Saturday. “And the fact of the matter is the reason we’re losing is because Donald Trump has put himself before everyone else.”
Christie may be preaching to the choir at this point. Over the last two Tuesdays, it’s become more than obvious that Trump acted as an anchor on the party during the midterms (though there is a lot of other blame to go around), and not a single senator has endorsed Trump’s run for president. Of course, by Friday, the announcement of a special counsel had the party rallying around Trump again. But Christie, who has been out front with this message the loudest and longest, is the most sincere, the most committed, and falls outside the “America First” group.
To a certain extent, Trump is irrelevant. “America First” is the new MAGA. It is the autocratic movement that Trump started but is modeled to fit DeSantis, Scott, and even Ted Cruz, if necessary. If an America Firster is sworn in on January 20, 2025, dozens of executive orders will be signed, making every federal employee “at will” and chopping the size of government by one-third to one-half while also putting every remaining employee through a loyalty test. Christie is worth watching from that perspective alone. He has never fit in with Trump, nor will he fit in around DeSantis.
So, while many of the candidates may have had the same message – unsaid – to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Christie is the only one that means it writ large, to the entirety of the new republicanism, whether it’s “MAGA” or “America First.”
Christie rebukes Trump: "It is time to stop whispering…It is time to stop being afraid of any one person" https://t.co/XVLUWoa73C pic.twitter.com/h7wMCxLGDO
— The Hill (@thehill) November 19, 2022
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