Chris Christie Says Republican Candidates Have To Attack Trump: ‘You Have To Be Fearless’

Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie met with supporters at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics – a common pre-presidential race meeting place – and seemed to carve out a niche for himself in the upcoming Republican primary.

A Donald Trump opponent turned ally turned adversary again, Christie said Republicans needed a candidate who ran closer to the center. He also said that Republicans needed to fight back against the former president.

“You have to be fearless because he will come back — and right at you,” Christie said. “And that means you need to think about who’s got the skill to do that and who’s got the guts to do that because it’s not going to end nicely.”

Christie said the current Republican field will “wriggle right up next to him and say, ‘I’m almost like him, but I’m not quite as bad.'”

“Let me tell you something, everybody. That’s going to lose as certain as he lost in ‘20, as we lost the House in ‘18, as we lost the Senate in ’21, as we underperformed in ‘22.”

The New Jersian said he would decide publicly on his nomination in the next 45 to 60 days. Christie ran for the nomination in 2016 and came in sixth place. He responded to questions about his former candidacy, calling it a “strategic error.”

“Trump said a few weeks ago: I am your retribution. Guess what, everybody? No thanks,” Christie said about Trump’s 2024 run. “The only person he cares about is him. And if we haven’t learned that since Election Day 2020 until today, we’re not paying attention.”