Chris Christie rips GOP hopefuls 'playing footsie' with Trump as former governor mulls 2024 run

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took aim at the evolving GOP primary field "playing footsie" with former President Trump as he himself continues mulling a 2024 presidential bid.

Appearing on Wednesday's Ruthless podcast, the lengthy sit-down began with him doubling down on his criticism towards Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his ongoing feud with Disney, something he viewed as being "hard-edged political retribution" from DeSantis rather than a principled movie.

"If he was so offended by the Reedy Creek district, why didn't he do something the whole first four years he was there?… Don't tell me the governor of Florida didn't know that Disney had its own governing body. Because if he didn't, then he's an incompetent, ok?" Christie said. "It's the single biggest taxpayer in your state, probably the single biggest employer in the state of Florida and the single biggest tourist draw to Florida. Now, if you don't know, at least the bare essentials about that company like 'Oh, here's something weird, they govern themselves' … He didn't do anything for four years. Only when they disagreed with him on something did he say 'Oh, now I'm offended by this Reedy Creek district'…  I'm sorry, that's using the levers of government to punish somebody for what they think."

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Christie, who he himself is employed by Disney as an ABC News contributor, acknowledged he agreed with the legislation DeSantis signed into law that Disney opposed but knocked the governor for ultimately being "outdone by Bob Iger." 

He then broadened his criticism towards the entire GOP field he said isn't willing to take on Trump directly.

"Look, there's plenty of arguments to be made as to why Donald Trump should not be the next president of the United States, many of them he's created himself out of whole cloth but what I see in the field that exists right now is this kind of, like, cutesy game… and they get credit from the liberal media for even like hinting at something. Like DeSantis saying to Piers Morgan 'Well, I don't know much about paying a porn star'… And they go, ‘Ooh, Ron DeSantis criticized Trump.’ Huh?" Christie exclaimed. 

The former governor insisted "the only way" Trump loses the Republican primary next year is by "making the case directly at him." When asked by Ruthless co-host Josh Holmes whether candidates should focus on "the issues" or the "psychology" of Trump, Christie replied "Both."

"You can't effectively do it on one or the other. I think you have to go both, and you have to show voters how they tie together, and they're married to each other," Christie said.

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Christie pointed to Trump's record on China, specifically how the US was supposed to sell 20 billion tons of soybeans to the Communist nation and instead sold 7 billion and how he heaped praise for Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying he can be trusted regarding China's transparency of COVID. He also swiped the "nice letter" Trump received from North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un and how he got "nothing" from him from a policy standpoint. 

"Why? Because all I want to be is loved. Just say something nice about me and I will be your best friend. Say something bad about me. I will be your worst enemy," Christie mocked the former president. "But you'll notice that in that entire sentence, it doesn't involve anybody but him. And when you're the President of the United States, I think you're supposed to be worried about the 330 million other people first, not himself. So my point to you, Josh, is that the issues are inextricably tied to the psychology because the position he's taken and the things he's failed that in so many issues are because of his psychology, because he can't work with people, because he puts himself before he puts the people who put him in there."

Christie went on to say he's "worried" that based on the current state of the GOP field, it is resembling the 2016 race, which he previously ran and was ultimately defeated by Trump. 

"You got to not only be willing to do it, but you got to be able to deliver… a very effective punch because this guy is not going down with one punch," Christie said.

"So you don't think any of the currently announced candidates have a shot of beating Trump?" co-host Comfortably Smug said.

"I don't want to say they don't have a shot Smug… I think these are dynamic enterprises and things change… but I think on the course that they're showing so far, which is I'll snuggle up close to him, I'll say all the things that he says, and then they're gonna realize he's nuts, so they got to vote for me because I'm almost like him, but not quite. I don't think that works… If you love Trump, why are you voting for Trump lite, right?" Christie responded. "I loved Coke. And then he came out with New Coke. I didn't ask for New Coke. I like Coke. And nobody else asked for New Coke. 'But no, it's just like Coke.' Great, I'll stick with Coke! And I think that's what happens with Trump. If you offer the alternative is a non-differentiated alternative- like, 'I'm just nicer' or 'I'm just like him, but I wouldn't say all those crazy things,' or 'I promise I'll close my Twitter account is if I become president.'

"Is this specifically DeSantis, that you're discussing his approach?" Smug asked.

"I think it's all of the above," the ex-governor responded. "I don't think Nikki Haley has done anything different than that, I don't think you hear Mike Pence doing anything different than that… I think the people who are in are not doing anything all that differently than that."

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Christie asserted that Trump cannot win a general election rematch against President Biden in 2024, something he said dates back to polling he saw in 2020 from the Philadelphia suburbs that showed poor support among suburban women, urging any declared candidate has to make an "electability argument."

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"Because a vote for Donald Trump, in my view, is a vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," Christie said. "What I say to folks is if someone were willing to really take on this fight and take a risk to make the country better… What's going through my head as I'm trying to make this decision- I legitimately haven't made it. What's going through my head is am I gonna really sit by and watch everybody play footsie with Trump, hoping that he's gonna blow himself up and that they're the lucky one who wasn't near the vest and survived… They're all playing to be the designated survivor like, 'Okay, he's probably gonna blow up. I mean, he's really off the rails.'" 

He credited Trump's 2016 presidential run as an "act" that was "new," "fresh" and "different" but that his 2024 campaign so far has shown "this act is old."