Chris Christie town hall: Christie slams ex-president as poll shows slight bump in favorability

Former New Jersey governor and 2024 candidate Chris Christie says Republicans are afraid to criticise Donald Trump by name or call out his unsuccessful record.

“He hasn’t won a damn thing since 2016,” Mr Christie said, blasting the former president as a “three-time loser” and noting how even after Trump left office, the Republican party was barely able to take back the House, despite midterm elections usually being a major boost for the opposition party.

The former New Jersey governor said other Republicans are treating Donald Trump like Voldemort.

”Nobody wants to mention his name,” Mr Chriustie said. “Say his name man, say his name...How do you beat someone if you don’t talk about them? How do you beat them if they don’t distinguish themselves from him?”

It’s a rare thing to see politicians say they’re not sure what to do, but that’s just what happened on Monday evening when the father of a victim of the Las Vegas mass shooting asked Chris Christie what he would do to tackle America’s epidemic of mass shootings,

The Republican candidate said his current ability to make a difference at this moment “wholly inadequate.”

“I’m mad because I don’t have a great answer,” the former New Jersey governor said. “I wish I did.”

Mr Christie added that “there’s not a lot more left to do” on the federal level, and called his past support for an assault weapons ban “naïvete.”

The 2024 candidate called for more of a focus on mental health and better policing.

Donald Trump is a “child” who can’t accept that he lost and instead has been spreading the “destructive” lie that the 2020 election was rigged, Chris Christie said on Monday night during a CNN town hall.

“Just show me the evidence. It’s the same thing I said to Donald Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election,” he said. “But there’s no evidence. I’m sorry, all these conspiracy thoeries, he still talks about they were bringing boxes of ballots into Fulton County, Georgia, no many how many times we explain to him that’s the way they do it.”

Chris Christie was in peak form Monday evening as he laid into former President Donald Trump in his second town hall-style appearance as a presidential candidate.

The governor’s performance on CNN was in many ways a repeat of his initial launch event at St Anselm College in New Hampshire a week earlier. But the governor fine-tuned his attacks over the days ahead of his first cable news spot, and came out swinging against the Republican frontrunner.

He largely ignored his other GOP rivals as he took questions from voters and moderator Anderson Cooper, while landing every blow he could on his main rival (and former ally). Mr Christie hit his opponent on nearly every topic, from his most recent indictment for the mishandling of presidential records and violations of the Espionage Act to the performance of the Republican Party electorally since 2016, blame for which he laid squarely at the the feet of the de facto GOP leader.

“He flew the boxes up to New Jersey for summer vacation. What is this, like, they’re a family member?” Mr Christie vented at one point, referencing recent reporting on the 37-count indictment Mr Trump faces in the Southern District of Florida.

John Bowden has the full story.

Chris Christie is trying to walk a tight rope right now on abortion.

On the one hand, the former New Jersey governor says he is proudly against abortion, but he is also hesitating to speak explicitly about how far anti-abortion policy should go in the US.

“What I stand for is what conservatives have been arguing for 50 years, that Roe is wong, there is no federal constitutional right to an abortion and that the states should decide,” he said. “I absolutely believe each state should make their own decision on this. The federal government should not be involved unless and until there’s a consensus around the country from the 50 states making their decisions.”

When asked if he would support a federal abortion ban, Mr Christie responded that there were too many “ifs” in that hypothetical, and the former New Jersey governor also ruled out speaking on Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s 6-week abortion ban.

”That’s governor DeSantis’s decition to make along with the legislature in Florida,” he added. “The people will judge him on whether that’s harsh or not.”

Chris Christie told the audience at his CNN town hall on Monday that immigration reform is needed, and that he would finish the border wall project that was the centre of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign

“You have to change the immigration laws to make them fairer, clearer, and have some teeth in them,” he said.

“You need a president who is going to sit down with both parties and say enough, enough posturing, let’s come to a solution,” he added. “Only if you have had to sit with your adversaries, listen to them, reason with them, and then come to an agreement, do you know how to do it. I don’t see anybody in this race other than me who has had the experience of doing that at the executive level.”

During his CNN town hall, Chris Christie argued the only way to take on Donald Trump is by going straight at him and not being afraid to offer forceful criticism.

No moment during Monday’s event was more forceful than when the former New Jersey governor said Republicans should be honest and blame the “three-time loser” Donald Trump for his failings.

Watch below.

After years of Republicans being afraid to offer even the slighest whisper of criticism against Donald Trump, things seem to be shifting.

Chris Christie tore into the former president on Monday night during a CNN town hall, painting him as a “loser” and a vengeful “child” who can’t accept reality, whether it’s in regard to the 2020 election or the former president’s recent indictment.

Fellow 2024 nominee Nikki Haley is also joining the chorus of critics, calling Mr Trump “reckless” for mishandling classified documents.

If Chris Christie continues to advance in the 2024 nomination process, you’ll surely be hearing a lot more about “Bridgegate,” a 2013 scandal in which advisors of Mr Christie intentionally ordered the closure of parts of the busy George Washington Bridge, allegedly as political retribution against a Democrat who didn’t support the New Jersey governor.

Here’s some reporting on the scandal.

Not so well.

The former New Jersey governor has little over one per cent support since launching his campaign, according to polls of the GOP electorate.