NEWSWEEK
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a staunch critic of Donald Trump, had a curt response to the former president mocking him on social media.
Christie, one of Trump’s rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, on Tuesday evening shared a screenshot of the former president’s Truth Social post, which referred to the former governor as a “stone cold loser!” The pair often trade jabs, with the former president frequently taking swipes at Christie over his appearance.
In response to the Truth Social post, Christie, a former ally of the MAGA leader, taunted Trump over his indecisiveness on whether he’ll attend the first GOP primary debate. The event, which is scheduled for August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will be hosted by Fox News.
Trump has said several times he does not plan to take the debate stage, blaming Fox News for not covering his campaign enough and saying it’s “stupid” for the front-runner to participate. However, last week Trump hinted during an interview with Newsmax that he might have changed his mind.
Christie called Trump a “coward” over his noncommittal responses about the coming debate a few hours after the former president lashed out at him on Truth Social.
Newsweek reached out via email on Tuesday to Christie representatives for comment.
“Whatever … see you at the debate in Milwaukee or not, coward,” Christie posted on X, formerly Twitter, shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Steven Cheung, spokesperson for Trump, assailed Christie in an email to Newsweek.
“Chris Christie is a stone cold loser and should stop being so thirsty for relevance and attention,” Cheung said in the emailed statement. “He’s down bad in the polls, he’s given up on campaigning, and he goes on tv to make a fool of himself everyday.”
The former president, who frequently targets Christie in interviews and on social media, referred to the New Jersey politician as a “sad, pathetic slob” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump, in the social media post, also mocked Christie over the “Bridgegate” scandal that marred the former governor’s time in office and led to a decline in his popularity in New Jersey.
Two of Christie’s former associates were convicted and sentenced to federal prison for their part in the 2013 “Bridgegate” scheme to close access lanes onto the George Washington Bridge linking New York City and New Jersey for nearly a week in an act of political retribution against a local mayor.
Prosecutors said the traffic jams on the world’s busiest bridge were intended to punish a New Jersey mayor for refusing to back Christie’s reelection bid. While Christie has denied any involvement and was not charged, the scandal led to record-low approval ratings for him in his home state.
In the post, shared just after 3 p.m. ET, Trump blasted his rival on the former president’s social media platform, saying that Christie is “bitter” that he wasn’t given a job in Trump’s administration.
“Chris Christie is so bad for America, while being the best thing that ever happened to the Democrats,” Trump said in the post. “He left New Jersey with an 8% approval rating, a record low, and was tied up for years with the worst scandal in NJ history – Bridgegate. Some day, I will tell you how he got out of that morass. Now, all he does is attack me, spewing woke, radical lies. Christie is a sad, pathetic slob who begged me for jobs in my Administration and is bitter that I didn’t give him any of them. Stone cold loser!”
The former governor’s “whatever” response to Trump amassed more than 12,000 likes on X in just a few hours.
Christie’s jeer on Tuesday evening wasn’t the first time the former New Jersey leader has taken aim at Trump over his hesitancy to face his Republican opponents on the debate stage. Last week, Christie challenged the former president to call him a “fat pig” at the primary debate.
Christie responded to Trump’s remarks during a campaign event in New Hampshire on August 8 by telling the former president on social media, “If you had the guts you would show up to the debate and say it to my face.”
