Trump lashes out after Chris Christie was 'massacred' for telling GOP donors in Vegas they have to ditch the ex-president to be successful in future election
Donald Trump slammed Chris Christie on Monday for telling top GOP donors to dump the ex-president for the sake of success in future elections.
Pro-Trump Republicans did not take that message well – or the former New Jersey governor's insistence that they move past 2020 election fraud claims.
'Chris Christie, who just made a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) in Las Vegas, was just absolutely massacred by his statements that Republicans have to move on from the past, meaning the 2020 Election Fraud,' Trump said in a Monday evening statement.
'Everybody remembers that Chris left New Jersey with a less than 9% approval rating— a record low, and they didn't want to hear this from him!'
Christie had a dismal approval rating as he was preparing to leave office in 2018 after a June 2017 event where the then-governor was seen lounging on Island Beach State Park even though it was closed to the public during a government shutdown.
The picture of the governor in shorts and t-shirt on a beach chair went viral.
Subsequently, a June 2017 survey from Quinnipiac University showed Christie's approval at only 17 per cent, the worst rating 'for any governor in any state surveyed' in 20 years, according to the pollster.
Donald Trump lashed out at former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after he said the party needs to move on from Trump and the claims that the 2020 election was fraud
Trump said his base 'massacred' Christie and brought up that former GOP governor's approval rating was at a record-breaking low 15 per cent in June 2017 – just six months before he left office
At an annual Republican Jewish Coalition dinner in Las Vegas on Saturday, Christie said: 'We better focus on that and take our eyes off the rearview mirror and start looking through the windshield again.'
His disapproval rating went from 77% in December to 81% in the latest survey.
Christie's statement on Saturday to top Jewish Republican donors came after a slew of GOP wins in last Tuesday's elections.
He appeared to take the lead of Virginia gubernatorial victor – GOP newcomer Glenn Youngkin – who kept Trump at arms-length during the campaign and especially in the days leading up to the election, which some credit for his win in a state Joe Biden took by 10 points in 2020.
Christie told a room full of top GOP donors that it was time for the party to move past Trump as Youngkin's victory and Democrat losses in his own state provided proof of the controversial ex-president's waning influence on voters.
The comments from both Christie and Trump come just a year after the former governor was helping the then-president prep for his head-to-head debate with Biden.
Speaking at the RJC's annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Christie urged elected Republican officials and candidates to stop arguing over the validity of the 2020 election.
He told the crowd that Youngkin's victory represented a 'new era' in the GOP.
Christie's approval took a nosedive in June 2017 after a picture of him lounging on the beach went viral because the Island Beach State Park was closed at the time due to the government shut down
'Glenn Youngkin did not have a backward-looking campaign and neither did Jack Ciattarelli,' Christie told Fox News the day of the event.
'If what we're going to continue to talk about is the 2020 election and grievance politics, I think you got a market test in Virginia and in New Jersey. And that market test was candidates don't think that's going to work. And one of those candidates won, and the other candidate came close in a blue state to winning.'
Also speaking to CNN during the event, Christie said he would wait until after the 2022 midterm election cycle to decide if he'll mount another bid for the White House in 2024.
During his Las Vegas speech the former governor and presidential candidate warned that re-litigating the last election takes attention away from the damage Democrats are doing to the country.
'We can no longer talk about the past and the past elections - no matter where you stand on that issue, no matter where you stand, it is over,' Christie said. 'Every minute that we spend talking about 2020 - while we're wasting time doing that, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are laying ruin to this country.
'We better focus on that and take our eyes off the rearview mirror and start looking through the windshield again.'
He took a swipe at Trump more directly, urging Republicans to trade their support for his baseless fraud theories for a message to voters that 'doesn't hurt their ears.'
Chris Christie delivered a rebuke of Trump at an event full of wealthy GOP donors, though he didn't mention the former president by name during his speech
Christie indicated that the GOP campaigns run in Virginia and New Jersey, which largely focused on local issues, were a roadmap for how to move forward.
'People want us to be direct with them. They want someone to fight for them. But they want them to fight in a way that doesn't hurt their ears,' he said.
'We have to speak to their dreams, their hopes, their aspirations for the future. If we don't do that, then we won't once again win back the votes that we began to win back in Virginia and New Jersey last Tuesday night.'
Christie, once held up as a potentially winning presidential candidate, has been a vocal critic of Trump's election fraud conspiracy theories. His return to the public stage this year has spurred rumors that he's thinking about a 2024 White House bid.
Trump has stoked similar rumors himself, and still appeals to a wide majority of Republican voters, according to recent polls. But it's not clear if either of them will be running.
And the former president was also one of the GOP stars to appear at the multi-day event.
Trump delivered a video address in which he predicted Republicans would take back control over the House and Senate.
'And we will win back in 2024 that beautiful white building sometimes referred to as the White House,' he added.
The Las Vegas event was so full of other GOP 2024 hopefuls that South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham quipped on stage Saturday night, 'A lot of people have come here to audition.'
Those figures were far more flattering of Trump than Christie was.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said Trump's strongest trait was 'the man has a steel backbone and he doesn't back down.'
Graham said Trump 'was a hell of a president' even after speaking out against him following the January 6 Capitol riot.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who Republican voters have been shown to favor in a 2024 race without Trump, also spoke at the event along with fellow potential presidential nominee Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
DeSantis also got a considerably warmer reception than Christie - at the end of the former's speech, most of the audience gave a standing ovation, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. Christie only got part of the audience on their feet at the end of his own remarks - at best.
The former GOP governor said his party could lose the voters it gained in 2021 if Republicans keep trying to re-litigate the 2020 election
On Saturday Christie said Republicans have an opportunity to take back power in Washington after President Joe Biden's handling of the US economy and other issues - but again saved a jab for the ex-commander in chief.
'All of that requires us to tell the truth and be honest, and to have it be about the people we serve, not about us,' he said.
'All too often, people who get behind these podiums - they like to talk about themselves... the problems we face today are too grave to be talking about ourselves.'
The people who should be listened to, Christie claimed, were those who 'have suffered from an economy that's driving prices up while they can't afford to pay their bills.'
'And all those voters were crying out in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday night,' he said.
Exit polls appear to show the former Republican rising star is at least partially correct. White suburban voters who cast their ballots for Biden in 2020 helped push Youngkin over the line to victory in Virginia.
Christie said Youngkin's largely Trump-less Virginia campaign is proof of a 'new era' in the Republican party
For many of those voters, the economy and education were among the top issues at stake.
They're issues that Youngkin honed his message on, largely shunning national Republican figures in favor of a smaller-scale race appealing directly to Virginians. Trump only made an appearance in the final days of the race to back the GOP entrepreneur - though they never appeared side-by-side.
His opponent, former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe, took the opposite approach. McAuliffe pulled out an all-star rolodex of liberal figures, from Biden to Barack Obama, to appeal to voters in the Old Dominion.
The Democrat tried unsuccessfully to make Election Day another referendum on Trump, and it appears voters didn't take the bait.
Christie took on a more flattering tone when speaking with CNN after his remarks.
He told the outlet that Trump needs to decide between being 'a leader for tomorrow or a figure of yesterday.'
Trump could be a 'very positive force for Republican candidates' in 2022, the ex-Garden State governor said, if he will 'begin talking about the future and tell the truth about the election and move on.'
But Christie added he had no idea if that's something the bombastic former president is capable of.
His advice for potential candidates was to not 'worry about what the former President is going to do or not do,' citing Trump's unpredictability.
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