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

Chris Christie warned people that if Donald Trump were to obtain a second presidential term he would act selfishly and use it to get revenge on people he believes wronged him.

“I am convinced that if he goes back to the White House that the next four years will be about him settling scores with everybody who he thinks wasn’t perfectly nice to him,” Mr Christie said during the town hall.

The former New Jersey governor described Mr Trump as “angry” and “completely self-centered.”

Mr Christie added: “If you’re lucky enough to become the president of the United States, every day you should wake up thinking about what to do for the people of this country not what scores you need to settle for yourself.”

Rick Wilson, a political strategist and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, described Chris Christie as a “performative” candidate.

“Yes, I’m delighted he’s turned his considerable prosecutor’s instincts on Donald Trump. Better late brave than never,” Mr Wilson tweeted.

“But there’s a catch.”

Mr Wilson argues that Mr Christie chose to stand up to Mr Trump because when Mr Trump was president, Jared Kushner refused to give Mr Christie the Attorney General position – driving a rift between Mr Christie and Mr Trump.

“THIS is the singular outrage that made Christie realize Trump is and always has been a threat (sic) to America?” Mr Wilson tweeted.

During Monday night’s town hall, Chris Christie was asked how being the first Italian-American president would influence his approach to governing.

“As far as being the first Italian-American president, let me guarantee this: the food in the White House will be better,” Mr Christie joked.

“Guarantee the food will be better. For sure.”

Chris Christie said his wife, Mary Pat Christie, is the one who urged him to run for president again.

Host Anderson Cooper asked Mr Christie how he told his family and what their reaction was when he made the decision to make a second bid for the White House.

“It was kind of the opposite. It was really Mary Pat making the case to me, why she thought that it was necessary to do it,” Mr Christie said.

The former New Jersey governor said his wife explained he has, “a unique set of skills” that needed to be used in the 2024 election.

“And she was making the argument. So, Anderson, when your wife is making the argument and you’re the candidate, go. Just go. Don’t ask questions, just go,” Mr Christie added.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie discussed ways to reform social security during his town hall on Monday night, explaining that it could be beneficial to change the retirement age for younger people.

“You don’t change the retirement age for somebody my age, right? I’m 60, so I’m within eyeshot of that. So, you don’t change it for them,” Mr Christie explained.

“But you can do a lot of good by changing it for people at a younger age.”

“What I’d want to do is sit down with the actuaries and say at each different age point that we would change the retirement age, how much would it save us? And look at that and have a real conversation about it. I mean, look, if you’ve got 20 or 30 years to plan for it, that should be enough to get yourself ready. If you only have four or five years, that’s not fair to do,” Mr Christie added.

Chris Christie was in peak form on 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. John Bowden reports:

Former governor and 2024 presidential candidate Chris Christie shared what his plan will be for the US-Mexico border if he were to become president during his town hall on Monday night.

Mr Christie criticised former president Donald Trump’s border policy – saying the steps he took were not sustainable.

“He took temporary steps, but the minute he left office, someone else could change. You know what that is? A bad executive,” Mr Christie explained.

Instead, Mr Christie said he would send the National Guard to the border to deal with the large influx of asylum seekers.

After the town hall, Chris Christie’s chances of winning the 2024 presidency remain a long shot, though he may have increased slightly more favorably.

A poll from RealClearPolitics shows Mr Christie going from 1.2 per cent on 12 June to 1.3 per cent on 13 June.

While the small increase may be a result of the ever-changing mood of voters, it may also be a small reflection of Mr Christie’s performance during the CNN town hall on Monday evening.

Other polls with more specific data points may become available in the coming days, lending some better insight into how voter intending to vote Republican feel about the former New Jersey governor.

The battle for the Republican nomination just got a whole lot messier.

That was the defining message of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s campaign launch on Tuesday: get ready for blood.

Calling out his opponents by name, deconstructing their campaign slogans and clever quips — Chris Christie was in prime form on Tuesday evening at St Anselm College in New Hampshire, where he addressed a small crowd of voters in a town hall-style event and put his sights clear on his top rival, Donald Trump.

John Bowden reports: