Trump ridicules Chris Christie’s weight in edited 2024 campaign launch video

Donald Trump fired off a nasty buffet video of Chris Christie after the former governor attacked Ivanka Trump at his 2024 campaign launch.

The former president shared a video created by Twitter users @NautPoso and @drefanzor which was crudely edited to make it appear as if the ex-New Jersey governor was starting his campaign at an all-you-can-buffet holding a plate of food.

Mr Trump shared the video not long after taking another shot at Mr Christie’s weight.

“How many times did Chris Christie use the word SMALL? Does he have a psychological problem with SIZE? Actually, his speech was SMALL, and not very good,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It rambled all over the place, and nobody had a clue of what he was talking about. Hard to watch, boring, but that’s what you get from a failed Governor (New Jersey) who left office with a 7% approval rating and then got run out of New Hampshire. This time, it won’t be any different!”

Mr Christe has faced a litany of jokes about his weight in the last few weeks from outlets such as Newsmax and Fox News. Fox host Greg Gutfeld took part in the mockery, as did network anchor John Roberts who said the former governor “could drink a lot the milkshake if he wanted to” because of his “physical stature”.

Mr Roberts apologised on Tuesday, Mediaite noted.

This is not the first time Mr Trump has mocked the weight of Mr Christie, who became the first establishment Republican to endorse Mr Trump after dropping out of the 2016 primary. Mr Christie was, for a time, in charge of Mr Trump’s presidential transition and was also considered for roles such as vice president and attorney general, ideas which were vetoed by Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

After being an ally of the president and supporting him in both the 2016 and 2020 elections, Mr Christie has now become one of his harshest critics. Last year, Mr Trump posted an image of Mr Christie at a buffet with the caption “Chris Christie at a Roy Rogers at 11 PM in the evening trying to console himself”.

Mr Trump’s meme-sharing comes after Mr Christie went after Ms Trump and Mr Kushner.

The Kushner family has been in a decades-long feud with Mr Christie. When he was serving as a US Attorney in New Jersey in 2004, Mr Christie prosecuted Mr Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, who ended up pleading guilty to “16 counts of assisting in the filing of false tax returns, one count of retaliating against a cooperating witness and one count of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission,” according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

Mr Trump pardoned Charles Kushner in 2020.

Calling Mr Trump a “self-serving mirror hog” during his 2024 campaign launch, Mr Christie went on to say that “the grift from this family is breathtaking”.

“Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walk out of the White House and months later get $2bn from the Saudis. $2bn from the Saudis,” he added. “You think it’s because he’s some kind of investing genius? Or do you think it’s because he was sitting next to the President of the United States for four years doing favours for the Saudis?”

The investment fund of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman entered a deal with Mr Kushner’s Affinity Partners six months after Mr Kushner left the White House, prompting ethics concerns, according to The New York Times.

“That’s your money,” Mr Christie told the audience in New Hampshire. “That’s your money he stole and gave it to his family. You know what that makes us? A banana republic. That’s what it makes us.”