Chris Christie launched his Presidential campaign last week in New Hampshire. Today he held his first town hall in New hosted by Andersen Cooper of CNN. Christie sounded like an excellent candidate for the presidency. He was not short of mincing words on former President Trump. He stated Trump should never have had classified material. And, explained why Republicans keep squawking about equal treatment under the law for Trump as it was for Hillary. Recollecting that Hillary had been the Secretary of State under the Obama Administration and was found to have classified information in it. I believe the documents she had amounted to some 8 Top Secret, 35 or so Secret, and 8 Confidential. The documents unlike Trump were email references and not the documents themselves. Far cry from what Trump had in his possession. Further discussion of classified information with the non-security holding public. Christie referred to Trump, not as a spy but as a “showman.” He made an analogy between Trump and the parents of a kid who came home with the excuse he did not pass or get a good grade on his exam because the teacher didn’t like him, the subject matter taught was not what was in the exam, the guy next to him was continuously talking hence the bad grade – love the analogy. He referred to him as that “kid” when at 2:30 am November 4, 2020, Trump was making a speech at the White House spouting how the election was stolen and how he believed they were still winners. That’s what Trump’s followers should be thinking about, the incessantly “victim” excuse Trump always uses.
Christie still must face his demons from a decade ago “bridge gate.” The incident caused a major road disruption to the George Washington Bridge because the Mayor of Ft. Lee had refused to endorse Christie for the New Jersey gubernatorial race in 2013. After investigation, it was learned the idea was concocted by two of Christie’s aides without his knowledge. Christie also denied any credence to the Trump campaign having collaborated with the Russians. During this time he, Giuliani, Kushner, and several others including one that Trump referred to as the ”coffee boy” who ended up going to jail were indeed doing some kind of collaboration with the Russians and Ukrainians! Guliani made several trips to Ukraine. He also said he plans to complete the “wall” at the border with Mexico because after all it has been started. Some news for you, Trump only built a few miles of the wall, he repaired a bit more and Governor Abbott (R-TX) had another portion built using federal and state funds. The part of the wall that Gov. Abbott has collapsed into the Rio Grande. Yes, the contractors for the building of the wall built it so close to the river embankment that the posts have crumpled under the weight and were washed away by being too close to the water’s edge. That’s millions that were poured into it, federal and state monies. I wonder how these contractors were chosen for the permit to build. And, putting it close to the water’s edge was just asinine. These were supposed to be professionals!
- I am going to respect Chris Cristie’s performance at the town hall. He at least presented a sensible argument to a number of volatile questions. He actually did much better than former VP Pence who will not commit and way better than Nikki Haley who seems to be beyond her “prime.”