OP-ED: Christie projected strong leadership in his CNN town hall event
CNN performed a public service through its June 12 town hall event, which featured Republican presidential candidate and former prosecutor and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Unlike the forum the network provided recently to former President Donald Trump, this program was not filled with bluster, distortions, and lies, or condemnation of moderator Anderson Cooper.
I fear that the Christie campaign is going nowhere, but for GOP members who seek to cast a vote of conscience, a vote for someone who accepts facts, Christie provides a means to do so which does not require one to hold their nose.
I do not concur with Christie’s condemnation of President Biden and Hillary Clinton, but I stand with him in much of what he said and the strong leadership that he projected during this 90-minute event.
Sadly, the governor supported Trump for president in 2016 and 2020, but he did a 180-degree turn on the morning after the 2020 general election when he saw Trump stand before a crowd to assert that the election was rigged, something which, even if true, no one would have known a few hours after the polls had closed throughout the country.
Christie accurately noted that Trump is running again in order to provide retribution: revenge against those who have not supported him. He recognized that Trump is angry, and that he would make the years of 2025 through 2029 all about him, having no concern for the people he would be elected to help.
The governor asked whether one would want Trump’s flawed judgment to be utilized if a serious foreign crisis were to materialize, citing the Cuban missile crisis as an example. The answer should be obvious.
Christie zeroed in with great detail on the grave charges against Trump for his alleged flagrant crimes in retaining and refusing to return documents to the nation which owns them, desperate to retain the trappings of power and refusing to recognize that he lost the 2020 election. He asked what other option was available to the government but to conduct a search of Mar-a-Lago after Trump had refused every request to return what was not his to keep, including that which was requested through a subpoena. He noted that if Trump had returned the documents at any point prior to the government search at Mar-a-Lago, he would not have been charged.
When asked what he would say to the many who believe that Donald Trump was the winner of the 2020 election, Christie asked that someone show him the proof. So far, the only “proof” has been, “It must be true! Donald Trump said so!”
I expect the nominees in November 2024 to be Donald Trump and Joe Biden. I would vote for Joe Biden in that race, but at this point, I am likely to temporarily change my registration to Republican to vote for Chris Christie in the 2024 Republican primary election if he remains in the race by the time Pennsylvania has the opportunity to vote.
Oren Spiegler is a Peters Township resident.