Chris Christie booed as he attacks Donald Trump at Faith and Freedom event
A crowd at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event on June 23 booed Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie for his remarks on former president Donald Trump. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Carlin Stiehl/The Washington Post)
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Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R) was met with boos Friday at a gathering of politically active religious conservatives in Washington as he attacked former president Donald Trump’s character and accused his fellow 2024 White House hopeful of a “failure of leadership.” Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Christie, among a half-dozen GOP presidential aspirants to speak at a morning session of a Faith and Freedom Coalition event, sought to elevate the issue of “character” during his remarks, telling the audience that leaders need to concede mistakes.
“Beware, everybody, of a leader who never makes mistakes,” Christie said. “Beware of a leader who has no faults. Beware of a leader who says that if something goes wrong, it’s everybody else’s fault, and he goes and he blames those people for anything that goes wrong. But when things go right, everything is to his credit.”
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Christie soon made clear that he was talking about Trump, the GOP front-runner who enjoyed robust support from evangelical Christians in his past two runs for the presidency.
“I’m running because he’s let us down,” Christie said after recounting his past support for Trump. “He has let us down because he’s unwilling … to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made and any of the faults that he has and any of the things that he’s done. And that is not leadership, everybody. That is a failure of leadership.”
At that point, Christie acknowledged the boos that had begun in an audience filled with fans of the former president.
“You can boo all you want,” Christie said. “But here’s the thing: Our faith teaches us that people have to take responsibility for what they do. People have to stand up and take accountability for what they do. And I, I cannot stand by.”
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Christie never explained what mistakes he believes Trump has made, but in the past, he has been highly critical of Trump falsely claiming he won the 2020 election and accusing him of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The episode underscored how Christie is trying to position himself as a bare-knuckled brawler best equipped to take the fight to Trump — as well as the challenge that poses in winning over voters still fond of the former president.
Other Trump rivals who spoke Friday morning offered criticisms of the former president but were less direct. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), for example, told the audience that Republicans “cannot continue the culture of losing” but didn’t mention Trump by name.
Trump did not appear at Friday’s morning session but will be part of the conference’s “Patriot’s Gala” on Saturday night. He is the only presidential candidate speaking at that event.
Trump’s campaign did not respond for comment Friday after Christie’s speech.
While appearing before a group clearly supportive of Trump, Christie did not shy away from the kinds of criticisms that he has unfurled against Trump on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, the first GOP primary state.
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At the outset of Friday’s session, Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, admonished the audience of hundreds of largely White evangelical Christians not to boo any speakers, but there was a stirring in the crowd as Christie began his attack on Trump.
There were scattered boos at first, and then a louder chorus of objections from the audience — including several people who shouted “We love Trump.”
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is running for president. Here’s what you need to know about his candidacy. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post)
Christie leaned into the give-and-take, noting that Trump has called him names and sought to “belittle me.”
“You can love him all you want,” Christie said. “But I will tell you, I will tell you that doing those kind of things makes our country smaller.”
After his speech, Christie told reporters he expected some boos. But he said that the mixed reaction — some who applauded, and some who jeered — demonstrated that there were “a lot of people of faith in that room who want to hear the truth.”
“I’m not going to come here like other candidates will and pander to them,” Christie said. “I’m going to say exactly what I think.”
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“I don’t think anybody in that room can honestly say — given his conduct — that he’s a person of character,” Christie added. “This is a guy who paid off a porn star. This is a guy who has regularly lied. This is a guy who’s abused people who have worked for him. … If we are people of faith … one of the cornerstones to faith is character.”
Christie noted that Trump, who once offered him the White House chief of staff role during his presidency, said on a podcast this week that he had never trusted him.
“What does that make him, a liar or an idiot?” Christie said.
During his remarks to the audience, Christie detailed his past support for Trump, noting that he was the first GOP presidential candidate to endorse Trump after dropping out of the race himself in 2016. Christie also ticked off other ways he had helped Trump, including playing Democrat Hillary Clinton in debate preparations ahead of the 2016 general election.
“You won’t be able to sleep thinking about that one tonight,” he said.
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Source: The Washington Post
