Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, accompanied by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, left, speaks during a news conference on Super Tuesday primary election night, Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Christie may have restored some confidence in voters after his February 16 budget address, in which he said he intends to make the next two years of his term “great ones” for the state and that he looks forward to “working together” with legislators to address the range of challenges facing the state. Instead of comfortably smiling, Christie looked like he was a hostage.
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“It will be the end of the modern Republican party”, Marco Rubio said. As a presidential candidate, his bullish, pigheaded persona was overshadowed by the very man whom he now endorses – perhaps the only man on earth more bullish and pigheaded than Christie.
Six Gannett newspapers in New Jersey said he isn’t fit to be governor any more.
On the campaign trail, Christie had criticized Trump’s call for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, his lack of a plan for Social Security and his views on Muslims as a security threat.
Beck also said she does not support Trump, whom she said does not have the temperament or qualifications to be president. And new polling suggests that Christie’s endorsement of Trump is hurting his reputation with residents of New Jersey.
Meg Whitman, a former California gubernatorial candidate and the national finance co-chair for his failed presidential campaign, called Christie’s endorsement “an astonishing display of political opportunism”.
Of the governor’s endorsement of Trump, “that is a big disappointment to us”, said Maria Teresa Montilla, the alliance’s current president.
The president of the alliance at the time, Martin Perez, a Christie ally, told the Bergen Record that he was “blindsided”.
Whatever it was, Christie clearly underestimated just how many people would be willing to speculate out in open about both theories of motivation and offer sharp, unequivocal rebukes. The criticism might get more vociferous in the coming days, but Christie would surely have seen it coming.
As he charted his political rise, Christie stood out among Republicans for gaining support from voters the GOP has traditionally struggled to attract.
Christie refused to answer questions during a press conference for his nomination of a state Supreme Court judge on Monday. “If that’s the case, it’s time for him to really give consideration for what’s in the best interests of New Jersey and step down”.
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Speaking at a Trump rally in Florida, Christie introduced his new political BFF Tuesday night with a stilted address completely out of character from his shoot-from-the-lip style.
