Christie calls Trump a ‘dictator’ and an ‘angry, bitter man’
For more than 15 minutes, three of the four Republican candidates on the debate stage fended off sharp questions from Megyn Kelly and made their case for their electability. But as they attacked each other’s records, former President Donald J. Trump, the dominant frontrunner in the race, was conspicuously absent from the conversation.
Former Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, Trump’s fiercest critic among his Republican opponents, noted this.
“I’m looking at my watch now. We have been in this debate for 17 minutes,” Mr Christie told Ms Kelly. “And besides your little speech at the beginning, these three have been acting like the race was between the four of us.”
Mr Christie, referring to Mr Trump as “the fifth man” and “Voldemort, he who shall not be named”, mocked the former president as a coward who “doesn’t have the guts to appear here” – and castigated the other candidates for fighting among themselves while ignoring their strongest opponent, who skipped Wednesday’s debate to attend a private fundraiser.
Referring to Mr. Trump as a “dictator,” a “bully” and an “angry, bitter man,” Mr. Christie criticized his opponents on the debate stage — Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis — as too timid to criticize on the former president. Perhaps, he suggested, they were unwilling to do so because “they have aspirations for the future,” an allusion to succeeding Mr. Trump or joining his administration.
“This is the problem with my three colleagues. They are afraid of offending,” Mr Christie said. Referring to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, he added: “And if you are afraid of offending Donald Trump, what will you do when you sit across from President Xi?”
Mr. Christie also pointed to Mr. Trump’s statements about his plans to go after his political enemies if he is elected to a second term, in an effort to signal to Trump’s supporters that the former president is incapable of to return to the White House.
“There is no bigger problem in this race than Donald Trump,” Mr. Christie said, later adding: “This is an angry, bitter man who now wants back as president because he wants to exact retribution on anyone who doesn’t agrees with him. .”
His comments reflected a debate strategy of sharply criticizing Mr. Trump — even when the former president is physically absent, and even when the When attacked, Mr. Christie is booed by Trump supporters in the audience.
Mr. Christie has sought confrontation with Mr. Trump, often expressing frustration at having to compete with a front-runner who does not want to face his opponents in a debate.