An attempt by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to hit former President Donald Trump for not participating in Wednesday’s second Republican primary debate fell flat on its face.
Christie attacked Trump for not appearing at the event at the Ronald Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and he even claimed to have known Trump was watching.
But the former president was speaking elsewhere, meaning Christie’s tough guy talk was little more than an exercise in theatrics.
During an overture about restoring law and order to the country, the political afterthought that is Christie turned to a Fox Business Network camera and tried to grandstand against Trump.
“And Donald Trump should be here to answer for that,” he said. “But he’s not. I want to look at that camera right now. Tell you, Donald, I know you’re watching. You can’t help yourself. I know you’re watching.”
Christie continued:
“You’re not here tonight. Not because of polls and not because of your indictments. You’re not here tonight because you’re afraid of being on the stage and defending your record.
“You’re ducking these things. And let me tell you what’s going to happen, you keep doing that. No one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore. We’re going to call you ‘Donald Duck.’”
Chris Christie confidently, straight to camera, threatens Donald Trump with the nickname “Donald Duck.” pic.twitter.com/8JqYrWGz1T
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 28, 2023
Did Christie make himself look foolish in front of the entire country?
Yes: 100% (10 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
The attempt to brand Trump as “Donald Duck” was lazy, surely rehearsed, and it wasn’t exactly warmly received by the majority of those who were in attendance. Christie also managed to make himself into a meme:
Christie literally did the meme with the Donald Duck line 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ZMxthhNENp
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 28, 2023
There are most certainly conservatives who would have been interested in seeing Trump partake in the forum on Wednesday.
Christie, who is polling at a pathetic 2.7 percent in the RealClearPolitics average, is not in a position to challenge Trump on anything.
But to answer the Bruce Springsteen superfan’s claim that Trump was watching him, Trump was busy during the botched attack.
This is where Trump was, speaking to United Auto Workers members, whose union is on strike:
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Trump at one point told fed-up blue-collar workers, “The only time Joe Biden has ever gotten his hands dirty is when he’s taking cash from foreign countries, which is quite often.”
He appeared quite busy throughout the entirety of the evening:
Michigan is Trump country pic.twitter.com/wChnZntiAX
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 28, 2023
.@realDonaldTrump greets union members at Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township Michigan. pic.twitter.com/5ggIOQ3nOc
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) September 28, 2023
Trump had better things to do on Wednesday than to argue with Christie, who will be lucky to be on the debate stage himself the next go-around.
