Christie Says He’ll Do Better in 2024 Because He Can Now Hit Trump’s Actual Record: Didn’t Build Wall and ‘We Haven’t Gotten Our First Peso’

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie projected his chances in the 2024 primary as stronger than in 2016, telling CNN’s Jake Tapper that the difference now is that his chief rival, former President Donald Trump, could be attacked directly on his actual record in office.

Christie officially launched his campaign Tuesday, taking pointed swings at not just the ex-president, but his family, accusing daughter and son-in-law Ivanka and Jared Kushner of engaging in a “breathtaking” level of “grift” related to their time in the White House, specifically calling out $2 billion a fund headed by the Saudi crown prince invested in Kushner’s company.

The outspoken New Jerseyan joins a crowded Republican primary that besides Trump includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and now as of Wednesday, former Vice President Mike Pence and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Christie was a guest on The Lead with Jake Tapper Wednesday afternoon, and the show’s anchor pressed him on why he thought this year would be different, considering Trump was the frontrunner – and in a crowded GOP field – yet again.

“You’re joining what’s a pretty crowded field, surprisingly considering there’s a former president in it as well,” said Tapper. “Now, right now you’re polling in the low single digits – I know you haven’t even been in the race for a day – but in 2016 you ran, you placed tenth in Iowa, and sixth in New Hampshire, before getting out of race – what is going to make this year different?”

“The whole atmosphere is different” this time, Christie responded, explaining that in 2015 and 2016, Trump had “no record to speak of,” and therefore “there was no way to really make the case against him” and counter the image he had cultivated with his television persona.

He and his fellow Republican candidates “found it difficult to make the case, because he could say whatever he wanted to say,” Christie continued. “There was no point to prove he couldn’t do it. ‘I’ll build a wall and Mexico is going pay for it.’ I didn’t think he would be able to do that, physically figure out a way to do it, but how can you prove that he wouldn’t?”

But it was “different” now, Christie insisted. “Today? We know he said he would build a wall across the entire border of Mexico. He didn’t do it. Only about a quarter of the wall was built. He said Mexico would pay for it. We haven’t gotten our first peso.”

Christie listed several other broken Trump promises, including not repealing Obamacare despite having a Republican Congress for two years, leaving the U.S. “with the greatest deficit in modern history,” and the national debt “trillions higher.”

Trump had even promised he would not play golf a day but “had ended up playing golf for 260 days,” said Christie.

“Promises both big and small, he broke them, he disappointed our party, he disappointed the country, and that’s going to be the focus of this campaign,” he concluded.

Watch above via CNN.

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