Chris Christie Promotes Book Condemning Stolen Election Lies With… Maria Bartiromo?

Former Governor Chris Christie is promoting his new book condemning the election fraud lies of 2020. Curiously, that topic did not come up with Maria Bartiromo in their interview Wednesday.

It’s been difficult to turn on cable news recently and not see a visage of Chris Christie. He’s been doing the rounds in promotion of his new book, published Tuesday: Republican Rescue: Saving the Party from Truth Deniers, Conspiracy Theorists, and the Dangerous Policies of Joe Biden. 

“Truth deniers” and “conspiracy theorists” are a primary target of Christie’s book, and there is an entire chapter devoted to “lies” like those spread by former President Donald Trump about the 2020 election. Those lies began with Trump but were dutifully spread by opinion hosts on Fox News, chief among them Maria Bartiromo.

All of this raises a rather obvious question: if Christie is railing against election lies, how does he go on air with someone who played such a pivotal role in amplifying those lies and never bring it up?

It’s almost like Christie is more interested in promoting his book, playing both sides, and making a re-entry into politics than getting to the root cause of conspiracy theories from which he is trying to rescue the Republican Party. Oh wait, that’s exactly what he’s doing.

Lest we forget Bartiromo’s role in spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 general election Trump lost to President Joe Biden, here are a few Mediaite headlines…Maria Bartiromo Claims an ‘Intel Source’ Told Her ‘Trump Did in Fact Win the Election’; ‘This Is Disgusting!’ Maria Bartiromo Goes Off After Trump Claims Biden Could Not Have Received More Black Votes Than Obama, and Fox Anchor Maria Bartiromo Pushes Multiple Debunked Conspiracy Theories About Election Results.

That’s just the surface of Bartiromo’s role. There are countless other examples in which she allowed Trump lawyers Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and Rudy Giuliani to spew bullshit on her show, in addition to the unchecked insanity presented by Trump himself on weekdays Mornings With Maria or her Sunday show Morning Futures.

Bartiromo played such a central role in amplifying these conspiracy theories that she was sued as part of a massive $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by voting systems company Smartmatic for spreading lies about the election. (Fox News filed a motion to dismiss the suit.)

By all accounts, Christie’s book appears to be a precursor to a potential run for the White House in 2024, with Christie walking a fine line between distancing himself from Trump, who he is close with and voted for twice, while delicately decrying what he has done with the Republican Party. But Christie’s inability (refusal?) to call out such conspiracy theories while appearing on Fox is a curious, if not craven, play.

MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace, who worked as White House communications director under George W. Bush, challenged Christie about this during an interview on Tuesday

Wallace noted his book is “about conspiracies and lies and you really don’t take on Fox News,” before asking “Why not?” As Christie began to answer a great question, Wallace interrupted with “Do you watch Tucker Carlson?”

“No, I don’t watch it, not really,” Christie replied, likely delighted by Wallace’s lack of discipline getting him off the hook on her previously insightful inquiry. But nonetheless, she persisted, saying “It’s a book with truth deniers, conspiracy theorists on the cover and you attack CNN, the New York Times, and MSNBC.”

Christie noted that in the section of the book to which Wallace referenced, he was talking about bias. Wallace shot back, “Is bias more dangerous to the country than conspiracy theorists?” Christie tried to move the conversation, saying the section covering conspiracy theories is a separate part of the book and that Wallace is “conflating them.”

But Wallace returned to the larger, and better, question asking “Are you afraid to question the purveyors of conspiracy theories?” specifically regarding Tucker Carlson. After Christie demurred, curiously saying he didn’t watch Carlson’s show, Wallace hit back.

“So you may or may not support Donald Trump in 2024. You may or may not run for president and you wrote a book about liars and conspiracy theorists that don’t have anything to say about Fox News?” Wallace summed up.

It was the best moment for Wallace in an interview that Christie owned. But one would think it would be a terrific pretext for Christie’s booked appearance on Bartiromo and a reminder that he had a real chance to establish some “truth” bonafides by calling out Bartiromo.

For all his bravado, Christie proved himself to be just as feckless as nearly every other politician, showing a greater desire to appease his cable news host (and their viewers) than to actually rescue Republicans from the conspiracy theories he doesn’t actually care about.

Watch above via Fox Business.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.