‘I’m Not Calling For The Abolishment Of Congress. BUT…’ Chris Christie Slams ‘Stupid’ House And Senate At GOP Event

Former New Jersey Governor and 2024 presidential candidate Chris Christie assured a conservative audience on Saturday that he’s not calling for the abolishment of Congress, while speaking with conservative commentator Erick Erickson at the radio host’s annual The Gathering conference in Georgia.

Erickson’s The Gathering 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday and Saturday featured many Republican speakers, including most of the 2024 presidential primary candidates — minus the one who is also giving the Fox News primary debate a miss.

Christie took the stage on Saturday for his sit-down with Erickson, and among many points he made on the subject of China, he stated flatly that many members of Congress are stupid and trying to cash in on China’s rise in power rather than look out for American interests.

But, he hastened to add, he isn’t saying we should get rid of Congress.

“Do you think there’s a sentiment in Washington, probably bipartisan, that that while China is on the rise and we can’t stop them, so let’s just get rich off the system beforehand?” asked Erickson.

“Yeah, I think there is,” said Christie. “And that’s because most of them are stupid.”

The audience laughed and Erickson said, “That works.”

“They read only what their staff puts in front of them, and because they’ve never had to run anything, everybody. Remember — God love members of the House and Senate. They play an important role in a branch of our government that needs to be there for accountability and oversight and to be responsive to the will of the people every two years or every six,” Christie continued. “I’m not calling for the abolishment of Congress. But what I am saying is they don’t know how to run anything. The only thing they have ever run is a Congressional office or a Senate office.”

Like Christie, other primary candidates talked policy while on stage, not just the politics of the primary, with Gov. Ron DeSantis vowing deadly force on the Southern border (with a side of Trump), and former VP Mike Pence hitting runaway spending — with a side of Trump.

ERICKSON: Do you think there’s a sentiment in Washington, probably bipartisan, that that while China is on the rise and we can’t stop them, so let’s just get rich off the system beforehand?

CHRISTIE: Yeah, I think there is. And that’s because most of them are stupid.

ERICKSON: That works.

CHRISTIE: Okay? They read only what their staff puts in front of them, and because they’ve never had to run anything, everybody. Remember — God love members of the House and Senate. They play an important role in a branch of our government that needs to be there for accountability and oversight and to be responsive to the will of the people every two years or every six.

I’m not calling for the abolishment of Congress. But what I am saying is they don’t know how to run anything. The only thing they have ever run is a congressional office or a Senate office.

You know, when you’re a governor, I had 60,000 employees in New Jersey. And people used to ask me, what’s the scariest part of being governor? And I used to say 60,000 people have letterhead with my name on it, I’m not sure what they’re doing with it every day.

And so, you know, your job is to do what you can to make sure that they’re accountable. Here’s what’s going on. China is on the precipice of a 2008 style economic downturn. They have overborrowed, they have overspent, they’ve overdeveloped. And it’s running out. I am promising you, everybody, if we have competent leadership in the White House, I would not trade one of the cards in my hand as the American president for one of the cards in the Chinese hand.

They’ve overspent their economy. They are having enormous problem with the aging of the population and no one coming up to replace them. The one child policy in China is now coming back to bite them. They don’t have a next generation of the volume that they had before. So economically, they can’t keep up with growth. They don’t have people to fill the jobs they need to be able to do it. And the oppression in that country will always make people feel less willing to sacrifice. I would not trade our position for China’s for a minute.

The people who are doing it, and they are, and trying to cash in, as you said, appropriately — to go there and get out before it gets bad? Guess what? They’re going to miss the next great American story. And that’s fine, because we don’t need them, anyway. We’ll get some people who actually believe in this country and believe in our future.

And going back to that first question you asked me. The overarching reason — I gave you all these specifics, but the overarching reason I’m running for president is because I believe in this country’s future if we have competent leadership. And I want my children and, God willing, someday, my grandchildren to be able to have the same great American life that I’ve had and that you’ve had. And that isn’t a given.

But it’s right there in our grasp if we have competent leadership to do it.

Watch the clip above via Erick Erickson and The First TV.