MSNBC Analyst Makes the Contrarian Case for Chris Christie: He Can ‘Land a Punch Against Trump’
MSNBC political analyst Steve Kornacki claimed that former Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) could prove a major thorn in the side of 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, “if Christie can make the debate stage.”
The former New Jersey governor is expected to announce his run for the 2024 Republican nomination this week.
On Tuesday’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, Kornacki said Christie doesn’t have a chance to capture the nomination, but his debate skills could put Trump seriously off balance.
“So, the market for a Christie candidacy among Republicans — it’s questionable as to if that really exists and whether he can really change that,” Kornacki said.
But, he added that the debate skills Christie used in 2016 to “absolutely dismantle” Marco Rubio in New Hampshire, can be equally effective against Trump directly.
“Christie’s got a different stage presence, Christie’s got a different style” than other Republican candidates, Kornacki said. “I don’t know how it will work but if — and it’s a huge if given the polling criteria that’s going to be involved here — if Christie can make the debate stage, if Donald Trump shows up for it, and if Christie does what he’s telegraphing…he’s going to do, it could be a variable we haven’t seen since ’16. I don’t know if it elevates Christie, at all, in terms of his standing. But, it could land a punch against Trump that nobody in nearly a decade now of watching Trump interact with the Republican Party — that nobody has managed to land.”
The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes wasn’t quite as optimistic about a Trump-Christie debate.
“To Steve’s point about all the ifs about Chris Christie — first of all, Donald Trump is never going to get on a debate stage with Chris Christie. It’s just not going to happen, and Chris Christie is going to have to find a different way to punch back. He is a deeply flawed candidate, Chris Christie, but he’s a really fundamentally talented candidate, so it’s going to be interesting,” Sykes said.
Watch the video above via MSNBC.
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