Chris Christie says he’s ‘struggled with my weight for 20 years’ after Trump’s ‘all-you-can-eat buffet’ taunt
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie on Wednesday opened up about his “20-year” struggle with his weight after former President Donald Trump poked fun at the girth of the Garden State politician.
Christie, who launched his presidential campaign in New Hampshire on Tuesday, said Trump was acting like a “child” by posting a doctored video that purported to show Christie making the announcement at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
“Breaking news… I have struggled with my weight for 20 years,” Christie wrote. “What I haven’t struggled with is my character. I’ll put that up against Donald Trump’s any day. If that’s the best he’s got, then he’s lost his fastball.”
Christie also compared Trump to “a spoiled baby” who squandered an opportunity to make the country better.
“When a spoiled baby misbehaves, you send them to their room, not the White House,” Christie said. “At his advanced age, it is time to give up hope that Trump will ever grow up. We need a leader, not a child.”
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump mocked Christie’s repeated references to the “choice between small and big” that voters face in 2024.
“How many times did Chris Christie use the word SMALL? Does he have a psychological problem with SIZE?” Trump wrote.
The edited video of Christie’s campaign launch was created by two social media users and showed the candidate in front of a buffet bar while holding a plate of food.
While speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday, Christie said that Trump lashes out like a juvenile because he can not take criticism.
“Whenever you want to criticize him, in any way, that’s the way he responds,” Christie said.
During his campaign launch at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. on Tuesday, Christie alluded to Trump by highlighting his shortcomings.
“Beware of the leader who won’t admit any of those shortcomings. Because you know what the problem is with a leader like that – a leader like that thinks America’s greatness resides in the mirror he’s looking at,” said Christie.
“Beware, because that leader not only will not serve you, they will not be able to find anybody who will serve them. And a lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog is not a leader.”
To erase any doubt that he was referencing the former president, Christie said, “Well, let me be clear, in case I have not been already, the person I am talking about who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a fault and will always find someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong, but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right is Donald Trump.”
Christie, who is embarking on his second White House bid, endorsed Trump in 2016 after dropping out of the race after a sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary.
He then became an adviser to the former president ahead of the 2020 election before breaking with Trump over his stolen election claims
The 60-year-old former two-term governor has since become a vocal critic of the 76-year-old former commander-in-chief.
Christie is joining an increasingly crowded GOP primary field that includes Trump, DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and radio talk show host Larry Elder.
