Christie: Donald’s Trump card
N.J. governor’s nod follows 10th debate
A day after his pounding by rival Marco Rubio in a Republican debate, Donald Trump picked up the endorsement of former opponent Chris Christie, who immediately joined him Friday in fiercely attacking the Florida senator as unfit for the presidency.
“I can guarantee you that the one person that Hillary and Bill Clinton do not want to see on that stage come next September is Donald Trump,” the New Jersey governor said at a news conference with the New York billionaire in Fort Worth, Texas.
Christie is the first prominent figure in the Republican establishment to embrace the sometimes crude iconoclast businessman at a time when many in the party are struggling to reckon with the reality that Trump is its most likely White House nominee.
The surprise announcement of Christie’s support served to fortify Trump’s counterattack against Rubio, whose blistering
assault on Trump’s business record dominated the debate Thursday in Houston and marked a major shift in strategy for the freshman senator.
Rubio’s team had unveiled a flood of endorsements in recent days to cast him as the GOP’s preferred alternative to Trump, including nods from the governors from Tennessee, Arkansas and South Carolina; U.S. senators from North Carolina, Indiana, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Kansas; and 15 congressmen.
But Christie’s move overshadowed them all. “I think this changes the narrative in a dramatic way,” said Fred Malek, a major Republican donor who serves as finance chairman of the Republican Governors Association.
While Christie’s own campaign for president failed to gain traction, he nonetheless remains a wellregarded figure in the GOP, having served as a top surrogate to 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and as the former chair of the Republican Governors Association. He is also one of his party’s most effective attack dogs, a role he embraced within minutes of joining Trump.
In Fort Worth, speaking to a crowd of thousands at a Trump rally, Christie reprised the attacks he used against Rubio in a debate before the New Hampshire primary.
“President of the United States is not a no-show job like you treated the United States Senate,” Christie said.
The volleys between Rubio and Trump intensified Friday. After months of declining to attack Trump, Rubio suddenly adopted his tactic of hurling personal insults with abandon.
Rubio told supporters at a rally in Dallas that Trump had a meltdown backstage during a break in the debate and got extra makeup to cover his sweat mustache.
“He wanted a full-length mirror, maybe to make sure his pants weren’t wet,” Rubio said.
Later, in Oklahoma City, Rubio told reporters that Trump is “a con man who’s taking advantage of people’s fears and anxieties about the future.”
Polls suggest Trump is favored to win most, if not all, of the 12 states that will hold Republican nominating contests Tuesday. After Trump’s previous victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, that would make it extremely hard for Rubio or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to win enough delegates to keep Trump from the nomination.
“I think it’s time to coalesce around someone that can beat him and stop him, but also around someone that can unite the party and grow it,” Rubio said.
In Fort Worth, Trump let loose on Rubio, calling him a desperate liar who lacks the demeanor to be president. “He is a nervous Nellie,” Trump told reporters. “I watch him backstage. He’s a mess.”
Trump ridiculed Rubio for his profuse sweating.
“Can you imagine (Russian President Vladimir) Putin sitting there waiting for a meeting, and Rubio walks in, and he’s totally drenched?” Trump asked.
Still, in the debate’s aftermath, Rubio and Cruz kept Trump on the defensive about his refusal to release his tax returns.
“Until my audit is finished, you’re not going to see anything,” Trump said, despite telling the media months ago that he would release his tax returns.
He also defended himself against Rubio’s criticism over a fraud lawsuit involving the now-defunct Trump University, a case he described as “just people trying to get their money back.”
“It’s a peanut case,” he said.