TRENTON, N.J. — He was once a loyal Trump insider, now this former New Jersey Governor is looking from the outside, in and trying to throw whatever he can at the former President, at every opportunity he has.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took aim at former President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk in a scathing critique on Sunday, accusing Trump of setting up Musk as a scapegoat for potential future failures. Christie’s remarks came during an extended commentary on the dynamics surrounding Trump’s inner circle.
Christie has now entered a TDS stage only seen by Rosie O’Donnell in recent months.
“When does this end? It ends when Trump believes that something has gone wrong and he needs someone to blame,” Christie said. He alleged that Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter) and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is being positioned by Trump as a convenient target. “And Musk becomes the person to blame. And no one knows how long that will take.”
Drawing parallels to other former Trump allies, Christie highlighted what he described as a pattern of loyalty followed by eventual fallout. “Our colleague Reince Priebus, it was five months, and then he was gone. General Kelly, it was 18 months,” Christie said, referencing the short tenures of Trump’s former chief of staff and other close advisors.
Christie also pointed to current House Speaker Mike Johnson as an example of this dynamic. “This is a guy who’s done everything Trump’s asked him to do. He’s essentially gotten down on one knee to Trump on a regular basis. And now he had this problem this week. You watch, Trump will run from him because that’s what he does,” he said, without specifying the exact issue facing Johnson.
The former governor’s sharp rhetoric underscores the mounting tensions between Trump and Christie, once allies, as Christie continues to position himself as a vocal Trump critic amid the 2024 Republican presidential race.