Roland Martin Shreds Chris Christie For Enabling Trump's Conspiracy Theories
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Broadcaster Roland Martin blasted former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday for his history of enabling former President Donald Trump's worst behaviors.
During a panel segment on ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos reported that Christie had recently argued that it is time for the Republican Party to move away from the claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
"I'm on a course to make sure that my party remains relevant," Christie told Stephanopoulos.
"You're now seeing more and more Republicans saying they're buying into the conspiracy theories," Stephanopoulos noted.
"I think it's moving in the other direction," Christie disagreed. "It's taken hold among some Republicans."
"You say what you believe," he added. "That's what I try to do here every week I'm on and I said what I believed on Thursday night and it's what I'm going to continue to believe."
Martin, who was also on the panel, was not receptive to Christie's message.
"The Republican Party, they made their choice," Martin pointed out. "And I appreciate the speech, Governor. But the reality is this. You have to admit the role that you played in putting the person in leadership who is driving the conspiracy theories."
"It's one thing to condemn them after the fact," he continued. "But you have to own up to the role that you played in putting the person in power."
"I don't have to admit anything to you!" Christie shouted.
"Can I finish?" Martin asked.
"I ran against Donald Trump!" Christie exclaimed.
"You ran against him but when a person has principles, morals and values, they do not support them even if you lose," Martin charged. "And what they say is I choose patriotism and the country over party and power. And the problem was too many Republicans chose power and riding with Donald Trump as opposed to patriotism and America."
"I'll sleep fine tonight with you judging my morals," Christie snapped.
"What I also want to see in America are Republicans and Democrats who have the guts to stand up to narcissists, to folks who lie, to folks who led the country in the wrong direction," Martin said. "And what that man has unleashed on this country, any Republican who stood with him has to own it and accept the role that they played."
"I accept the role that I played in my belief that Hillary Clinton was not the right person to be president," Christie remarked. "We all get to make choices, Roland, in this democracy. And I made my choice. I'm on record with my choice and I'm not walking away from my choice. But it does not preclude me from being able to be critical when the person that I did support does things that I am against."
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www.bloomberg.com /news/articles/2021-09-10/christie-decries-focus-on-lying-conspiracies-and-2020-in-gop
Christie Decries GOP’s Focus on 2020 Election Conspiracies
Mark Niquette 3-4 minutes 9/9/2021
Without ever mentioning Donald Trump by name, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gave a stinging critique of the Republican Party the former president leads, saying it must focus on the truth and not conspiracy theories and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
“Pretending we won when we lost is a waste of time, and energy and credibility,” Christie said in a speech on Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, part of a speaker series on the future of the GOP.
Trump has refused to accept his loss to Joe Biden in last November’s presidential election, continuing to claim, falsely, that voter fraud set in motion by a Democratic conspiracy denied him a second term. In the wake of Trump’s accusations, Republican governors and legislatures in several states have enacted restrictions on voting.
Christie, who ran unsuccessfully against Trump in 2016 and has said he wouldn’t rule out running again in 2024 even if the former president enters the race for the White House, as he has teased, said Republicans must “stop wallowing in the past” and “free ourselves from the quicksand of endless grievances.”
Citing the struggle against the far-right John Birch Society by Reagan and the conservative editor and author William F. Buckley in the 1960s, Christie, a United States attorney before becoming governor, said the GOP must discredit extremists and conspiracy theories to offer credible alternatives to Democrats and win midterm elections in 2022 and the White House in 2024.
“We need to renounce the conspiracy theorists and the truth deniers – the ones who know better, and the ones who are just plain nuts,” Christie said, singling out supporters of QAnon, a collection of groundless allegations that took hold during the Trump years.
The former New Jersey governor also decried what he described as the politics of getting support by saying “a bunch of things that aren’t true” and “bending to the will of any one person rather than advocating ideas for the good of all people” -- a veiled reference to Trump.
“No man, no woman, no matter what office they’ve held or wealth they’ve acquired, are worthy of blind faith or obedience,” Christie said.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke at the library in May as part of the speaker series and said the GOP needs to avoid culture wars and move beyond Trump. In his address at the library in June, former Vice President Mike Pence defended his acceptance of Electoral College votes cast for Biden on Jan. 6 against Trump’s wishes, saying he was proud to fulfill his duty.
Befitting his girth, Christie wants to have his cake and eat it too.
For years he has tried to keep one foot on each side of the line, praising and supporting Trump (he helped Trump prepare for the first 2020 presidential debate) while at the same time reserving the right to criticize Trump when he was "wrong".
Christie enabled the worst president in American history. That is Christies legacy in all this.
When Christie turned from candidate for PotUS to a Trump sycophant he became irrelevant to me. While it is always good to hear from the Rs who reject Trump and especially the Big Lie, Christie does not have the character I look for in a PotUS.
That's just it. And now he's trying to turn back and it won't work.
Agreed. Christie has no political future.
About time somebody called Chris Christie out for talking out of both sides of his fat lyingass face...