According to Mediaite, during a town hall event in Concord, New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie encouraged his rival Nikki Haley to openly criticize former President Donald Trump by name, assuring her that he hadn’t faced any negative consequences for doing so. Christie, addressing the audience, stated that Donald Trump is the frontrunner in the race and emphasized that he had said Trump’s name without facing any repercussions such as lightning strikes or poisonings.
Christie expressed his frustration with other candidates in the race who, he claimed, avoid mentioning Trump’s name as if they fear dire consequences. He specifically pointed out a new TV ad from Governor Haley where she stated,
“We have to leave behind the chaos and drama of the past.” Christie questioned the vagueness of Haley’s statement and suggested she should be more direct, stating that Trump is not like Voldemort from the Harry Potter books and shouldn’t be treated as the one who should not be named.
The former New Jersey governor accused Haley of trying to have it both ways by not explicitly criticizing Trump. He referenced Haley’s recent statement in South Carolina where she acknowledged Trump as the right president at the right time but added that “drama and chaos follow him wherever he goes.” Christie criticized this as an attempt to portray Trump as an innocent victim.
Nikki Haley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, has been cautious about directly confronting Trump by name in her 2024 presidential campaign. The Stand For America super PAC, which supports Haley, reportedly spent over $3.5 million attacking Republican primary rival Ron DeSantis but did not allocate any funds to ads criticizing Trump by name. In contrast, Trump has escalated his attacks on Haley as she gains ground in the polls.
