On Tuesday, April 23, former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie spoke with Leigh Ann Caldwell, a political reporter for The Washington Post, at the University of Chicago’s International House. At a UChicago Institute of Politics (IOP) sponsored event entitled “Does the Truth Still Matter?” Christie discussed his opinions on this year’s Republican primaries, the electability of Donald Trump and Joe Biden ahead of the upcoming presidential election, and his hope, or lack thereof, for America’s future.
While this event was framed as one focused on the truth, it is wrong to view it in this light. This was a conversation dominated by Christie’s political views, with minimal debate over truth in politics or the veracity of his statements.
The Republican Primaries
Christie began by lambasting his fellow candidates for not standing up to Trump. In response, Caldwell suggested that the Republican primary candidates did not want to anger MAGA Republicans by criticizing Trump. These candidates saw how low Christie ranked in the polls and attributed that to his constant vitriol against Trump.
As expected, Christie immediately went on the defensive. “I got triple the amount of vote in Iowa as I did in 2016,” he remarked. That is, in fact, a lie. According to The New York Times, Christie received 3,284 votes in 2016, and a meager 35 in 2024. It was a particularly strange claim considering Christie had withdrawn from the race before the Iowa caucuses. The reality was that voters had little interest in Christie’s anti-Trump message.
The Upcoming Presidential Election
A familiar dichotomy dominated Christie’s discussion of the 2024 election: Trump is a threat to democracy and Biden is too old to be president.
When Caldwell asked if he would vote for Trump, Christie responded with a firm “no.” “Trump is wholly unfit to be President of the United States,” he said. When asked if he would vote for Biden, he was equally dismissive, asserting, “Biden is past his sell-by date.”
This confused me. Christie sees Trump as a threat to democracy but, given a binary choice, would nevertheless not support Biden. From his perspective, wouldn’t an ineffective president be better than one who could destroy American democracy as we know it? Caldwell asked him precisely that question. Christie deflected by saying it does not matter since he lives in a solid “blue” state.
The New Jerseyan then criticized Biden’s efforts to placate the far left. Taking a practical stance while dismissing Caldwell’s claim that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a viable candidate for the far left, he claimed that given the far left’s hate for Trump, they would never vote for him. “Who else will they vote for… RFK Jr.? The guy that said Trump is a traitor because he authorized the COVID vaccine?”
On America’s Future
Toward the end of the event, a young audience member asked Christie about Biden’s insensitive comments on race, such as saying Senator Mitt Romney was going to put African Americans “back in chains” at a 2012 rally. The questioner told Christie that Biden’s statements made him “a little uncomfortable with [Christie’s] characterization [of Biden] as a good man.” Christie replied, “I have known Joe Biden for a long time, and I do not believe that Joe Biden has a racist bone in his body.”
Later, addressing Gen Z, Christie said, “Get some thicker skin…the future of this country is more important than how you feel.” Yet here was a man who had spent the better part of an hour and a half articulating his apathetic feelings on present-day politics, while not suggesting solutions that could move our country forward.
So, does the truth still matter? Well, Christie never told us. From the discussion, I felt that the truth does not matter in his view. It does not matter to him because, in his words, the voters were “stupid enough to nominate these two guys” again. It does not matter because the Baby Boomers are too “entitled” to let go of power and Gen Z is too “thin-skinned” to accept criticism of their ideas. It does not matter because six out of eight of his fellow primary candidates raised their hands when asked if they would support Trump if he was convicted of a felony.
Yet, the fact is, “the truth in politics” is subjective. Instead of calling the event “Does the Truth Still Matter?” it would have been more fitting to call it “What is Christie’s Truth?” That is what defined the event.
* The views expressed in this article solely represent the views of the author, not the views of the Chicago Thinker.