The Myth of Chris Christie Republican Savior Falls Apart During Fox News Interview

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Chris Christie ducked and dodged questions as the idea that he will be the 2016 Republican savior fell apart on Fox News Sunday.

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There were two questions in the interview that highlighted Christie’s problems. Host Chris Wallace asked Christie about his support for comprehensive immigration reform. Gov. Christie answered with a total dodge, “Chris, what I favor is fixing a broken system, and the fact is that everybody knows the system is broken, and what Congress needs to do is get to work, working with each other and the president to fix a broken system that’s not serving our economy well and not serving our country well.

Christie was then asked about his support for gun control, “Well, listen I think that when you look at what we’ve done in New Jersey, we want to control violence, and some of that may involve firearms, but a lot of it doesn’t. In fact, my focus has been on making sure that mental health is done in a much more aggressive way in New Jersey. Every time we see one of these incidents happen across our country it is almost exclusively with a deeply disturbed person at the helm, and what we need to do is be much more aggressive about how we deal with mental health issues in this country.”

Gov. Christie said that it can involve gun control, and that people need not to pander on these issues.

Christie is transforming himself into the bland outsider anti-Washington candidate. He said repeatedly that wasn’t going to get involved in the Washington politics or play the parlor games, but his frontrunner behavior was also full of generic answers. He repeatedly stated his conservative credentials, and his basic argument is that he is nationally electable because a lot of people voted for him in New Jersey.

Gov. Christie already seems to be making the classic mistake of running a general election campaign years before the next election. Christie is going to have trouble with the Republican base. His answers on immigration and gun control were likely to set off some alarm bells among those who vote in Republican primaries.

Christie was exposed in this interview. He is going to be very popular with the party leaders and the corporate wing of the GOP, but he seems to be making much of the same argument that Mitt Romney made. Nominate me, because I can win. Christie’s behavior is also reminiscent of Rudy Giuliani’s flameout in 2007.

The myth that Chris Christie is some sort of different Republican that will save the GOP in 2016 was debunked today. Instead of being a different Republican, Chris Christie is going to face the same issues that destroyed fellow northern Republicans Guiliani and Romney in previous campaigns.

Christie is nothing new, and his small stage behavior doesn’t look ready to take on the political big time of Hillary Clinton.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association