Chris Christie will cast himself Monday as the most effective outlet for Republicans’ political wrath, while cautioning GOP primary voters, “It’s not enough to just express anger — we must also elect someone who knows how to get things done.”
Christie is set to kick off the crucial January stretch of the Republican primary campaign — with the New Jersey governor’s eye trained on New Hampshire — with a new pitch appealing to the voter outrage that is defining the 2016 election.
In a speech in Manchester, Christie will address anger seething among Republicans — most visibly embodied by primary front-runner Donald Trump — noting “weak, failed leadership has drained our optimism from us” and that “this is where our anxiety comes from in America.”
“This President, the career politicians in Congress, the media, the D.C. insiders all want to dismiss your anger as irrational,” Christie will say, according to excerpts of the speech provided by his campaign. “They label you crazy because their livelihoods depend upon calling you names and dismissing your worries.”
But Christie also plans to contend that as a former prosecutor and state executive, he is best able to translate political rage into policy results and win the general election, rather than anti-establishment favorites Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
Christie will warn that “these times and these challenges demand a grown-up.” In swipes at his rivals for the GOP nomination, he’ll call for “someone who has been fighting today’s battles in the arena, not sidelined for years,” and “someone who has been held responsible and accountable for decisions, not someone who just changes the next vote if the last one didn’t work out.”
“As voters become more frustrated, angry voices sound more reasonable,” Christie will say. But, he’ll add, “It’s not enough to just express anger — we must also elect someone who knows how to get things done.”
And Christie will attempt to set the stakes for the election, urging Republicans to unite in the face of a critical election.
“There’s been a lot of wild talk lately about third-party runs, or a brokered convention, or big GOP donors switching to Democrats if they don’t like our nominee,” Christie will say, adding, “any significant division within the Republican Party. leads to the same awful result — Hillary Clinton taking the oath of office in January 2017.”