Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) publicly criticized former President Trump for selecting Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his vice president, arguing the pick was inconsistent with his new message of unity.
“Clearly, this is not a message of unity in the face of what could have been a national tragedy,” Christie wrote in a New York Times op-ed Tuesday.
Following the Saturday assassination attempt against him at a Pennsylvania campaign rally, Trump has pushed a message of national “unity.” Christie wrote that Vance reflected poorly on Trump’s new messaging, which the former president is expected to continue when he concludes the Republican National Convention (RNC) with a revised speech focused on the topic.
“Mr. Trump has the opportunity to rein in some of the worst rhetorical impulses of the Republican Party at its convention this week,” he said. “Early indications are less than promising.”
“Mr. Trump’s selection of Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate doubles down on the portion of the party already completely devoted to him rather than reaches out to the broader party and beyond,” Christie continued.
Christie wrote specifically that he took issue with Vance’s response to the Saturday shooting. In a post to X Saturday evening, Vance attributed the assassination attempt to the Biden campaign’s anti-Trump rhetoric.
“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Blaming Biden’s rhetoric for the assassination attempt has since widely caught on in the Republican party, followed by prominent figures like House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). The motivation of the shooter is still unknown.
Christie argued that the strategy sprung from a “flawed playbook.”
“Too many of the loudest voices in our national discourse are now incentivized to paint their opponents as not just wrong but also out to destroy all we hold dear,” he said.
He also argued that political violence has become a “political norm.” Christie distanced himself from Trump following Jan. 6, 2021, and he highlighted the Capitol riot in the op-ed as one example of recent political violence.
“It is not enough for this to be only a momentary call for unity. This change has to go beyond this week, next month and the November elections to be a real transformational shift,” he concluded.