Citing a “good and loyal” friendship, New Jersey governor and former presidential candidate Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump for president at an event in Ft. Worth Friday.
“I’ve gotten to know all the people on that stage, and there is no one who is better prepared to provide America with the strong leadership that it needs both at home and around the world than Donald Trump,” Christie said with Trump standing at his side.
Christie added that Trump will “make sure that people around the world know that America keeps its word again.”
Getting ahead of any questions about Trump’s electability, Christie also said that Trump is most fit of all the Republican contenders to take on Hillary Clinton in November.
“I can guarantee you that the one person that Hillary and Bill Clinton do not want to see on that stage come next September is Donald Trump. They know how to run the standard political playbook against junior senators, and run them around the block. They do not know the playbook with Donald Trump, because he is rewriting the playbook. He is rewriting the playbook of American politics.”
Christie notably had a rivalry with Marco Rubio, widely seen as Trump’s strongest remaining challenger. That rivalry hasn’t ended, as Christie immediately took on the role of Trump surrogate during a question and answer session after reading his statement.
“Listen, the fact is that desperate people do desperate things,” Christie said of Rubio’s attacks on Trump since Thursday’s debate. “And so the idea that Marco Rubio can get inside Donald Trump’s head is an interesting proposition, but one that’s for the D.C. parlor game. What Donald Trump’s about is the people of this country.
“No one’s gonna get inside this guy’s head,” Christie added.
The Rubio camp responded to the endorsement:
‘@dtoddharris: Trump “can’t put a coherent noun and verb together to explain [policies & failed businesses] so he had to bring in Christie.”
— Alexandra Jaffe (@ajjaffe) February 26, 2016
