Former New Jersey Gov. and GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie recently discussed former President Donald Trump’s latest attack on him, saying he is “really concerned for his mental health.”
Christie made his comments while speaking with Newsmax’s “The Balance” on Wednesday night.
“When he says stuff like that about somebody who supported him in 2016, prepared him for the debates with Hillary Clinton, supported him in 2020, and prepared him for the debates with Joe Biden — if I was so useless and dumb and deranged, how did all that stuff happen?” Christie said.
Christie continued, attempting to appeal empathetic to Trump, saying he was worried about his well-being.
“It’s sad. He’s under a lot of stress and a lot of pressure, and saying these things makes me really concerned for his mental health,” Christie said.
The attacks Christie was responding to came from a Trump interview earlier on Wednesday, in which he said the former governor was a “crazed lunatic.”
“I couldn’t care less. I think he’s not a very smart person,” Trump said about Christie. “I think he’s a very disturbed person. He and maybe deranged Jack Smith should get together for dinner.”
Trump didn’t hold back, taking shots at Christie’s approval rating when leaving his position as governor.
“Look, he’s a slob. I call him sloppy Chris,” Trump said. “He left the governorship of New Jersey with an 8% approval rating. He couldn’t run for dog catcher.”
Still, Christie says this is only a recent rhetoric from Trump, as he discussed on Newsmax the former president attempting to recruit him once he went into office in 2016, saying he was asked to join the Trump administration numerous times.
“I feel bad for Donald. I really do. You know, he’s on there saying that I’m not very smart, that I’m very deranged,” Christie said. “Look, he didn’t think that, Eric, in 2018 when he offered the White House chief of staff. He didn’t think that in 2016 … when he made me chairman of his transition, he didn’t think that in 2017 when he made me chairman of his opioid commission. He didn’t figure it out when he offered me Secretary of Homeland Security twice and Secretary of Labor.”