GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie said he would not issue a pardon for former President Trump if he were elected president in 2024 and if Trump were convicted of a crime.
In an interview on “The View” on Wednesday, the former New Jersey governor did not hesitate to say “no” when co-host Joy Behar pointed out that GOP presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis said they would pardon Trump and asked whether Christie would do the same.
“No, no, no, no,” Christie said, before Behar finished asking the question.
He drew on his experience as governor in explaining his reasoning.
tbf, the entire thing where Presidents pardon their predecessor was a very bad precedent to set. There’s just not a whole lot of good that can come out of that idea.
Ford REALLY fucked up. You can lay the blame for this trump shit at Ford’s feet.
Yes, but also Nixon.
We can also lay the blame at Trump’s feet
Ford didn’t fuck up anything, the goal was party over country and enabling corruption.
Tangential but this has been bugging me: hey journalists, why don’t you ask Haley and Desantis if they’d pardon Biden if he is charged and convicted of mishandling classified information? Haley and Desantis both rationalize pardoning Trump on the grounds that 1) he’s old and putting him in jail would do no good, and 2) it would divide the country and be bad. Seems to me that same rational would apply to Biden too. Maybe go a step farther and ask if Biden loses the election, engages in a misinformation campaign to claim the election was rigged, and then foments an insurrection and is charged related to all that conduct, would Haley/Desantis pardon Biden then?
Of course a Republican candidate for president isn’t going to say they would pardon Biden, but maybe it’s be good for a journalist to ask the question and call out the logical inconsistency, instead of just chasing “Candidate X would/wouldn’t pardon Trump” clickbait for the millionth time.
You’re not wrong, but who would this be trying to convince? Is there anyone out there still on the fence about Trump, and at the same time capable of observing and understanding this double standard scenario to the point they’d change their mind? MAGA folk keep telling us and showing us they don’t care about hypocrisy, double standards, or fairness. We should believe them and move on to a different strategy.
It really does suck that Chris “Raise the Social Security Retirement Age Again” Christie is the reasonable GOP candidate.
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Christie isn’t going to win the primary, but he’s providing a valuable service. His willingness to go in front of a MAGA dominated Republican audience and not just call out Trump but to even confront the audience itself, is exactly the kind of thing we need more of. Most other Republican figures who oppose Trump either do so quietly or on their way out.
This is somewhat helpful in the short term because there are plenty of Trump supporters who aren’t fully committed fascists, they’re just right leaning and living in a Fox News / talk radio media bubble, to the extent that they are even paying attention at all. Those people won’t be reached from outside their bubble, but someone on the inside talking some sense might just be able to get through to them.
That alone will do little to stop Trump. But if Trump loses again, and brings enough baggage to harm the party again, then there will be a lot of influential people looking to course correct and the conversations will be shaped by their perceptions of the situation. If the MAGA wing of the party is going to be beaten, it will be a long term struggle, and the fight will have to happen within the Republican party. Having people who are still on the inside saying “maybe we shouldn’t nominate criminals who attack democracy and the rule of law, and put loyalty to MAGA over the good of both the country and the party” is a good thing.
It’s almost the opposite even. By staying in the race and refusing to endorse one of his opponents, he is helping to keep Trump ahead by a wide margin.
Don’t kid yourself into thinking someone not named “trump” is gonna be the fascist republican traitor swine nominee.
Chris Christie can go fuck himself (though I imagine he’s not nearly flexible enough. Ugh sorry for that mental image).
He belongs in prison too.
Imagine a world where Chris fucking Christie is the most reasonable sounding republican candidate. Absolutely insane.
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Give him a day or two and he’ll say something terrible to remind you that he is, in fact, a shitbag.
And he will still be the “best” GOP candidate because he’s just a neocon, not a fascist.
“Who would you pardon?” has become what feels like a segment on a late night talk show.
Nevermind trying to improve the lives of others. Who would you pardon if you became president?
Who gives a flying fuck what douche turd number 2 would or wouldn’t do
Well, if public approval of this interview is high enough, spineless bottomfeeders like DeSantis might do the ol’ populist switcharoo, opinion boogaloo and change their “stance” on this topic as well… until they think a promise of pardon might give them more voters and they revert back that is.
Republicans don’t care about public approval. All of those “candidates” know they’re really fighting for positions in Trump’s admin should he actually win.
People that want the GOP to course correct back to being neocons instead of fascists, because at least then you don’t have to vOtE bLuE No mAtTeR wHo
Literally who is that, that also thinks Chris Christie is an actual choice, 🤡
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In an interview on “The View” on Wednesday, the former New Jersey governor did not hesitate to say “no” when co-host Joy Behar pointed out that GOP presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis said they would pardon Trump and asked whether Christie would do the same.
Trump, currently the leading GOP presidential contender in 2024, faces four criminal indictments for a total of 91 charges.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office brought two of those cases — one related to Trump’s efforts to stay in office after losing the 2020 presidential election and another related to his willful retention of sensitive government documents and refusal to return them, even after being subpoenaed for classified records.
Christie similarly has said he “can’t imagine” issuing a pardon to Trump in the government documents case.
Given what’s alleged in the indictment, if that were proven, and … the former president were found guilty, as long as I thought he got a fair trial … I would have a hard time considering any pardon.”
Christie’s comments on Wednesday came after criticizing other candidates in the race for, he said, failing “to tell the truth about” Trump.
The original article contains 343 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 44%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
What’s even crazier than Christie being the only one, none of these morons will even pretend and say something like “well that’s a tough question. I want to do what’s best for the country. We will have to see how the trials go and what evidence is presented and then I would have to make a decision”
No republican is capable of articulating an idea like this.
