Former President Donald Trump mocked former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) over his weight and for repeatedly using variations of the word “small” in his presidential campaign announcement on Tuesday.
Trump hit Christie, who has been highly critical of the 45th president over recent years, on his weight by posting a video of his announcement that was edited to include a buffet in front of the former governor. In his edited hand was a plate full of food.
Christie announced his bid for the White House in Manchester, New Hampshire, the first Republican primary state in the nation, where he used the word “small” dozens of times.
“We have leaders who have led us to being small. Small by their example. Small by the way they conduct themselves. Small by the things they tell us we should care about. Smaller and smaller,” he said, continuing:
And they do it in other ways too. They’re making us smaller by dividing us into smaller and smaller groups. And they sell to you that we should get into these smaller groups because we’ll be more comfortable. The smaller and smaller group you get into, then you’re probably not going to hear anything you disagree with. The smaller group you get into, you just watch the news you want to hear. The smaller group you get into, the less chances you’ll ever be offended by anything.
Trump criticized the former governor’s repeated use of the word in another post on his social media platform, wondering, “Does he have a psychological problem with SIZE?”
“Actually, his speech was SMALL, and not very good,” Trump added. “It rambled all over the place, and nobody had a clue of what he was talking about.”
The 45th president also reminded Christie not only of his poor performance in the 2016 race for the GOP nomination, in which he ended his candidacy after the New Hampshire primary, but also of his abysmal approval rating as governor.
In 2017, Christie took the mantle of having the second lowest approval rating of any governor who hasn’t been accused or convicted of a crime while in office, according to a Quinnipiac poll at the time and broader analysis that FiveThirtyEight’s Harry Enton conducted.
Christie was highly critical of Trump in New Hampshire.
“If your leaders are not willing to admit to you that they’re fallible, that they make mistakes, that they hurt like you, that they bleed like you, and that they suffer disappointments and letdowns, beware,” he said before naming the 45th president, specifically.
The former governor’s time as the newest candidate in the race was shortlived, as former Vice President Mike Pence and Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) announced their bids on Wednesday.