Chris Christie is making a lot of noise about a 2024 presidential run. The question is what he hopes to accomplish should he enter the race.
The former two-time New Jersey governor had been relatively quiet on the political scene until the last few weeks when he began publicly contemplating a bid for the White House.
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"I think running for president of the United States is an intensely personal decision. And that's one that anybody who's considering it should have the right to make on their own regardless of anybody else's thoughts on it," Christie told the Washington Examiner on March 15, adding that he'd make a decision in the "next 45 to 60 days."
Carving out a potential campaign strategy, he has been far more critical of former President Donald Trump than the other hopefuls, who he implored to be "fearless."
Christie referred back to his takedown of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on a debate stage in 2016, saying Republicans need to find a candidate who can do to Trump "what I did to Marco because that's the only thing that's going to defeat" him.
That's a far cry from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), easily Trump's closest challenger in early polls. DeSantis typically doesn't even mention Trump's name in public, instead focusing on his record leading Florida and taking understated shots at the former president. The reason is that he hopes to appeal to Trump's massive GOP base, keeping them in his corner even as he presents himself as an alternative.
“It’s a challenge for all of the candidates to figure out how to walk that path of making themselves appealing on their own and also figuring out how to appeal to Trump's supporters," Florida Atlantic University politics professor Kevin Wagner previously told the Washington Examiner.
Christie isn't buying into that strategy.
“Trump said a few weeks ago: I am your retribution," Christie said. "Guess what, everybody? No thanks. The only person he cares about is him."
While that aggressiveness may win the admiration of never-Trumpers, it also has pundits wondering how serious Christie is about actually trying to win himself. Multiple outlets have already compared Christie's 2024 plans to a kamikaze mission.
"This would be great news for [DeSantis], as Christie would wind up being the kamikaze to go after Trump while allowing DeSantis to run a more positive campaign," one pro-DeSantis Twitter account chimed in.
While Christie declined to be interviewed for this story, a longtime ally says he's serious — both about taking down Trump and about winning.
“Donald Trump has got his hands full if Chris Christie’s coming after him,” New Jersey State Sen. Jon Bramnick said. “I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of that podium the way Marco Rubio was.”
Bramnick has known Christie for more than 20 years and served as Republican leader in the New Jersey General Assembly while Christie was governor. He said he fully backs a Christie run should one emerge and pointed out that early primary front-runners are more often than not usurped during the campaign.
"He'd be Trump's worst nightmare," Bramnick said. "He's not scared of anything."
Christie has made that point himself, though he's not exactly an untested commodity. He generated major presidential buzz during the 2012 cycle but ultimately decided not to run, then went for it in 2016 only to become the first former candidate to endorse Trump.
He was later denied a place in the Trump administration but says it was the suboptimal job Trump did while in office, along with the three disappointing election cycles since, that soured him on The Donald.
Should he enter, Christie will certainly face an uphill battle. James Campbell, a University at Buffalo professor, is very much a doubter.
"I can’t imagine his candidacy going anywhere, and I don’t think he has a base," Campbell said. "At this point, it looks pretty clearly that it's a race between Trump and DeSantis. It will be very difficult for anyone to break into that tier."
Campbell also doubts the utility of an attack-Trump stance, both because Trump is fast on his feet and because the two already faced off in debates seven years ago.
A final concern is that this strategy could backfire if Christie enters only to further dilute the non-Trump GOP vote.
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New Jersey-based political strategist Chris Russell acknowledges Christie may be going after Trump largely because that's the lane available to him. Nonetheless, he says the former Garden State governor is incredibly smart and a fantastic debater who would not enter unless he thinks he can be elected.
"I find it hard to believe that he'd want to do this as a kamikaze mission," Russell said. "I'm sure he can find better things to do with his time than that. If he wants to run, he'll do it for the same reason everyone else does, which is to try to win."