Chris Christie Says Republicans Must Put Election Fraud ‘Fantasies’ to Rest

November 13, 2021 2020 election, marjorie taylor greene

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has suggested claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election are “fantasies” and Republicans need to move on if they hope to win over voters.

Christie, a former Republican presidential hopeful, made the comments in his forthcoming book, Republican Revival, which will be published on Tuesday.

Excerpts from the book were published by The Guardian on Saturday.

Once a close ally of former President Donald Trump, Christie has rejected the idea that the 2020 election was stolen from him and received strong criticism from the former president as a result.

In Republican Revival, Christie wrote that members of his party “need to renounce the conspiracy theories and truth deniers, the ones who know better and the ones who are just plain nuts.”

Christie did not say which category the former president falls into.

“We need to give our supporters facts that will help put all these fantasies to rest, so everyone can focus with clear minds on the issues that really matter,” Christie wrote

“We need to quit wasting our time, our energy and our credibility on claims that won’t ever convince anyone or bring fresh converts onboard.”

The former governor reportedly criticized Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia’s 14th district – a strong supporter of Trump who has frequently been embroiled in controversy – and said Trump likes “anyone who says nice things about him.”

Addressing the QAnon conspiracy theory, Christie said believing in it would “ridiculous” if it weren’t “so sad.” QAnon posits, among other things, that Trump is waging a secret war against an international cabal of Satanic pedophiles.

“Many in our society use these wild, untrue conspiracy theories to advance their political agendas,” Christie wrote.

Christie and Trump have clashed amid speculation that the former governor may launch another bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. During a speech at a Republican Jewish Coalition conference on November 6, Christie said the party needed to move on from 2020.

“We can no longer talk about the past and the past elections – no matter where you stand on that issue, no matter where you stand, it is over,” he said.

“Every minute that we spend talking about 2020 – while we’re wasting time doing that, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are laying ruin to this country. We better focus on that and take our eyes off the rearview mirror and start looking through the windshield again,” Christie said.

Those comments earned a stern rebuke from Trump, who said in a statement that Christie “was just absolutely massacred by his statements that Republicans have to move on from the past, meaning the 2020 Election Fraud.”

“Everybody remembers that Chris left New Jersey with a less than 9% approval rating — a record low, and they didn’t want to hear this from him!” Trump said.

Christie’s approval rating stood at 19 percent in the Rutgers-Eagleton poll published in January 2018. He left office that same month.

Speaking to CNN following his comments in Las Vegas, Christie said Trump could be a positive for GOP candidates if he is “talking about the future and tell the truth about the election and move on.”

In an interview with Axios on HBO conducted on Tuesday, Christie said: “I’m not gonna get into a back-and-forth with Donald Trump.”

“But what I will say is this: When I ran for reelection in 2013, I got 60 percent of the vote. When he ran for reelection, he lost to Joe Biden,” the former governor said.