A former Republican Governor has blamed the Democratic Party’s “wokeness” for Kamala Harris's defeat in the 2024 US Presidential Election.
Chris Christies, who served as Governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018, used to have a friendship with Trump but is now an outspoken critic of the President-elect.
In an exclusive interview with Covers, Christie criticised the Democrats and Harris for failing to understand what voters were focused on going into Election Day.
He said: "The first thing is that they've got to get off all this woke stuff."
Chris Christie is a vocal critic of the incoming president
Reuters"I think the country sent a very clear message to the Democrats that this political correctness stuff won’t work."
Christie added: "The Democrats now look like the elitists and the ones who are taking care of the wealthy while the Republicans are the folks who are taking care of the working class."
"The idea that Donald Trump has won a higher percentage of the Latino vote than any Republican presidential candidate since George W Bush in 2004 should tell them that they are losing their core constituency to the Republicans."
Christie told Covers that he believes Trump will be out for revenge against the people who wronged him, but hopes the incoming President will rise above his anger and do what is best for the country.
He also commented on Trump wanting to establish himself as one of the greatest Presidents of all time.
"I think Trump wants to be seen not only as a historical political figure, which clearly he is now and that box is checked, but he also wants to be seen as a historically successful president, which I don't think he's seen as right now, " said Christie.
“I do think legacy matters to him. The question is going to be, can he be disciplined enough to be able to accomplish the things you need to accomplish to have a legacy like that? I think that's a wide-open question."
When speaking about how Trump will handle America’s role in the Israel-Gaza, Russia-Ukraine and Taiwan-China conflicts, the ex-Governor surprisingly described Trump as “conflict-averse".
Trump won the US election in resounding fashionReutersHe added: "He looks like a guy who wants conflict with everybody, but that isn’t true. He likes conflict in front of 20,000 people at a rally, or over Twitter, but he doesn't like it face-to-face.”
"I think he will attempt to resolve both those wars in Ukraine and in Gaza. Now it may be in ways that folks don’t particularly like, but he's going to try to resolve them. I don't know that he'll be successful, but he will certainly hold American aid over their heads."
Commenting on the future of the Democratic Party, Christie referred to two stand-out politicians he believes could turn the White House blue in 2028.
He said: "[Josh] Shapiro (stands out) because he’s got a 60+ approval rating in a purple state. We saw again on (Election Day) how important that is for Presidential Electoral math.
“[Gavin] Newsom is another favourite simply because California is so big. He will have a great financial and fundraising base to work off of."
