CNN is clearly getting desperate, and the latest evidence of it is who they’ve booked next for a Republican presidential candidate town hall: Chris Christie.
During his last year as New Jersey’s governor in 2017 he had the lowest approval rating of any who had held the office in the state, ever: 15 percent, Politico reported.
He now wants to take that stellar record and leverage it into a presidential bid in 2024?
Christie’s moment was in 2012 when he was riding high as the tough-talking, no-nonsense first-term governor from Jersey.
He opted not to run, endorsed Mitt Romney and the rest is GOP primary history.
Christie tried his luck in 2016 in a large Republican field and got trounced by Trump.
Christie dropped out in February of that year after managing to garner less than 7 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire GOP primary.
According to the RealClear Politics average of polls, he’s pulling 1 percent support in the current presidential race.
JUST ANNOUNCED: On Monday, June 12 at 8pmET, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will participate in a @CNN Republican Presidential Town Hall. Anchor @AndersonCooper will moderate live from New York City. More: https://t.co/IOmH2Eb921 pic.twitter.com/BEFWuzILES
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) June 6, 2023
Nonetheless, CNN announced this week a town hall with Christie to be moderated by Anderson Cooper on Monday.
So why is CNN even bothering with Christie? Ratings? Doubtful.
The network’s Sunday town hall with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley drew an audience of 562,000 viewers, down from the 3.3 million that tuned in to see former President Donald Trump.
So they aren’t having Christie on CNN to boost its ratings.
Perhaps it’s penance for the Trump town hall.
Despite its ratings success, liberals, including some on the network, freaked out that CNN gave him a platform and a friendly Republican audience to boot.
Christie has already stated his main objective is to take Trump out, adding because he wants to win the nomination, but let’s be real. If Trump isn’t the nominee, it won’t be Christie.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in a second-place spot, and if he should falter, there is former Vice President Mike Pence, Haley, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott all outpolling Christie.
Liz Cheney polling higher than Chris Christie for 2024 pic.twitter.com/arlxX0t05c
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 6, 2023
During his presidential candidacy announcement Tuesday, Christie called Trump “full of it” and that he led an administration filled with “chaos, disorder and disrespect.”
Further, he claimed Trump was a narcissistic president who lied to the American people for four years.
“The reason I’m going after Trump is twofold. One, he deserves it, and two, it’s the way to win,” Christie said. “I am going out there to take out Donald Trump, but here’s why, I want to win, and I don’t want him to win.”
He described Trump as being in the “last throes of a bitter, angry man who wants power back for himself, not for you.”
Chris Christie goes after Trump:
“It was a mistake, in 2016, not confront Donald Trump early, because I knew that so much of what he said was complete baloney.” pic.twitter.com/H63FE0OFXP
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) June 7, 2023
That’s all music to CNN’s ears.
Put the nasty never-Trumper on stage and let him spout off against the 45th president for an hour.
The penance for the Trump town hall will then be complete.
Christie will be no closer to securing the Republican nomination, but at least CNN executives can feel better about things.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.