If you ask me who the worst governor of New Jersey in my lifetime was, it would be a quick answer.
Chris Christie.
This was a guy who made every effort to build a national platform. There were significant points during his gubernatorial term where he spent a lot more time outside of New Jersey than in the state that he was supposed to be the governor of.
Clearly, his political ambitions for even higher office got in the way of doing the job he had been elected for.
Plus, he carried himself in an obnoxious manner, frankly. One of his first acts was to fire police and teachers by the thousands. He seemed to enjoy being crass and trying to come across like a tough guy for the cameras. Again, all in a seeming attempt to build a national platform. it had some success, as Dennis Miller became an admirer.
Then, Christie kept running for the presidency. He lost quite early in 2016, and his campaign never really got off the ground. So he became one of the very first prominent Republicans to lend his support behind Donald Trump.
Now, that's some resume. Again, that is why he quickly comes to mind as the worst governor that New Jersey has had in my lifetime.
To his credit, however, he actually showed the ability to change his mind. To admit having made a mistake regarding his support of Trump. Eventually, he became one of Trump's most vocal critics within the Republican party, which is a rarity.
For that, he earned some - and I emphasize some - of my respect back. While it does often feel self-promotional and a real attempt to satisfy his obviously huge ambitions, there nevertheless is no denying that he hits hard when he criticizes Trump, which he recently did.
This was before Christmas, but it still is not so long ago that it should be forgotten. Meant to publish this earlier, but better late than never, right?
While appearing on ABC’s This Week earlier this month, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declared that President Donald Trump had likely just endured one of his worst weeks in office.
Frankly, that's saying something. After all, with Trump, there have been not shortage of low points and cringeworthy moments.
Christie spoke during a roundtable discussion which was led by the host of the show, Jonathan Karl. The panel addressed several controversial issues regarding focused President Trump. Among them were his ridiculous plan to rename the Kennedy Center after himself, his extremely controversial and, frankly, low-class reaction to the brutal murder of Rob Reiner, and a nationally televised prime-time speech where he predictably tried to shift blame to anyone and everyone else.
Trying to sum up just how disastrous the week had been for the president, Christie laid it all out:
“Merry Christmas to you, too, Mr. President,” Christie said, tongue in cheek. “Look, this is a pretty strange week. Just think about it.”
Christie then listed the events he said defined the week.
“He sends out that disgraceful post on the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele,” Christie said. “Then he puts his name on the building named after an assassinated president. Then he gives a frenetic national TV speech filled with inaccuracies, and really sounded like he was yelling at the American people that they don’t get how great he’s done so far.”
Christie also mocked plaques Trump placed beneath presidential portraits at the White House.
“And then he puts these plaques out underneath the presidential pictures he’s put on the colonnade, filled with things that you could tell just from reading that he wrote them himself,” Christie said.
Karl jumped in with a short comment.
“Read like Truth Social posts,” Karl said.
“It did,” Christie concurred.
Has Christie's criticisms of Trump forced me to rethink his term of governor of New Jersey, that it perhaps was better than I remembered?
No, not really, admittedly. He still was pretty damn bad. His poll numbers revealed that even Republicans were pretty much tired of him at the end of his eight years in office.
However, I again applaud Christie for having shown some spine, which is something that has been severely lacking among other prominent Republicans with a national profile.
His criticisms hit hard, and seemed worth sharing here.
Below is the link to the article, which is the source of the information in this blog entry, and from which I obtained all of the quotes used above:
Chris Christie Doesn’t Hold Back: Why He Thinks Trump Just Had His Worst Week Yet Too many unforced errors Terry Lawson by Terry Lawson3 December 21, 2025:
https://polinews.org/chris-christie-doesnt-hold-back-why-he-thinks-trump-just-had-his-worst-week-yet/?fbclid=IwY2xjawO3Qg1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeuLqpQl3ocDps6RR3vPDQnIzsiALuXOy8vmahadddhryEk-6BfR1K09nJzY0_aem_F2rI9LZSMleIA43fVE7w3Q#google_vignette
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