Republican 2024 presidential candidate Chris Christie is not holding ‘punches’ against his GOP primary rival Gov. Ron DeSantis whose state is reported to have a plan to teach the “personal benefit” gained from being a slave as part of African American History in public schools. 

On Sunday’s Face the Nation, host Margaret Brennan asked Christie about the major controversy and how it “reflects” on the Republican party, of which he’s a member, former governor, and candidate.  

He responded by going after DeSantis’s, saying he had lit an out-of-control fire. 

“First of all, ‘I didn’t do it and I’m not involved in it’ are not the words of leadership,” he said, quoting from the presser. 

“You know, look, Governor DeSantis started this fire with the bill that he signed, and now he doesn’t want to take responsibility for whatever is done in the aftermath of it,” said Christie. “And from listening and watching his comments, he’s obviously uncomfortable.” 

Christie further argued that there are many issues facing the country, yet politics is focusing on these “smaller issues” instead. 

“We have enormous issues to deal with in this country and around the world, and we’re spending time, and I don’t blame you for asking, but we’re spending time on this as the first question to a presidential candidate on a Sunday morning,” he said. 

He piled on further by casting DeSantis as an opportunist. 

“You know, the fact is that Gov. DeSantis starts these things for political advantage. He tries to take political advantage of them, and then he says, ‘I don’t know, I didn’t do it. I wasn’t involved,’” said Christie as Brennan agreed. “I mean, that’s that’s not leadership, Margaret.” 

Brennan later asked him to clarify what he meant by “smaller issue” in the context of racial division. 

Christie explained that managing school curricula should be left to local authorities and doubled down on DeSantis posturing. 

“He only started to focus on this when he decided he wanted to run for president and tried to get to the right of Donald Trump,” he said. “And so I think people see this as politically manipulative.” 

BRENNAN: I wonder what you think of this controversy and how it reflects on your party. 

CHRISTIE: Well, I think two things, Margaret. First of all, “I didn’t do it and I’m not involved in it” are not the words of leadership. You know, look, Governor DeSantis started this fire with the bill that he signed, and now he doesn’t want to take responsibility for whatever is done in the aftermath of it. And from listening and watching his comments, he’s obviously uncomfortable. 

The second part of this is, this is why – one of the reasons I’m running, Margaret. You know, we’re arguing about these issues, these smaller issues, when we’ve got big issues in our country like runaway inflation that continues to hurt families like an educational system. Instead of worrying about this, let’s talk about the falling test scores throughout this country that are making us less competitive with the with the rest of the world. You know, we have enormous issues to deal with in this country and around the world, and we’re spending time, and I don’t blame you for asking, but we’re spending time on this as the first question to a presidential candidate on a Sunday morning. 

BRENNAN: Right. 

CHRISTIE: You know, the fact is that Gov. DeSantis starts these things for political advantage. He tries to take political advantage of them –. 

BRENNAN: Yeah. 

CHRISTIE: — And then he says, I don’t know, I didn’t do it. I wasn’t involved. I mean, that’s that’s not leadership, Margaret. 

BRENNAN: I understand the point you’re making, but, just to be very clear, when you said we’re focusing on smaller issues. The issue of race is incredibly divisive in this country. You’re not referring to that as one of the smaller issues? 

CHRISTIE: No, I’m talking about governors micromanaging curriculum in schools. And the fact is that you know, if this was such a big issue for Governor DeSantis, he had four years to do this. 

BRENNAN: Yep. 

CHRISTIE: He only started to focus on this when he decided he wanted to run for president and tried to get to the right of Donald Trump. And so, I think people see this as politically manipulative. And I’m talking about Margaret; we’re dividing our country into smaller and smaller and smaller pieces, and politicians are pitting them against each other to create conflict. 

BRENNAN: Yeah. 

CHRISTIE: And that’s not going to make the country bigger, better, stronger, or freer. And, but, if we improve our entire educational system so our kids’ test scores are not going down but going up and they can get great jobs and be more competitive with the rest of the world? That’s the kind of thing a president should be inspiring people to do. 

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Readers Bureau, Contributor 

 Edited by Jesus Chan 

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