Christie: ‘Trump Has Gotten Inside Jeb’s Head’

While many of the GOP presidential candidates have taken shots at Donald Trump lately, few have laid a hand on frontrunner Jeb Bush. That is, except for Donald Trump who hits Jeb every chance he gets. “Jeb is very weak, as you know, on immigration. I think he’d just open up the borders and let everybody come in,” Trump said Wednesday on The Laura Ingraham Show. “Jeb is never going to take back jobs from China… Jeb can’t do that,” Trump added.

Now that Donald Trump is leading in at least two polls, Bush has broken his recent pledge, criticizing Trump’s “rhetoric of divisiveness” in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier.

“It’s pretty obvious to me Donald Trump has gotten inside Jeb’s head or underneath his skin,” Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on The Laura Ingraham Show on Thursday morning.

“It’s pretty obvious to me Donald Trump has gotten inside Jeb’s head or underneath his skin,” Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on The Laura Ingraham Show on Thursday morning.

Like Donald Trump, Christie is known for his blunt, even gruff, responses to antagonistic reporters and activists.

The Garden State’s governor, who trails Bush in the polls, said the former Florida governor’s call for a more moderate tone is “inside-the-beltway media speak.” He said candidates need to speak “candidly and directly” to the American people.

“This is the kind of thing that leads people to be cynical and defeatist. I think what we need to be talking about are the issues,” said Christie.

“I don’t think anyone stays up at night worrying about the tone of the campaign… I think they’re worried about making a decent paycheck,” Ingraham noted.

Christie said that no other candidate is as prepared as he is for the bright spotlight of the presidency.

“I’m battled-tested by the most hostile media market in the world in New York and Philadelphia,” he said.

Christie also sought to put distance between himself and Bush on the issue of Common Core. Both presidential hopefuls once supported the nationwide uniform educational standards; but whereas Bush has stuck by the Common Core in the face of deep unpopularity among conservatives, Christie has reversed course. He told Ingraham this shift on the issue was not the result of political expedience but of four years of experience.

Christie also noted the decision to scrap Common Core in New Jersey was supported by teachers unions and conservatives alike.

“Nobody bought in. Nobody liked it,” he said. “We’ve got to make decisions based on results.”

Christie also lambasted the nuclear deal with the Iranian government, which was announced this week by President Obama, saying the agreement poses an “existential threat to the survival of Israel.”

Christie said Obama’s contention that international inspectors will have 24/7 access to Iran’s nuclear sites is as duplicitous as his famous promise from his first term that Americans who liked their insurance could keep it under the Affordable Care Act.

“The president has lied to the American people, and he’s done it two days in a row,” said Christie. “It’s the big lie of the second term.”

“The president has lied to the American people, and he’s done it two days in a row,” said Christie. “It’s the big lie of the second term.”

Ingraham asked Christie if, given his own combative relationship with the press, he sympathized with Obama’s indignant response to a question from CBS reporter Major Garrett about four American hostages who remain in Iran.

“No, ’cause he’s wrong,” said Christie. “The fact is, he needs to answer that question. … How could you possibly make that deal and leave those Americans behind?”