by - Christie called it a “big mistake” for the GOP to harass Biden on the State of the Union.
- Christie said that by booing Biden, Republicans fell for the president’s “bait.”
- A better response from the GOP, Christie said, would have been to laugh and move on.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said it was a mistake for Republicans to berate President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address.
“Big mistake. You know, you don’t want – you don’t want to step on the bait. And they did, some of them did, and it was a big mistake,” Christie told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
Christie was referring to the moment in Biden’s speech when the president accused some members of the GOP of wanting to “go under” Medicare and Social Security. The comment was met with a chorus of boos from the GOP. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was also seen shouting “liars” at Biden.
“Look, the better answer would have been to laugh at that,” Christie said, adding that Republicans should have just “moved on.”
“The screaming and screaming, look, I think that’s always bad. It’s not getting you anywhere,” Christie said. “And it gave Joe Biden an opportunity to bring her back in a spontaneous way, which I think was probably the best part of his entire speech.”
And Biden immediately rebuffed the Republicans who booed him on Tuesday.
“So folks, as we all seem to agree, Social Security and Medicare are off the books now, right? All right,” Biden said, walking off the script in response to rowdy GOP lawmakers.
Republican lawmakers berated Biden, despite earlier that day House Speaker Kevin McCarthy issuing a warning to the GOP warning them not to resort to “childish” behavior during the speech. Greene was one of the loudest – when Biden spoke about the strained US-China relationship, she could be heard screaming, “China was spying on us.”
Meanwhile, Greene told the New York Times on Wednesday that she wasn’t worried about being reprimanded by McCarthy for her behavior at the State of the Union address.
“I have the speaker’s support and he has mine,” she told the Times.
Representatives from the Greene and Christie’s team at the Christie Institute for Public Policy did not immediately respond to insider requests for comment.
