Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) poked a sore spot from Donald Trump on Wednesday after the former president attacked him and two incumbent GOP governors as “RINOs” for backing Georgian Governor Brian Kemp (R).
Insightful commentary on three Republican governors who were overwhelmingly re-elected by their people from a former president who lost to Joe Biden,” Christie tweeted. “Maybe the “R” in RINO really stands for re-elected.”
RINO, one of Trump’s favorite insults to non-supporting conservatives, stands for “Republican in name only.”
Trump used the term in a statement Wednesday attacking Christie as well as Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts for their loyalty to Kemp in his reelection campaign.
Trump has had a vendetta against Kemp since the governor’s decision to certify Georgia’s 2020 election results, hampering Trump’s relentless efforts to turn the presidential vote count in his favor under the false pretext of poll fraud . Trump’s latest statement accused Kemp of being the “worst electoral integrity governor in the country.”
Christie, Ducey and Ricketts are campaigning for Kemp in his primary challenge against former Senator David Perdue (R-Ga.), who Trump has endorsed. Perdue has spread Trump’s lies that the election he lost to Biden was “rigged and stolen.”
Christie, who ran in the 2016 Republican presidential election and is likely to run again in 2024, has been a long-time Trump ally. He was highly critical of the former president for his role in instigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
