Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie joined me this morning:

Audio:

10-24hhs-christie

Transcript:

HH: To my new affiliates in the Florida Keys, this is Switzerland when it comes to the Republican presidential primary. I invite all the candidates on, the serious ones. Chris Christie is one of those. The former Governor of New Jersey joins me now. Good morning, Governor. Welcome back to the Hugh Hewitt Show.

CC: Thanks for having me, Hugh.

HH: Has President Biden or his senior members of the team been clear about Iran’s complicity in the massacre 17 days ago?

CC: I don’t think they have. I think they’ve danced around it a bit. I don’t think there’s any reason to dance here. We know that Hamas would not be able to pull these things off without the support of Iran and the complicity of Iran. And I think that’s one of the areas where President Biden has fallen down during this period of time. You know, I don’t know what it is with Biden and Obama and their obsession with trying to make Iran nice folks. They’re not.

HH: I had Ambassador O’Brien, who you know well…

CC: Yeah.

HH: …on the program on Friday, and the former National Security Advisor said basically, “Iran invaded Israel”. Do you agree?

CC: No, I don’t agree with it that strongly. I think they are encouraging and funding surrogates, and they need to be held to account for that. And we should be holding them to account for that as well. Instead, Biden continues to want to play kind of the John Kerry game here. We didn’t elect John Kerry in 2004 for attitudes like that. And Joe Biden should learn his lesson watching that.

HH: You’re also very familiar with the Metternich of MSNBC, Ben Rhodes. Yesterday in the New York Review of Books, he wrote, and I quote, “Israel has legitimate security concerns and has the right to go after the military wing of Hamas, a faction that has proven to be the worst version of itself.” What in the world does that mean, Governor Christie? And does that represent the Obama-Biden worldview?

CC: You know, I sure as heck hope not. But you know, and I have never taken Ben Rhodes seriously, frankly, Hugh. But the fact is that Israel has absolutely every right to defend its territorial integrity and the safety of its citizens. And it needs to take whatever actions are necessary to deter Hamas from any further activity, and also to eliminate their capability. So you know, they’re making those decisions, and quite frankly, I think Israel has handled itself quite well so far. And you see some of the reactions to that in terms of releasing of some of the hostages. They are taking a very calculated approach. And I think what we need to do is to continue to show that there is no daylight between the United States and Israel. That would do more for encouraging peace and security in Israel than anything else.

HH: Now Governor Christie, I had Michael Oren on this morning, who you know well.

CC: Yeah.

HH: And Dr. Oren from his bunker in Tel Aviv said there is a new narrative being pushed by the U.S. on Israel, which is you’d better choose to be like Mosul in 2017 and not like Fallujah in 2004, because it’s just going to be terrible if you’re Fallujah. He points out they cannot not do a ground invasion of Gaza or they will lose deterrence. Do you agree with Dr. Oren? And do you think he is correct in assessing that Team Biden is putting pressure on Israel to restrain itself from what it must do?

CC: Well, listen, I think that Biden, President Biden’s remarks about making sure that you don’t react while enraged is code for asking them to back of a little bit.

HH: Yup.

CC: And in the end, I think what they have to do is whatever the Israeli Defense Forces believe is necessary to achieve the two goals I talked about, which is to protect its territorial integrity and safety of their citizens, and to deter and diminish Hamas’ capability for future attacks. Those should be the priorities.

HH: I applaud the President’s dispatch of the two carrier groups close to Israel, and the Marine amphib in the Arabian Gulf. But if you were President Chris Christie and Hezbollah attacks Israel from the north after they begin in a Gaza operation, what would you direct those carrier groups to do?

CC: Look, I would direct those carrier groups to coordinate activity with the Israeli Defense Forces, Hugh. And what we want to do is to make sure that we send a clear message to Hezbollah by continuing to increase our coordination with the IDF and give the IDF what they need in terms of support to be able to react appropriately and successfully. And that’s the most important thing for us to be doing. The more they know that we are inextricably, militarily and diplomatically supportive and connected to Israel, the more that deterrent effect will have the desired impact.

HH: Now Governor, I’ve heard the President say on 60 Minutes to Hezbollah and Iran without mentioning them, don’t, don’t. And I’ve heard Lloyd Austin say don’t. And I’ve heard Tony Blinken say don’t. No one mentions Iran. Are they being explicit enough to achieve deterrence?

CC: No. No, and that’s what we talked about off the top. I mean, I think they still have this pipe dream of reaching some type of peaceful coexistence with Iran. What they need to understand is Iran has no interest in that. You cannot have a peaceful coexistence with an adversary that has no interest in peaceful coexistence with you and your allies. And Iran is part of this foursome now with China, Russia, and North Korea, that wants to just create tumult in the world, induce violence in the world to try to increase their own influence and decrease the influence of the U.S. and our NATO allies.

HH: Now Governor, you talked yesterday about anti-Semitism on American campuses. I want to come to that, but I want to set it up by the audience who just tuned in, four things happened. Not only the Rhodes quote yesterday. We got news that Bari Weiss, the great journalist in L.A., her offices were attacked by anti-Semites. We got word that Eli Klein got home last night to his apartment in New York, and I quote his X post. “Just came home to hundreds of people outside my apartment here in New York City calling for intifada, which given recent events, may well be considered a call for the mass murder of Jews. Never did I expect to see this kind of open anti-Semitism so close to home.” And then we had Karine Jean-Pierre get a question about anti-Semitism, and answer it by denouncing Islamophobia. What is going on, in your assessment, Governor?

CC: Look, I think this is very dangerous. It’s been going on for a while, Hugh. And the fact is that if you don’t speak out clearly and strongly against any anti-Semitism, you are absolutely acquiescing to the existence of some of it. And you can’t have it, because it’s a disease like a cancer that will spread and consume public opinion in a way that is just absolutely unacceptable given both our standing as a nation and given the historical events that we all have to be completely cognizant of. Look, this started, Hugh, again, back during Charlottesville, and with Donald Trump’s comments about there are good people on both sides. Let me be really clear. There are not good people on both sides. There are not. The folks like Tlaib in Congress, Ilhan Omar, are outright anti-Semites. And I don’t care whether they have a Congressional pin on their lapel or not. An anti-Semite is an anti-Semite.

HH: Ben Domenech posted in response to Eli Klein, and you know Ben well. “There’s only one solution.” He was quoting Eli. And Ben’s response, “To my Jewish friends, buy guns.” What do you make of that?

CC: Look, I think that’s the atmosphere we’re in right now, Hugh. And that’s why strong leadership out of the White House is absolutely necessary not just militarily, but morally. I mean, President Biden should be saying this is a moral issue, that this discussion of anti-Semitism is a moral issue for our country in the very same way Harry Truman recognized the state of Israel within 10 minutes of their establishment. That was a moral statement by Harry Truman on behalf of the United States. And we cannot have any less from the White House. And the fact that we have equivocation regarding Iran also plays into this idea that we needed to call journalists in yesterday, the Israelis did, to show them unedited video of what Hamas did, because of this anti-Semitic view out there is creating doubt in people’s minds as to what really happened, happened. That’s the disease and the cancer I’m talking about that spreads.

HH: There is a book, I don’t know if you’ve read Erik Larson’s In the Garden of the Beast. Did you read that, Governor, when it came out probably a decade ago?

CC: I did not. I did not.

HH: Okay, it’s about American indifference to what the Nazis were doing in the 30s, before the invasion of Poland. We just looked away. Are parts of America looking away from the anti-Semitism in our midst right in front of us right now?

CC: Worse than that, Hugh. Parts of America are buying into the fact that Hamas is the oppressed one, that Hamas is the group that is being mistreated. The fact is this was an aggressive maneuver by Hamas against Israel based on what Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah continue to say every day, which is they want the elimination of Israel and the extinction of the Jewish people. I mean, so you know, we’re doing worse than that when we have this activity all across the country, which somehow shows a false moral equivalence. There is no moral equivalence here.

HH: That’s correct. Now Governor, Salem is cohosting and moderating the next debate in Miami with NBC News. What do you think? I’m asking all the candidates the same question, and many other people, besides. What do you think that debate ought to focus on given the times in which we find ourselves?

CC: Well, if it doesn’t lead with the crises in the world, Hugh, then it’s tone deaf. You know, we can’t have another start off with a video of Rich Men North of Richmond. We can’t have questions about UFO’s. We can’t have hand-raising questions. These times are too serious to be minimizing the people who are running for president of the United States by doing that kind of stuff. So we’d better lead with the crises in the world, because America’s role in the world is open to question. You have people like Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy who want to fill the moat and pull up the drawbridge and not be involved in the world in any significant way. And those conversations need to be had, and tough questions and follow-ups need to be answered. I suspect there will be fewer people on the stage, which will permit, I hope, for the rules to allow longer answers where people can actually show whether they know what they’re talking about, or whether they’re superficial and trying to be all things to all people.

HH: Governor Chris Christie, former Governor of New Jersey, former senior advisor to former President Trump, thank you for joining us. I hope you’ll continue to come back. We’ll talk to you soon. Always on point, always ahead of the curve.

End of interview.