Chris Christie Gets Into Heated Debate With Ana Navarro: ‘Open Your Ears’

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and The View co-host Ana Navarro got into a heated spat Friday on holding Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump to different standards in the 2024 election.

Friday’s episode of the daytime ABC talk show started with the female hosts reacting to Charlamagne Tha God’s appearance on CNN where he called out the station for not doing enough to warn voters about the dangers of Trump returning to office.

When Christie joined the table, he quickly remarked that Harris should focus on her final campaign days not talking about her opponent, but doing more to tell voters what a presidency under her rule would look like.

“Ten days ago, I would have told you that she’s going to win, and now, I see she’s had a bad 10 days,” he said of Harris.

“With all due respect to her, what is she going to tell me in the last 10 days that makes me say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that about Trump. Oh, heck, now I’m not going to vote for him,” Christie told the panel.

“She’s got to close the deal for her because she’s a lesser-known quantity.”

The former US Attorney played a significant role in Trump’s transition team after the 2016 election. Christie was involved in overseeing the transition process and was initially considered a leading candidate for a cabinet position.

Despite his early support, Christie’s influence waned. In early 2017, he was sidelined from the administration’s inner circle, with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, reportedly playing a role in this decision. The reasons behind Christie’s removal are believed to involve political disagreements and concerns over Christie’s handling of the transition process.

After leaving office, Christie’s relationship with Trump remained complex. Christie continued to publicly support Trump’s policies and was seen as a loyal ally, although he occasionally made critical remarks. His critiques were sometimes interpreted as strategic or reflective of underlying tensions, especially as Trump faced legal and political challenges.

Navarro disagreed with his statements that Harris needs to do more.

“What we’re talking about here is what Charlamagne Tha God was talking about yesterday,” she interrupted. “We are holding her to this high standard of ‘her closing message needs to be this and this and that and that. His (Trump) closing messages are Arnold Palmer’s package, dancing for 39 minutes, making fries at McDonald’s, so why don’t you talk about that?”

“He is who he’s always been, and he’s not going to gain any voters in these last 10 days,” Christie rebutted.

“That’s the point,” Navarro replied. “You don’t want to talk about it. You spent all this time criticizing her…”

Christie denied that he was criticizing Harris to which Navarro said “That sounds like criticism to me.”

“Listen, Anna, then you got to open your ears. What I’m saying is trying to give her suggestions on how I think she can close the deal,” Christie said to the live audience’s applause.

“The bottom line is I’m not here to be a cheerleader for her. I’m here to say, based on what I’ve learned in politics over time what she needs to do to close the deal. She’s got an opportunity.”

Last month, Christie got a collective groan from The View audience when he declared he was still an undecided voter. Wrapping up Friday’s conversation, Navarro asked Christie point blank: “Do you think the best case scenario is for Kamala Harris to be president? To win?”

“I think I told you that this morning. I just told you that,” he replied.

Navarro said, “I’m not asking you if you’re going to vote for her. I’m asking if that’s the best-case scenario.”

“That’s a backdoor way of asking me the same thing,” he said.

“Anna, you and I have known each other for a long time and you got to be much better than that to get me to come in the back door.”

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