Robby Soave:

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, slammed former President Donald Trump over his handling of classified documents, saying that Trump—who is facing 37 felony charges—has no one to blame but himself.

“He has shown himself, particularly in his post-presidency, to be completely self-centered, completely self-consumed, and doesn’t give a damn about the American people, if what the American people want isn’t best for him,” said Christie.

Christie made these remarks during a CNN town hall with Anderson Cooper on Monday night. Christie is seeking the 2024 Republican nomination for the presidency; during his remarks, he laid into Trump, the frontrunner, as well as other rivals for the nomination—including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—who have failed to condemn the actions of the former president.

“He’s angry and he’s vengeful,” Christie said of Trump. “And he said ‘I will be your retribution.’ He wants retribution for himself. I’m convinced that if he goes back to the White House, the next four years will be all about him settling scores.”

Christie said that he agreed with former Attorney General William Barr that the Department of Justice’s case against Trump was strong; he emphasized that Trump could have easily avoided prosecution by returning the documents at any point prior to the raid on Mar-a-Lago.

When Cooper asked Christie why he thought Trump had kept the documents, he chalked it up to “vanity run amok, ego run amok.”

Thus far, Republican primary voters have shown very little indication that they wish to part ways with Trump, their standard-bearer for the past eight years. The very conservative voters who comprise the GOP’s base view Trump extremely favorably.

They don’t tend to feel the same about Christie. According to The New York Times:

For the most part, Mr. Christie, who announced his campaign last week, has tried to reintroduce himself to the nation as the Republican candidate most willing to forcefully confront Mr. Trump.

But Mr. Christie, who ran a short-lived campaign for president in 2016, has gained little traction in available polling this year and has a more unfavorable rating among Republican voters than any other candidate, according to a recent Monmouth University poll. And he occupies a relatively lonely lane. Most of the other 2024 hopefuls have shied away from much direct criticism of Mr. Trump.

“It was like he was Voldemort from ‘Harry Potter’—nobody wanted to mention his name,” he said of a recent Republican campaign event, adopting a mocking voice. “Like, say his name, man, say his name.”

For Christie to have a chance at the nomination, he must persuade Republicans that it’s time to throw Trump overboard—something they were not inclined to do after the 2018 midterms…or the 2020 election…or January 6…and so on.