Apparently pleased with his new nickname for Donald Trump, which he coined during Wednesday’s Republican debate, Chris Christie has continued to troll the former president with a comparison to Donald Duck.
The former New Jersey governor took to X on Friday to post a cartoon image of the Disney character wearing a suit with a red tie and sporting a shock of coiffed blonde hair, two well-known trademarks of Mr Trump.
During the second GOP debate in California on Wednesday, which Mr Trump did not attend, the other candidates blasted him for not appearing to debate them live on stage.
“He’s ducking these things,” said Mr Christie, who worked as Mr Trump’s transition manager in 2016.
“Donald, I know you’re watching… If you keep doing that, no one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore. They’re gonna call you Donald Duck.”
Following the debate Mr Christie has continued to double down on his remarks, posting gifs of the Donald Duck in response to X posts by Trump supporters and taking credit for other memes comparing the character to the former president.
Mr Trump is a big fan of giving playground nicknames to his rivals, with Sleepy Joe Biden, Crooked Hilary Clinton and Lyin’ Ted Cruz being three of his favourites.
He had previously referred to Mr Christie as Sloppy Chris Christie. The former president said of his comparison to the Disney character that anyone who made a joke like that “should not be running for president”.
On Thursday Mr Christie told Fox News that his message had got through to the former president and wrote on X that he was living in Mr Trump’s head “rent free”.
“[Mr Trump] knows what I said is true. That’s why he spent most of his time last night in the debate reacting to the stuff I said and attacking me,” he told Fox.
“What he should be doing is getting out on the debate stage and defending his record… He should be criticised.”
Asked if he would accept an offer to be Mr Trump’s vice president, Mr Christie said “no chance”.
