Chris Christie reveals what Republicans really say about Trump behind his back
By James Cirrone
Daily Mail
Feb 7, 2026
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said many elected Republicans speak about President Donald Trump in negative terms behind closed doors
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has said that elected Republicans are not nearly as effusive in their praise of President Donald Trump when the camera is not on.
In fact, he claimed many of them share Christie's view that Trump is 'nuts', including Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
During an Friday appearance on 'Overtime', an online-only segment of 'Real Time with Bill Maher', Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland asked Christie what 'Republicans say to each other when we're not listening about what's happening in America right now.'
'Look, so many of my fellow party members, especially, come up to me because I say all this stuff out loud, and they - in the green room at ABC, they'll say, "You're so brave. That's so great. I totally agree with you. [Trump's] nuts." And then they go out on camera to be interviewed, and they go, "The greatest president since Abraham Lincoln,"' Christie said.
He continued: 'And then they come back in the green room, and they say to me, "You know, I have to do that, but like I don't really mean it." That's what they say.'
During his political career, Trump has compared himself to Lincoln many times. In a December 2022 video promoting his NFT trading cards, he said: 'This is Donald Trump, hopefully your favorite president of all time, better than Lincoln, better than Washington'.
When Bill Maher asked Christie for specific Republicans, he was hesitant to name names. He only threw Graham under the bus.
The Daily Mail approached Graham's office for comment.
One of them is Senator Lindsey Graham, according to Christie, pictured in the Oval Office on February 3 during a bill signing
Christie, along with Graham and more than a dozen other candidates, ran for president in 2016 against Trump.
Most of those candidates, all of whom harshly criticized Trump during the Republican primary, have gone on to be ardent supporters of his MAGA movement.
They include Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator who is now Trump's secretary of state. During the 2016 campaign, Rubio once suggested Trump had a small penis.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is another notable example. Trump implied Cruz's wife, Heidi, was ugly compared to his wife, Melania, in a tweet from March 2016.
Cruz responded by calling Trump a 'sniveling coward' and telling him to 'leave Heidi the hell alone'. Months later, after Trump had won the GOP nomination, a picture came out of a frowning Cruz phone-banking for the Trump-led ticket.
After 2016, Christie supported Trump as well, even becoming the leader of his transition team until Mike Pence was selected as the running mate. He then served as an informal advisor during the first term.
Christie had a falling out with Trump over his refusal to concede to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
His criticism became even sharper after the January 6 riot at the Capitol Building, which delayed the certification of the electoral vote and led to thousands of Trump supporters being arrested and charged with crimes.
Christie, along with more than a dozen other candidates, ran against Trump in the 2016 GOP primary. Most of them still support Trump to this day
His criticism became even sharper after the January 6 riot at the Capitol Building, which delayed the certification of the electoral vote and led to thousands of Trump supporters being arrested and charged with crimes.
Christie argued that Trump incited the attack on the Capitol with his speech at the Ellipse.
He ran against Trump in the 2024 primary but dropped out before any contests were held. Trump came away with 76 percent of the vote to former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley's 19 percent.
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