The battle for the Republican nomination just got a whole lot messier. That was the defining message of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s campaign launch on Tuesday: get ready for blood. Calling out his opponents by name, deconstructing their campaign slogans and clever quips — Chris Christie was in prime form on Tuesday evening at St Anselm College in New Hampshire, where he addressed a small crowd of voters in a town hall-style event and put his sights clear on his top rival, Donald Trump. Mr Christie spoke at length before taking questions from his guests. In his remarks throughout the event, he remained plain-spoken and sharp-tongued while denouncing the four years of his rival’s presidency as an utter failure and little more than an opportunity for “breathtaking” levels of corruption and “grift” carried out by the Trump family. He called the man he twice supported for the White House a “self-consumed, self-serving, mirror hog”, and said that Americans now had four years’ worth of a record with which to judge the former president. At the same time, he made clear that he had little patience for his other rivals, those like Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, who have thus far played coy with their thoughts regarding the former president and his legacy. He even torched Trump family members Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump for receiving a $2bn investment from a Saudi firm into one controlled by Mr Kushner just a short time after they left the White House, deriding it as evidence of a corrupt relationship. "The grift from this family is breathtaking. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walk out of the White House, and months later, it turns out, they get $2bn from the Saudis?” said Mr Christie. “That makes us a banana republic,” he added. It was comments like that — plus his effortless deconstruction of calls from his rivals to ignore leaders who don’t “look forward”, and their calls for “generational change” — that outlined Mr Christie’s strengths as a politcian and in-person campaigner. Whether it will translate into votes for his candidacy, rather than just the destruction of his foes, is not yet evident. But what is evident is the eagerness of Mr Christie to get into a brawl with his opponents, a trait so far only shared by Mr Trump himself. That similarity was picked up on by one questioner, who identified herself as a clinical psychologist concerned about a nation “traumatised” by constant anger and divisiveness. Mr Christie responded that his brash nature and willingness to throw punches at his opponents was a strength only because it was supposedly paired with a humility and willingness to admit his own mistakes that made him a good leader. It was at least the outline of an effective campaign, if one light on actual policy. The governor did touch on a few national issues, such as when he expressed his opposition to federal efforts to ban abortion — unless, he conceded, there was real support in Congress for it — as well as when he touched on the issue of Ukraine, and labeled Republican rivals Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis the “Neville Chamberlains” of the 2024 race for their supposed willingness to give endless concessions to a dictator. But for the most part, Mr Christie focused on his real advantages as a candidate: The fiery personality that won him both praise and criticism in New Jersey, and a willingness to spar with his opponents at a surgical level. He laid the blame for Joe Biden’s 2020 victory at his opponent’s feet, calling the now-president a weak politician who had gone up against a hopelessly-damaged candidate. "He wouldn't be in office if it wasn't for Trump. Joe Biden never beat anybody outside the state of Delaware in 45 years except for one guy Donald J. Trump...not once, until he ran up against the guy who the American people knew in their heart was full of it,” said the ex-governor. And despite his insistences on Truth Social that he was not worried about the entrance of his former ally into the race, Donald Trump clearly had Chris Christie on his mind Tuesday evening as he blasted out commentary from his social media platform. So too did Marco Rubio, Christie’s unfortunate victim in 2016, who lamely insisted in his own tweet that the New Jersey governor’s onstage humiliation of him had not contributed to his downfall. If there was one takeaway from Tuesday night’s event, it was this: Chris Christie is in the GOP primary to win it all, and he plans to do so by setting himself apart from his fellows as a bold, unflinching truthteller — ironically, the same reputation that Donald Trump constructed for himself in 2016. Whether his newfound courage will be enough to convince his potential voters to break away from the man whom the governor admitted tonight to supporting in two presidential elections? That’s another story. Read More Elon Musk hosts anti-vax 2024 candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr on Twitter Spaces after disastrous DeSantis event Tucker Carlson calls Ukraine’s Jewish leader ‘rat-like’ as he launches new Twitter show with pro-Kremlin rant How to make tomato confit with whipped feta Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

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Susan Hall has been chosen as the Conservative candidate for the London mayoral election. The Tory Hall, beat Mozammel Hossain, a barrister with virtually no frontline political experience, in a ballot of Tory members, winning 57 per cent of the vote. Hall has been a London Assembly member for five years. Her policies include reversing the ULEZ expansion, dealing with the housing crisis and cracking down on crime. Indeed, she said she will "hunt down and lock up" muggers and burglars by creating a special team within the Met tasked with tackling them. She is also known for trolling Gemma Collins, when she appeared on I'm A Celebrity in 2014. “OMG this fat woman Gemma is ghastly, really ghastly,” Hall tweeted, “however watching her squeal may be funny”. She also called Collins a “stupid fat blonde woman”. She supported all the best people, not, like Donald Trump and Liz Truss and once claimed the Black community had a crime problem. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter So there is a lot that makes her memorable to voters but perhaps the most memorable thing about her was how she started her mayoral campaign last month, with a very odd social media graphic indeed. The graphic showed a photo of her against a blue background. Dramatic text alongside it merely read: "Susan." It added: "The one Sadiq Khan fears," as well as "you are safer with Susan". Rather than run to cast their votes for "Susan", people found it hilarious: Upon winning today, she updated her graphic hastily and it was still utterly ridiculous: Responding to her selection, a spokesperson for Sadiq Khan, seeking a third term in office next May, responded: The Conservative candidate for Mayor is a hard-right politician who couldn’t be more out of touch with our city and its values." Being ridiculed while trying to reach high office - it is just part and parcel of British politics. Nevertheless, indy100 has contacted Hall to see how she felt about it when her campaign was originally ridiculed on Twitter. A spokesperson said: “Conservative members across London are supporting Susan because she is the experienced candidate who can beat Sadiq Khan. We are hugely grateful to everyone on Twitter sharing our message that London is safer with Susan.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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