New Jersey Governor Chris Christie joined the throng condemning Ted Cruz after he criticized “New York values” in the Fox Business debate.
“I think it was a very, very ill-advised thing for Ted to say,” Christie said in an interview with TIME. “You want to be President of the United States, you have to unite this country. And for him to somehow be implying that certain values are more appropriate, more American, depending upon what region of the country you’re from, is to me just asinine.”
But Christie had additional criticism for Cruz, painting him as an inside politician with Washington D.C. values and an Ivy League education.
“I think Ted once again is trying to be Mr. Ivy League cute. He’s Harvard and Princeton, he’s federal court clerkships, he’s government jobs, and somehow he’s an outsider?” Christie asked. “If you took his name off and you put that résumé down, that would look like the consummate Washington insider.”
He questioned Cruz for his political behavior that was “very, very malleable” whose views and words had changed for whatever was “politically advantageous at the moment.”
Christie also painted Cruz as a hypocrite for fundraising in New York City from people who’s values he questioned.
“If he really has a problem with New York values, then he should return that money,” Christie said. “And why doesn’t he?”