Chris Christie was likely salivating as he knew that the Texas Republican delegation would be asking for relief for the Hurricane Harvey flooding catastrophe. He used his opportunity well.
Chris Christie did not mince his words as he correctly skewered the Republican Texas delegation for their hypocrisy on hurricane relief.
Chris Christie speaks the unfortunate truth
“The congressional members in Texas are hypocrites,” Chris Christie said. “And I said back in 2012 they’d be proved to be hypocrites. When you’re a state that has any kind-of coastal exposure like Texas does to the Gulf, you’re gonna wind-up having some type of disaster that’s gonna perform on the people of your state, then all of a sudden you’re not going to want a conversation of all these philosophical niceties because people are suffering and dying.”
Why did Chris Christie call the Texas Republican delegation hypocrites? Mother Jones reminds one why.
Before Hurricane Harvey hit this weekend, Texas senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn sent a letter to the president urging him to sign the major disaster declaration that had been requested by Gov. Greg Abbott, so the state could access key federal resources as swiftly as possible.
“Given the potential catastrophic impact that the Hurricane may have on Texas communities,” the senators wrote, “we strongly support this request and urge you to provide any and all emergency protective measures available by a major disaster declaration.”
The irony of this request was not lost on lawmakers from states that had been devastated by hurricane Sandy in 2012. At that time, Texas lawmakers overwhelmingly voted against recovery assistance for New York and New Jersey. When asked about that hypocrisy today on MSNBC, Cruz dodged the question. “There’s time for political sniping later,” he said. “I think our focus needs to be on this crisis and this disaster.”
It turns out that Chris Christie was right. What comes around goes around. While Chris Christie was right for calling out his fellow Republicans, he is not a stranger to this hypocrisy himself lest we forget Bridgegate or many other of his shenanigans.