much. >> great seeing you. >> every saturday american history tv documents america's story and on sunday book tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. funding for cspan2 companies television companies and more. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ along with these television companies support cspan2 as a public service. be up-to-date in the latest in publishing on book tv about books. with current nonfiction book

releases plus bestseller list as well as industry news and trends through insider interviews. you can find about books on c-span now our free mobile app for ever you get your podcasts. ♪ >> now how about tonight's program question are you ready? chgreat. too many people chris christie is known as governor, see news analyst, national spokesperson also a "new york times" best-selling author. mary pat christie has a career that extends beyond our border been successful on wall street is both holding the title in these parts there simply friends, family, neighbors and p fellow coaches but were pleased to have them in our community. as a matter fact three years ago

almost three years ago when chris christie's first book came out let me finish was gracious and did a fundraiser on our behalf. that was a sold out event on a brisk february evening we jump for joy with it myself and t fellow board member said let's go for it and here we are again. both that evening three years ago so you could say tonight'' ticket a chris christie book siding is a tough as ticket is hamilton on broadway preconcert evening program mary pat will moderate. we try to get around the questions we don't know yet. were going have q&a there's a mic right here and asked the questions. please do not be bashful and ask questions prove that further do i present mary pat and chris

christie. [applause] thank you. f hilet me make sure i do not have any feedback on this. this is really great. it's a nice cozy group. and i just wanted to say thank you to peter and the board. the library has been an important part our life in our w family's life for the last 30 years and it's we been here for 30 years. we really appreciate all the library through i actually just paid a fine a 40-dollar fine to the library two weeks ago. i had to pick up a book and i guess i had not been in a couple of years. so i paid my $40 fine.

[laughter] you do not even want to know.od [laughter] anyway thank you to everybody for coming out here. it's an interesting journey the last six or seven months it has taken me too write this book. what i wanted to start out with to ask us why he wrote it ask them to tell us a little bit about the process of writing it. >> thank you for being here tonight is great to be home. i put on the road the last two and half weeks except for couple of days around thanksgiving. and washington. so it's been a busy few weeks. and to have my last official book at home so thank you all for coming out tonight. i decided to write the book, mary pat knight went away for a few days after joe biden's

inaugural i did the abc commentary on presidentde bidens inaugural we decided to take a few days down in florida to relax after what had been much more grueling than normal tv schedule because of all the craziness running the election, and all the rest. fluent out of florida for a few days. i was sitting at the pool and thinking to myself this is probably one of the worst two years the republican party it had in a long time. we lost thehe majority in the house of representatives in 2018. we lose the senate and the white house in 2020. that struck me that it may have been one of the worst times we've ever had. on the pool it got on my laptop and looked it up it's only happened twice republican party since our founding in 1860. the last time after this one was

1930 -- 1932 when herbert hoover was president of the united states. i know what happened after that is the democrats at the white house for 28 of the next 36 years. and so it struck me that maybe somebody whoho had been very big loyal supporter of president's k about how we start to win againg someone had been opposed president trump all way through there are number of republicans who were, i don't think they would've had credibility in writing this book. but i hadwhrt real concerns whet was headed, the direction we were going in the immediate aftermath of the election. i had ideas about what we needed to do to get back on track. the process of writing a book as you pitch the book to

publishers. read a couple publishers who are interested. all of them said if you're going to write that kind about the first part of the book has too e about your interaction last year end half of the of menstruation after let me finish the book ended riches leaving office in january. when you get a chance to read the book if you haven't already, the first third of the book is a recounting of stories and incidents that happened with me and the president. that's where started the writing of the book. i have a collaborator on the book the collaborator on my first book as well. ellis and i have a process we use in writing the book. the way we do it is we get together, we agree on which topics will be discussing that debris he starts asking questions and i start talking. then there is a poor woman out

in kansas who has to transcribe all of that. she sends the transcriptions back to me and we craft chapters after the transcripts. then it will make it that there is another poor woman who has to do the research to make sure everything that we say but we completely sure of is absolute true finish. i would have absolutely sworn this was a correct recollection. i had a good friend of mine in high school who was murdered. and telling that story to ellis at that time so when did this happen i said the day before school started my senior year in high w school. a so we write the book and write that chapter and then he comes back and says are you sure it

was the day before school started your senior year? cap so sure i remember like it llwas yesterday. really sure. this woman found front page of our local weekly paper it was actually the day before starting my junior year not my senioryo year. i guarantee you if you put a gun to my head and said if you are wrong or going to blow your brains out i would've said go ahead because i know it, i absently know it. so roberto plays an integral part in the process byak researching everything we talk about and make right. first and foremost for the integrity of the book. and second the lawyers at simon & schuster want to make sure we don't say something that's completely wrong and will all get sued. so then chapter by chapter comes in. we are working on it together. doing a lot of editing and changing the initial language is my voice.

we probably go back and forth on each chapter two -- three times. he makes suggestions, i make suggestions were going back and forth by e-mail and then the good that manuscript done only send it to our editor at simon & schuster. she then will send it back to us with the notes in the margin things she wants to explain more, to add it. we are on a very tight deadline because to start a book we started this in march, to have it out by november is apparently like land speed records for publishers. i don't get that but i don't argue with the publisher. we were working really quickly. sheon then decided she wanted an additional chapter on something. she sent this to us by e-mail

and ellis called me and said read the tasha's latest e-mail? when to break it to you gently she wants another chapter. we were on the phone with each other was a chapter on covid policies. f we talk about covid allots in the book the first part in my experience of covid and i'm sure that.get to this is on what should our policy be going forward? i think you need to do a chapter on that. and by the way i needed in two days. i said okay turn on your tape recorder we don't have time to get together. the last thing you do is write the dedication and the

acknowledgment. into the dedication the front ok the book of our four children. and the acknowledgment in the back are a whole lot of people who contributed to helping me jwith the book or contributed o this part of my life and career but that's the way you write a book. believe me when you're finally done with the announcement and hit send and they acknowledge they have received it you do not want to see it again. w you do no one to see the book until it looks like that. and when it does all you do is look at the cover and the title page which you sign. i have not looked at the text since late august. >> you also did an audiobook. i was a painful 25 hour experience i i believe. and the other thing some of us read is going to s tell little inside story the cover of the

elephant with a life preserver originally had a red cross on it. but the red cross oppose that. >> is holding a red cross flag the trunk not give us permission to get up life preserver for. >> on the final copy the elephant on the side still had the red cross flag and i flagged it very quick she did. i senators adheres the cover. what is second elephant on the site has the flag. >> we do known to piss off the red cross. >> that will tell you how little i wanted to look at this anymore. i'm like all right whatever go-ahead. the good catch probably got sued by the red cross. goodness on that. that is the way i have written this book and pretty much the same process by some as well. >> k.chris is a student of histy

he loves history. a part of there's a lot of history and it really. talk to the audience we go over conspiracy theories in view history i think that might find it interesting. >> i start talking about why engaging in spending time in these conspiracy theories that have been out there, queuing on, pizza gate, and the election stuff iri thought i had a placen it of historical context. this is not the first time we've gone through that. i've written a large chapter in the late 50s and early 60s became a force inside the republican party.em

very much one that had an anti- somatic strain to it. iran in through a number conspiracy theories in that regard. and became a real force inside the republican party. who is the founder of national review magazine was horribly disturbed by the development of nseeing how prominent society ws becoming the republican politics so he approached barry goldwater. knowing goldwater was considering running for president in 1964 said look we should do this together. and pushback on these people. if we do so together we could have a real impact on the party. i will write the first editoriai the national review. and you write a letter to the editor for the national review

supporting the editorial. and buckley writes the 4000 word editorial on the national review about why the society is so bad for americans so bad for republican party, talks in depth about anti-semitism and why that is so bad. goldwater it was his out, no other way to put it. start to get pressure back inside the republicann party. he iss worried that if he does s he will not win the nomination in 1964. and so he writes back a very, very short week letter to buckley which is nothing likeuc what they agreed upon. so buckley decides he's not going to publish it at first. and he goes to somebody else to see who hisve credibility in the movement and see if he will back

buckley up on this. he went to ronald reagan. with the time is not even elected official. he'd given a speech in 1964 on behalf of goldwater early on. speech was entitled rendezvous with destiny. and reagan had become very popular figure inside the movement because of the speech. he will be elected two years later as the governor of california. but reagan stood up wrote a long impassioned letter as a former democrat as to why he thought they were somebody we should not be embracing or empowering inside the republican party. that absolutely did the trick. goldwater ran you may remember goldwater's speech at the convention or the most famous olines was extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. jthat is directly john bert's

language. and he lost monumentally. in fact is a little historical note barry goldwater was the last republican to lose county for president until donald trump in 2020. from 64 -- 2024 for every esrepublican candidate. they rejected goldwater and they rejected trump in 2020. i did not put it in the book because i didn't really care about that historical comparison but this audience will. and i think it says something about the comparison that we are making. it is an p interesting chapter o place the chapters that follow into context which is where queuing on or pizza gate or the election conspiracy.

we are not in a unique time. i hate when i hear them say we are in the most dangerous timetr in the history of the country. we are more divided than live ever been in our history. i did someone say that abc one day and george came to me and i said i don't know. seems to me the civil war withno the time we are probably more divided then we are now. just a random thought. maybe we could check a little common sense into hyperbole. we have been happened after thay five the next six time between 1968 and 1992. so, the republican party recovered. they became once again aba national force at the presidential level because we got back to t basics.

that is part of what the book is all about. >> that's great. along the same lines as history repeats itself. debate prep with the president and you went into debate prep with reams of articles from previous presidents, incumbent presidents tell the audience i your advice? >> i did the prep of 2016.ay when should close your eyes and picture this for a moment. i i didn't do the first debate in 2016. he had like the cast of ben-hur, you know prepping him for that first debate and prepping for that first debate in its reflected that after the first debate, he called me and he said look, you do debate

preparation for the second braided i succumb only i if i'mn charge of itoo and only five can decide who is in the room because of aom foreign have evey tom andnd harry in the room, i don't care lady said you are in charge and so we did this in 2016, and just one quick aside, idi didn't go to the second debe i did go to the personal but we do not go to the second one and we watch the second debate at home and seven or eight minutes after the debateki was over ande got done shaking hands and then my phone rang and it was on company said to me, your so great, that was so easy and he said, so easy compared to debating you, that was great. [laughter] >> he said you're a better hilary than she is. [laughter] >> a sense of you going to an entrant do debate three. >> i said yes donald and so 2020 comes in his staff, comes to me

and his chief of staff at the time, was mark meadows card and jared kushner's son-in-law whic you read in the first book, he is a dear friend of mine and came to me and said, we want to beckon charges thesi debate agan this now in july. and he said do you want to start this weekend in the first debate was late september and he said he's not going to like this, it is too early they say no, a lot of work and he's ever like this and and he was fine with it and 3:00 o'clock onn saturday, - and he said okay as of the president of the united states wants you to company ago, it's on that conference on the first four clubhouse, and in walks the president from a round of golf.

any systemic i'm sitting this year across from him faces daily looks amazing with a hack are you doing here. and as a debate prep and he said are you kidding me, he said debate prep in july for the end of how stupid do you think i am. and i'm looking now at jared and the meadows who were both in the room this thanks and i just knew that this was a set up and i knew they hade not spoken to him because he did not having us to talk to him they just figured, that i would harm him and so i had prepared for this handout went back and the modern your presidential debate, we started in 1976, a base between kennedy and nixon is 60 were no debates and 64, 68 or 72. and then 76, gerald ford was way behind jimmy carter in the race

coming out of this and so he agreed tos do the debates with carter and so that started than ever since that there have been presidential debates every four years. and articles that i printed out, from 76, and from 80, 84, 92, 96, 2004, and 2012. those are the elections when there was an incumbent person present seeking pre-election and for election in gerald ford's case and every one of them, the press of the incumbent president lost the first debate. every time and only back at some of the folks who prepped those presents for the debate it had i call them and they hope will the

same thing it was like presence don't want to probe because they are the president. and like yes i'm the president what do i need to prepare for debate for this i am the president of this fire thiss wil hear from they don't president but i do because i am the president. so i said and i said we need to start now mr. president and he said, in a joke he said, i don't know why have to prepare for this, i am the president, it is so great right of us are going to buy briefcase i take out the back articles lycée, i talked to him across the table isaac, became prep is over. not doing anything else today so what i want to do is go back tonight and read those articles. and then i will see you next time you want to see me so we got up that it jared several i maybe we should just talk in general andnd i said read the

articles mr. president he's one of the about an ascetic however you come present lost because i didn't think they need to prepare because they were already present doesn't sound familiar to said is not true. which is also another indication to you about kind of the depth of historical knowledge of donald trump in politics and he just does not have any. so this was all news to him and give to them and i walked out and zeroed in meadows followed me out to the front of the club and elected them and i go, guys, you are so full of. you'd never talked too him right and of course they said they did bit the guy clearly was surprised i was there did not want to prep so we read the articles of course he did not follow any of the advice we read the articles because he called me a couple days later and there

was a that he drew from that. he said those other guys are so bad. [laughter] and you can't believe how about all of them were not going to be like that, i'm going to be really good and i said okay mr. president you've got it. >> so he must not a bit of boy scout, being prepared was not his forte. >> we going to do preparation for this debate but it was 16, that was difficult because in that mets, right at the end of the prep for the second debate, acts of hollywood happene' and so i am in the middle of prepping him on the friday afternoon before the sundayn debate and nk press secretary the transcript of the - that kind of derailed us for hello while many difficult but he was very receptive for preparation in 2016. because he knew even though he

would not admit he lost thewa first debate, he knew that he lost the first debating he did not want to lose again it was very receptive for the preparation was much of that in 2020. >> so moving onomng topic some k that the book talks a lot about his all of these conspiracies theories but talk to this audience in the way well about where the truth is that obviously donald trump lost the election but give specifics about suburban women and when he lost those notes and how he gained about said the city. >> will listen to the present, he has a number of different theories about what the election was stolen and the way try to approach it in this book, is in my two jobs ago, my last job, i tried not to write like the governor i started to write like an united states attorney to

take the approach of this that i had to prove this in court, what would i do. i would try to - tells about this and i want to address those issues and lay out the facts and then let you draw your own conclusions but obviously i'm taking it from the perspective of the evidence to support this right as i did when i was u.s. attorney bringing the case i want support the case on bringing and so if you think someone other theories is the election was from him in pennsylvania, philadelphia, and in michigan and in detroit and t the shut up in the middle of the night in detroit philadelphia and you know the refilling of the ballots and no one was accounted for and theye were moe thousand people had registered to vote and you heard all of these things we go through the personal registration numbers in

pennsylvania and how they were significant fewer people voted actually registeredlp to vote wn philadelphia philadelphia donald trump actually got 3 percent more of the vote in 2020, the needed in 2016, the city of philadelphia and joe biden, god 1 percent of the vote in philadelphia then hillary clinton did iel would argue that the very unsuccessful job, when you let the you trying to steal from, just 3 percent more than the guy try to steal for get 1 percent less illogical they didn't steal it the other thing that you hear about pennsylvania is witnessing, went to bed, donald trump was winning pennsylvania by 700,000 votes and then i wake up, and he is losing fight 80000 votes and they stole it.

no, we have very unusual and unusual election in 2020 and we have ther most ballots ever use the presidential election in each state decided differently they would vote and in what order and some for instance in ohio, when you went to bed andid looked at ohio, joe biden was winning ohio and when he woke up, donald trump one ohio bike nine points in the same it's venue theory, trump stole ohio from biden, no, here is what happened. in ohio, the counted the male about and they were over warming bleed across the country 70 - 7o reasons, when the democrats generally more fearful of covid-19 than republicans so the

more fearful to go to the polling place and vote in person and secondly don't trump said all summer and all fall, the ballots are rigged, don't trust ballots in vote on election day is other republican voters went to the leader of the party and they didn't vote by mail, they voted at the machines that v day and o in ohio, all the mail-in those first, biden was up by seven points and we are watching an abc because we not know which way they were doing it when they started to ask questions may sit how the heck has joe biden winning ohio by seven in the can of theas machine votes in ohio, and was 16-point switch and trumpto went down 72 up 9159 pennsylvania is the exact opposite visibly to the decided to get the machine votes first and donald trump is up by

700,000 votes and then they count the mailing folks and he loses by 80 in pennsylvania very similar swing in terms of numbers and donald trumps favor and last, in pennsylvania, something was in stark - that happen all across the country and suggest what donald trump was the first republican president and gold water to lose virtually. mccullough counties up by philadelphia, and montgomery county and outside recovery but right, in 2016 versus 2020 donald trump losses for counties by 100 - one oh thousand more votes and joe biden any loss any

lost both times, but he lost by any lost by more those counties and he did in 2016 he lost the entire state brady so if you need to know why donald trump lost his many, he lost it for the same reason, white educated suburban voters gave him a chance 2015, marginally abandon him in 2020 pretty i am sure this town, inference house and across county, greater percentage by women than men who vote for both women and both suburban and educated voted far less for trump in 2020 thin they did in 2016, but the friends of years that you have spoken to, no question that is what happened to him, that's where he lost in michigan and that is where he lost in wisconsin over

and over again come the suburbs outside milwaukee and detroit and outside of philadelphia hundred for him in 2016 and did not talk about one anecdotal story the book, the woman who shall remain nameless, prevent volunteer for the campaigns she saw me the day before the election and she said governor, what will happen tomorrow and i said look, i things going to be a lot closer than people think but i think biden will win and she looked down at her shoes and started to shake her head and i knew this woman is a really strong republican inches were for me twice and i said i know she said no no no i would've provided. and a look nice of you voted for biden, why and she said

governor, could not listen to that voice for another four years. so part need to understand thise way so go for donald trump to accept it because it was not rejection of this policy, it was a rejection of him personally by a group of voters who had been with him for years earlier and i can tell you since 2000 somebody is one of sophia's lost, comfortable when he is much better and secondly, losing is intensely personal and you know, politics differ that sports, switch of a good day or bad day sometimes you win, sometimes of the persons better they have a better day, it does not mean that your rejected, just means that day, the other guy was better the other woman was better in politics, they look to you and the other person they went, i'll take them, i don't

want you. i can tell you you are having troubles and is intensely personal is when people wonder why donald trump is having such a hard time accepting this, in part none open in part, it is because he knows that what i just said is absolutely true and it it is personal rejection we go through all of the other examples but there is a number of other arizona come in all of the front georgia, in different places he argues. >> that's a good segue into what would be my last question for you and then wem will take questions from the audience and tell us your view right now and effort in the legislation to federalize voting rights and voting systems and can you tell us your view on federalize and gotten the voting laws and what you would do. >> in congress, they want to

federalize all of the rules of voting. i can tell you you don't want to live on my opinion, each state has different. how we can ever think that the voting rolls that would be good for wyoming, will be good for new jersey when wyoming is the least densely populated state in america new jersey is most densely populated state in america and the challenges that we face is voting company accommodations that we have to make, significantly different and secondly, the constitution i thank you so pretty clear in this that these decisions are supposed be made by individual states and back to federal government, what could possibly go wrong. [laughter] >> i mean,, imagine that the federal government could be a charge of counting all of the

also instead of having all of the really great people that we have in the firehouse in word we go there as volunteers, a little bit to sit there all day but not paid much, imagine those people all get replaced and federal employees command. it will me need to do is look what happened, here's why ten or 12000 paper ballots and every other time the machines and will this time, almost 200,000 paper same number of machines with the paper ballots. because they could not get ready that quickly and they didn't know m covid-19 it comes in marh of 20, you cannot order those

machines getting here by november even if you wanted to and so one of the things that i think that all of us in the state inmb particular given the number of voters we have across the country what they need to do, is not assume that they were going to go back into 2022, 2024, two very small of mail-in ballots, and i people got used to that, they like it and is convenient for them. i think right have a lot more mail-in voting over time and so we better get more machines to kathy's house because the other reason why we have so many conspiracy theories is that the longer it takes for us to tell them to take testimony wondering what the heck are they up to. who is messing aroundd with this and i talk about that little bit in the book that is a natural american b thing because it goes all back to the founding of the country. thatbo if the conspiracy theory about the politics throughout appendix that's what happens in

a free society, where people get to express their opinions and they don't have to be right, you just have to have opinions and they get to express them always remember, what was said, had a lot of fun with governor byrd had a lot of fun with him he was one of the funniest people ever mention one of the lines used to use all of the time was i have a my wife thehe promise that wheni die, she will bear me and has been active in politics. [laughter] and so i want to make of you and i say this in the book, i'm not saying that irregularities do not happen on election day, they did by the way it happened in new jersey a month ago. and in 13 and no nine and the question is enough irregularities to change the result of the election in any one state let alone the five

states that would be necessary to see the result of the election and that i think we have proven the book is just not possible so and that's what i thank you so an important thing to remember and if you think that you don't trust the county clerk immerse kenny, to count the votes, went into some federal bureaucrat is coming your vote, forget it, conspiracy theories will be triple and quadruple. under that scenario and everything and is messing around, we can kick n her out ad you're not going to be able to get a fitment of the federal bureaucrat who is in charge of the election process. >> so i think if anybody has a question we can move them to the audience yes, the microphone right in the middle and i think that not because he can't hear you without a bit because of the tv guys are here tonight.

>> my question is, if the biden administration has had when, mainstream media will turn against him. >> will i will say this, not completely against him, no because look, mainstream media in this country is slanted towards the' left enemy, there can be question about that anymore right in fact normal is playing out, just watch me on sunday, it is a must never not three - one, when of doing that roundtable onn abc, almost alwas three - one every once in a while they run for republican in there with me but most of the time, is three - one this evening one of the networks if you go to the news network, they revel in their slams. cnn and msnbc, reveling in slant

left they thank you so possible fox revels with the right slant and so you know, i say to folks all of the time, you should watch a little bit of both and just so you realize there really two different worlds we are living in right now, two different ways to look at issues most of the time, going to come back to thebo way that you think about things but that is why if you look at the bottom of our driveway and her kid sees jesus them actually still get it natural newspaper kids alike, are a you kidding, you get a newspaper just one your phone be still get them if you look at the bottom ofve our driveway, there are three newspapers every day. the wall street journal, to give us the conservative side of thanks of the new york times, so i know with the enemy is thinking and the new york post just to have fun. [laughter]

andnk so you don't think you should get it - and same thing with mainstream media as well and i painfully watch as i don't watch this of every night when i do want to go back and forth between seated while i can't watch in smb seek to be honest, i just can't, it is just too much for me but i go from cnn to fox because i want to see how or whenever the big stories of the day are, how they cover them differently which were defined as the cover them completely differently and they emphasize which stories you know so it should be everyday like let's say, having story on wall street had a big story in washington dc and cnn, will come in the washington dc story will cover it with nothing but democratic members of the house and senate and democratic commenting on it and "fox news"

won't cover the washington story and is is really big, they won't cover the wall street story either the cover immigration and gobi stories about immigration at the border, they will get to the stories at the second and third everybody takes a different approach and i think it's really educational to watch all of them and is much as if it is you can put up with because t helps to inform me at least when talking to people on the other side to, as to why they think some of the things they think and i think it because that is what they are hearing on the news they are watching so i don't have any hope of them down the middle and i think those days are over. >> thank you, happen to think that one of the biggest feelings if not the biggest feeling is the country and that intercity public schools and i think it creates a generation of failure. i know the party gets hard but when you see the lines of people desperate to get the kids into

the charter schools and anything to not go to the public school where they are at, why hasn't population delivered to get behind in school choice and vouchers and charter schools because the party they are votingng for is entrenched and t supporting that and then t the cycle is perpetuated and never gets better just cannot understand why that populationo to the school choice argument which is you know, he can't be supported. >> i was used to reason converse when asked habit and folks in the inner city, have gotten into the habit of putting democrat, and they just have a hard time breaking that habit unless .2, republicans aggressively

campaign their i think in the main are parties that a lousy job to make that argument repel republicans to be uncomfortable going into those communities and making those arguments and i think itif is foolhardy if you look at what happened with me in 2013 after four years of arguing hard for public education and arguing why and authorizing charter schools and any governor ever has in all of that, what happens we got more votes in newark and irvington in the city and we won bayonne and union city and we have 62 percent of the voting union city and new jersey in 2013 when trying to

argue is that you've got to go to places that you are uncomfortable in going to the place to make the arguments that you know that group of voters needs to hear and to me right the education issue in virginia just showed us this the education issue will come across the parties, the parents care most about their children and the other children to get a good education ander i will tell you that the biggest supporters that i have in 2013, in the cities where the pastors of most of the major churches in places like new york and camden in trenton. and of all of the denominations including it moms in muzzle below a muslim mosque in patterson and other places because they say to me, and ied was governor, we are tired of seeing the children who sit in our pew every sunday, constantly

be filled by the public school system and now, the reason is 2.3, is that the teachers union across the country spent a lot of money in making sure that it doesn't is a leica here now and here our current governor telling that we have the best schools in america, okay and for some kids, and he's the democrat who was about to be the one who cares more about the underprivileged. ... about the failure in our urbn schools because to do that would run counter to his patrons in the teacher's union. and you all saw when i ran against the page the teachers union 09 and 10 and 11. they beat me senseless. the money they spent was extraordinary.

and i one aside to end it on. more upbeat funny note in 2010 in 2010, 27 were in the midst of the first big fight with the teachers union. me, mary pat, all four children from the scv of the trip were going. i don't member wear. we're on the turnpike we got off exit, we are going to the tool. up to the left is one of those a big it was a picture of it me and it said chris christie hates children. and it wasn't awful picture of me. an awful picture of me. at that time, our son patrick yfor those of you here who know our family, our son patrick was definitely the serbs a drink in the house was ten years old the time i did know they noticed it i sought hoping they didn't see

it. and so patrick goes hey dad, your people have to get better pictures of you. [laughter] and i said patrick, did you read with the billboard said? those are not my people. because i don't know dad it was a really bad picture. [laughter] let's another reason happened as well. >> i governor christie. you brought up governor byrne and hudson county. i'm compelled to tell a story the respected 1985 when brendan byrne and ed appeared in moorestown or supporting a democratic candidate for senator. and he happened to have a fundraiser.princeton, new jersey at the time. gets up looks at bradley and says you know, i do not understand why you happen to be running as a democrat.

with a similar experience of my old job on another note i to ask 2nabout october 22 you happen to be there debate between biden trump h i think we all know what happened subsequent to that party. mainly that trump tested positive for coed. how do you feel at the time he knew he had the virus. how do you feel about trump now?

a gentleman who supported for. president in terms of his loyalty to his closest associates. and putting them essentially in peril as a result of the subsequent tests he had for testing positive. >> them gently caressed the record. my understanding is he tested positive the nex' day during for what i have read now. does not change the thesis of your question. i don't think that amount was super spreader. people got covid for only three people that were not involved in debate prep. one of them was father jenkins of notre dame are to others.

i'm absolutely convinced we all got covid. there are seven of us in debate prep including the president six of us got covid. now, it is disturbing to me and mary pat to have heard for the first time a day or two ago and mark meadows book that the president tested positive for covid prior to him sitting closer than i am to you for four days. in preparing him for the debates. there is a story in the book about after got put in the hospital, he was in the hospital as well. he called me in the story makes much more sense to me that did anytime before two days ago. he called me and said how are you doing i said not well this is really bad and you sound bad too.

ii said can you believe to tough guys like us got this thing? we are so tough. how could this have gotten us? we are the two toughest guys in america. i don't understand is that i don't know either mr. president. he then got to the point in the call so how do you think you got it? a i said i don't know mr. president, i'm pretty confident i got at the white i house. since six of the seven of us got it, who knows who patient zero was, i do not know obviously got at the white house. he then said to me, you're not going to blame it on me i are y? you're not going to tell the press that i gave it to you?

my thought process was donald trump's paranoia that he did not want to be blamed. i was suspicious because every one of us beside him went to the white house you've got admitted someone escorted you to the eisenhower building next door. they would swap beer you sat hethere for 15 minutes of your negative you are authorized to go to the west wing. i was always a little suspicious as to whether one of us got a false positive, false negative rather. or whether it waswa o him. he was the only when we didn't know whether his getting tested every day or not. we would not know he is the

president. so for me and mary pat especially how bad my experience of covid was and in the intensive care unit for seven days and a couple moments really feeling like it was going to go the wrong way. if in fact what meadows says is true. try to hedge it a little bit and he got a negative test after that. so they were not sure. but at a minimum what we were owed. everybody in that room it was me, miller, and the other miller, mrs. steven it's the other miller, jason miller is the only one who did not get it. so presumably he is owed nothing. the rest of us are all owed to

be told that. i will toy this would've all worn masks. we didn't wear why mass was said were getting tested every day. and that's what we didn't wear a mask at that event because everybody sitting at the amy coney barrett event were all tested before they're allowed to come in all tested whatever the president did he's got to live with his own conscience. i'm not going to impose guilt on him. he's going to feel it or not if he was in fact positive. mike said this after got out of the hospital i became convinced that i was in a safe zone and i was wrong. now i probably know why washo

wrong, i did not know then. regardless i should've when the mask the whole time. it just would've been extra layer of safety for me. as you might imagine when mary pat and i saw that pop up on our phones earlier this week, early in the morning we had an interesting reaction. >> thank you. >> thank you sir. >> as you mentioned the irregularities on the election you agreed there early irregularities. don't you believe the democratic party of the system and they are implementing what they control. in using the system somehow we have to be concerned about the same happened to donald trump i

note certainly highly controlled do all of the things to influence and there is a lot of fraud going on. so doing that especially school systems to teach about kids and then they graduate they become 90% democratic but it is a system. it is ana corruption. before not going to stand up as it doesn't exist eventually california and illinois and has been happening. but you see the assembly and they know how to win it. they have that recipe. >> let me a few things and

impact that. they did not steal the presidential election. it is just too hard. i mean seriously, think about this for a second period do you really think joe biden masterminded a nationwide conspiracy to steal votes in sia different states? joe biden could not mass yes are liberals way to indoctrinate our children and the certain process, absolutely. it has happened. it is a fight we should have. i support the georgia election law. i support the texas election law. i will toy a quick story. this whole idea about not having to show an idea when you vote

somehow being asked to show id is discriminatory. i went to new york city eight or nine weeks ago. i walk into an office building g walk up to the security guard governorate so amazing to see up rib such a big fan i said thank you. could i come around take a picture? it comes around get this phone out and take the selfie. he prints that might visitor pass, could you sign the visitor pass for i have your autograph? theo's back to his desk and say can you see your id? [laughter] i looked at him and said all right. you are convinced enough that i am me that you took a picture with me, you had me give you an autograph. but you still deceive id question because i'm sorry it's the rules.

okay cup wit in my wallet, got my drivers license and gave it to them. if i have to do that to answered office building in manhattan to go to a meeting white should not have to show the people in the firehouse might drivers license when it come to vote? i'm a bad example because i walk in here and if they don't knowry me it's a problem, right? i think everybody should have to show an d id. i think one of the things i did when ied was governor which is y he should be less concerned about the voter rolls in the state is mandated had the attorney general mandate the county update the voter rolls. we knocked a lot of dead people off the voter role. a lot of people moved off the voter role during my eight years as governor. it's got to be a constant process because people die all the time and people move all the time. the voter role are in much

better shape than they were before. lastly on mail-in ballots, i think they're going to continue to be a factor. i do not want republicans complaining about it. it is not that hard. you know what they do they send out the ballot then they send the piece of mail saying hey you got your ballot, here's how you return it. then they call four or five times they say hey did you fill out your ballot yet? the main text you, then they e-mail you it's not turn out anymore it is dragged out. they dragged those votes out of those houses. there's no reason we cannot do that. no reason. but the same technology makes it a little harder because it door to doore amends them will hard o

go to jersey city. i've done both and as a lot harder for that part of it's going to work they tend to be a more suburban and rural areas.n i was at an event a week before the election this year for fundraising event for john and that woman raised her hand what are we going to do to combat him? i looked at her and said let me tell you. he's not going to determine any election. i said when he loses' next tuesday it's going to be because we do not know how to mail and balloting and they do. it turned out six days later was exactly right.er on the machines jack was elected governor. we camp the mail-in votes votes he loses by 75000 votes.

do i think the election was so from jack i don't and neither does jack. but the bigger point on your point is is a bunch of things you got to do and i talk about in the book, to continue to be n competitive viable party. moaning and complaining and looking in the rearview mirror at past elections never helps you when the next one ever. voters do not want to hear about that stuff. that is not why they vote for you. the lesser realty on that as isa was for election in 2013 we rebuild it in five months i'm dumb and taken a victory lap running for reelection. walking on the boardwalk a guy comes up to me says hey governor running for reelection why should i vote for you? look at the boardwalk until i

got to vote the last time would i get for voting for you next time? voters and main think about tomorrow not about yesterday and that is good. it shows we are a hopeful company. we think tomorrow can be better wthan yesterday. our party's got to start doing that. not the moaning andgh complainig fight in the place you fight. fight to get voter id. fight to get better and mail and ballots. extension county cleanup the voter role. take those things out of play and then our ideas versus their ideas i feel like we will do okay. and by the way and an election will be lost by three points lee picked up six seats in the assembly and a seat in the senate a lot of local seats.as except for the top of the ticket election day was very good for republicans across the state. it sends a very clear message to phil murphy but to legislative

democrats who you watch are going to beat much, much more reluctant to do what he wants them to do. and that's the last thing, redistricting. that is very difficult. we've got a map right now my wife is trying to tell me too stop. we've got a map right now -- think about this. i got reelected in 2013 i got 60% of thee vote statewide we dd not pick up one seat in the legislature. if that's on a gerrymandered map i don't know what is. the top of the ticket gets 60% of the vote and we did not win one seat underneath? that will tell you everything you need but hopefully they're negotiating a new map now we could be in control of the legislature in two years. >> thank you and i always like to say one last question which i will cite one last question. ask well we will see.

[laughter] just to show people hair you don't run everything. [laughter] works i definitely w don't regas every once in a while there. >> to short answers or. >> or two there right? two short answers. i'll make them short answers. click straight forward question two. nice to see it governor, mrs. christie. looking forward, like we've been talkingye about a lot tonight especially the midterms next year end even 24, how do you think the republican party best unites itself nationally were you still have a section of the party that would obviously like to see a new face in 24 and even sooner. in another section that still very much likes president trump. the glen young can model a good model for everywhere? does it vary? give a short answer. first, never forget the other

site unites us like we can never unite ourselves. and by the way the same with the democrats. donald trump united the democrats more than they've ever been united in my lifetime. so remember part of this process is oh my god what are they doing? we have to stop r them. and republicans are willing to put down their differences in order to stop that. the second piece is we've got the start talking with the things voters care about. elections are not about what the candidate thanks is important, or about with the voter thanks is important about the candidate thanks, and so part of what we need to do is to get ourselves back into that mode ofan thinki. and we haven't been. we have been yelling, complaining and screaming about things that most of the voters did not care about.

and they sent us a great clear message not once but twice. in 18 and. in 20. so we need to listen. thank you sir. [laughter] >> all try to make it really quick. needless to say him having been a public figure i think everyone was well aware of president trump's personality quirks andhi whatnot. one thing that has made people loyal to him is the fact that i will do certain things. by and large he did them. as someone has generally voted republican, i have often been disappointed by my party in terms of failure to keep campaign.ade during a too often we are talk to we will do this. and then nothing is done. except forkn the fact if you lok

at trump he fixes skating rink rink in new york after six years of nonsense. he built a golf club on a dump in a short period of time. he started building a wall when no wall was ever built. he moved the embassy in israel to the capitol of israel would have been said this s will happ, this will happen. and so we are looking -- if somebody is going to be a more acceptableta alternative personality problems, then we want somebody who is still to do what he says. and i don't know why our party has often disappointed us. >> if you check the democrats will say the same thing. and there will be a bunch of democrats who said that as wellt i don't think it is unique to our party. but what i will say is look, and maine i agreed with the things

president trump tried to do. there are some things where we differ but they are not hugely significant things. here's where i part company with him. you cannot stand up behind that seal of the president of the united states in the east room of the white house at 2:30 a.m. on election night and tell the american people that the election was stolen and not present any evidence to show that print the words of the president of the united states matter more than the words of the new york real estate h developerr. he continued the topic he was in new york real estate developer but he is the president of the united states. the american people want to believe what the american president tells them. by the voted for him or not you want to believe what he says. it would've been like barack obama standing up that night in april of 2012 and saying osama bin laden is dead. and then he wasn't.

what would we have thought at that moment? that is something of enormous gravity to the mirkin people like the election. the idea someone would say he had been killed when he wasn't would have been something we would never accept. the saying the election was stolen and not presenting any evidence to back that up. and here we are 13 months later. he is still saying the same thing.le to me that creates a huge credibility problem that diminishes what you just talked about. and i said this to the present the saturday after the election. if you don't either present the evidence at stolen now or see the election you are going to diminish your legacy in a way that will damage you personally and damage the party for a long

time. until i accrue through there's many things he said he would do and got done for this a number of things he said he would doic that did not get done. but you can say that about anybody gets elected to office. but election night to me was a line that made it impossible for me to say that is okay. because it just is not. we all get into this business knowing we could win or lose. sometimes you think it isn't fair.. i've lost elections that i thought were not fair. that is the deal. you stand up and say i don't think that was fair but votes have been counted, people have spoken and i will live to fight another day. that is where i think the divide is now. that is something that is not necessary to do. not welcoming buy into the white

house on the inaugural morning. not going to the inauguration you think b hillary clintonit january 2017 at donald trump's inaugural? do you think al gore wanted to be sitting there in 2001 george w. bush inaugural? do you think george bush 41 and to be sitting at bill clinton's inaugural? i am confident they would rather have a root canal than sitting there. but they went. not only did they go they welcomed the victor to the white house and said this is the way we do it in this country. is a peaceful transfer of power where the vanquished congratulate the victor. and we leave with grace and dignity and doing that. i think it diminished him and it diminished our country in the

process. you can still say i don't think it's fair. al gore but like crazy for 34 days in court all the way to the u.s. supreme court. but when the u.s. supreme court ruled, even though al gore lost five -- four present hold it i'm not moving out of the observatory i am staying i'm still the vice president. he conceded, he went out, heat welcome bush to the naval observatory. they met and show the country this is the way w we operate. and that's the way we have operated for the last 250 years. i think that is one the president should have done differently. >> big support of my wife and i interrupt the short just to be here. we are glad we did. we would love to see you as our candidate in 2024. but going back to point a littlt while ago how your own constituents feltan about trumps

in the midwest and hed spent a lot of time out there. there's a lot of good right-thinking people out there. but when it comes to newew yorks or anyone from the northeast they are likely don't really get them. we talk too fast, we do not get them a chance to hear we are sent to the he took a chance on trip how it's unlike you over, something that's been a biased and the northeast thanks to donald? >> the did take a chance on trump in some parts of the midwest. and in other places they didn't. i can tell you when i was in iowa i spent a decent amount of time there in 2015, there's a definitely bright it got to come up hill a little bit become for the northeast. i do have a vowel at the end of your name. [laughter] gets a little tough. but i think for any of us, our

own authenticity has to be what we rely upon. there are plentyi of people. believe me i do social media. there are plenty of people who don't like me. that isri okay. but even the people who don't like me, most of them, don't call me a phony. they have gotten to know me and don't like me. [laughter] s that's fine, that is there cal it is politics. but i think we cannot back away from authenticity. and i think quite frankly one of the reasons trump got elected was because people said all right, look, you may not see everything the way i like to sit but man i think he means it. and i think that is who he is. and as a result some people were

willing to take a chance on him based upon that authenticity. i still think the single most single bank and a candidate is authenticity. and you can tell when they are not. you look at certain candidates, a rant against a bunch of them in 2016. you look at them and say i've got you. the sender think what the answer should be and try to figure out what you want to hear and then send it back to you. the american people have proven themselves to be a lot smarter than that. the only way to overcome any bias talk about a weird accent they think we have one, look at them. there's always going to be that bias. certain candidates overcome that with theirir approach, there authenticity and that's all we can rely on.

yes. the only woman that stood up. i am not telling her to sit down i'm leaving. [laughter] no chance if i've gotten get in trouble with this woman not sing in trouble with that woman i'm okay with that. >> thank you for indulging me. i do admire you chris and i'm happy to be here tonight. i am a moderate icm independent kind of person. i think people need to understand is that biden was a placeholder. he was a viabl' candidate to trump and that was really expert it wasn't because going way over to the left and that's what the are you doing question actually that's a lot of people are feeling very. >> them so glad you hear! hear! to say that part. >> and feel like the majority of us are feeling that way. but my question to you is, you

at this point represent a minority to some extent of your party. someone who is a standing up and so forth. i am wondering if donald trump and his minions start going after you. >> they have act very. >> what are you going to do? how are you going to react? i would much rather see you on the ballot. will react you all have watched me for a long time. morris county even longer than new jersey. insert link new jersey longer than the country. i wille give you a week or so ao talked about myt approval ratin. look, my approval rating was bad enough when i left. he made it worse but he lied about it to make it worse. i thought to myself why didn't you tell the truth? it was really bad when i left you could have just use the real number and it would have been terrible. and my response to him was when

iran for reelection i got 60% of the vote. when you ran you lost to joe biden. that is what i will do. i mean look, donald trump has never gotten a fight with me. i believe because he knows i know how to fight back. he fights with people who cannot fight back. and you will notice if you remember back in the 16 so the guys are women on stage that did not get a nickname. d.little marco, crazy john, i didn't get one. i'm acceptable with any number of nicknames. [laughter] he clearly could've thought of. something about your vote for biden, i said this to trump in

2017 we went for lunch with the president on valentine's day he'd been in office three weeks he called and invited us to come down and have lunch with them. it was not exactly my idea valentine's day mail i got to bring mary pat so it was okay. and he said to me, look around if you believe i am here? you show me the oval office i was like yes, sure you one. we sat down to talk about at lunch and i said to him remember something you did not win this election, she lost it. i said mr. president it doesn't matter because your hands on the bible and generate 20 fewer sleeping upstairs. you're sitting in this office now you need to make the next four yearsou about you you wille the one being judge for years now. i said same thing happened to me. when i one in 2009 i didn't win

he lost. i'm not a big enough egomaniac think everybody what i want god what i really want is chris christie. they don't oh my god i don't want john morris is sky reasonable? and i, like biden, look like the reasonable alternative to someone who they had already rejected. i understand exactly what you mean. and by the weight that is how trump got elected and 16 in my. hillary clinton is censored by the polling data on election day was the single most unpopular presidential candidate on election day in american history. by the way, the second most unpopular presidential candidate was donald trump. but, a little better than her. and so he one. when i told him that america said he got so pissed.

i one, i won in a landslide that is outrageous. she didn't lose, i beat her. it's like look, you can think that but it just is not true. and you should not be upset about it don't get upset. i felt the same way. but what i did mr. president was every day i went to my campaign manager the day after the election in 2009 because we won with 48% of the vote. i looked at him and said every day from here on out your job is to figure out how we build that coalition. what i need to do to convince as many of the 51.5% of the people who did not vote for me too vote for me next time. if donald trump had done that he was still be in the white house today. instead what he did was just a

play to his base. and whenge that happens in a cle election and you don't bring the country together you wind up going down. it's exactly what happened to joe biden right now. he promised to be a uniter bring the country together and return it to normalcy and then he comes in he goes away left the base of his party exact same mistake that trump made. and does not try to bring the country together. remember in 2013 when i got elected up 51% got 20% of african-american vote. four years earlier had gotten 11% of the african-american vote and of the latino vote. that did not happen by miracle.e we worked every day to reach out

to those folks who did not vote for us asked them why try to deal the issues they were concerned about. i absent agree with you independence have a banded biden for the moment because biden began at them first. they are sending in the middle of the country going where the hell did joe biden go? he is all the way over there with elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. democraticri party rejected elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and kamala harris because they were too liberal. they nominated a 78-year-old guy for two reasons. he was in the middle and they wanted to be trout. they knew those others couldn't. so i do not understand why this is so complicated, i really don't. and maybe i am just getting too old and i've seen too much. but it is pretty simple on how to try to govern and win the

country. winning is the hardest part. but what to get there with its power of the governorship or the power of the presidency you have the ability to be able to bring people together if you decide to do it. and i ambi disappointed trump didn't. i am disappointed biden didn't. and i think the american people sent a pretty clear signal 2020 the price going have to send again in 2024 that we want someone who's going to bring the country together. we are tired of being divided. we are tired of not been able tt go to a cocktail party to have a conversation about politics. we are tired of people yelling at us because we have a bumper sticker on our car. we areli tired of people givings a hard time because of what we believe. and what i got up and politics is not the way it was. and i think we could bring.

this book isrt an effort to stat with my own party. x funneled to run as an independent? [laughter] >> absolute he could probably win. but the sides go to the side. that middle candidates going toc win. >> what you need to do as a republican start with your own party. and start talking to them about the truths. either i will convince people or l i won't. but that is what thisll business is all about. the press would say to me the polls sayay this. and i would say to them my job is to change polls. you are a persuasive leader. the job is to change polls not to follow them. so i hope that is what this book starts to do. it started a conversation.

rupert murdoch gave a speech three days later at that meeting he said donald trump is wrong. the election was not stolen. we have to stop talking about it. we are going to fight for the future ... stop wearing about the past. if trump does not stop talking about he cannot be a part of the stfuture. or if they had a fox news is saying that, we may be starting to get someplace. that is why i did the book. that is what we started the conversation. and i am glad you were the last question that's a great place for us to end. i want to say one thing besides thinking my wife, not only for tonight but putting up with me for the last 35 years is that this place is really special to us.l we have been here 30 years and we have been made to feel welcome here for all 30 years that we have been w here. when we were brand-new residents with no children and nobody knew

who we were being a freeholder and then being the governor who had the suvs idling out of every place for eight years all around town the guys with the wires in their ears. at least for that time you lived in the safest town in new jersey i can guarantee that. no problem there you definitely do the safest place. through all of those ups and downs there were times it was difficult. it when they have those difficult times in public life and you come home you want to not have to worry about going out at home. and i can tell you when things were great everything was great here too. whenen things weren't great they were great hereto even when they did not disagree with me they did it in a way that was respectful of the fact that we are one of you. andd so we thank you for that. you provided us a community to raise all four of our children

in a whately wanted too. and when they were in the public spotlight you made it better not worse. you did not make them feel different. whether it's on the soccer field or the little league field or the football field, you guys made them feel like they were just four more kids. that made our lives a lot easier. thank you for coming tonight. [applause] thank you governor. thank you governor, thank you mary pat. another beautiful evening. ♪ if you are enjoying book tv senate for a newsletter using the qr code on the screen to receive a schedule for upcoming programs author discussions, book festivals and more. book tv every sunday on cspan2 or any time at booktv.org.

television for serious readers. weekends on cspan2 are an intellectual feast. every saturday in american history tv document america's story and on sunday @booktv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. funding for cspan2 comes on these television companies and more including cox. >> homework can be hard. but squatting and a diner for internetwork is even harder. that is why we are providing lower income students access to affordable internet so homework can just be homework. cox connect to compete. >> cox along these television companies support cspan2 as a public service. >> i am the dean of the law school in barkley school of law. it is my great pleasure to be o'