Chris Christie entered the 2024 presidential race on Tuesday by pouncing on the Republican frontrunner, former President Trump.

Christie, a former Trump ally turned critic, is making no apologies about running as a trash-talking brawler who wants to confront and "destroy" Trump head-on.

Christie gave a teaser of the role he will play in the primary during a town hall in New Hampshire, where he slammed Trump as a blowhard who divided the country and didn't keep his promises.

"The reason I'm going after Trump is twofold. One, he deserves it. And two, it's the way to win," he said.

Christie jumps in

Christie has denied being a "paid assassin" to take down Trump, but like most of Trump's Republican challengers, he doesn't appear to have a viable path to the nomination.

Trump is the man to beat, boasting a double-digit lead over his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). But Christie knocked speculation in the press that he has no intention of winning and just wants to destroy Trump.

"How are those two things mutually exclusive?" he quipped.

The former New Jersey governor has low favorability ratings among Republican voters, and his attacks on Trump could possibly backfire. But he seems to be making a bet that Republican voters are tired of Trump's style.

"To me, this show looks like it's on re-runs now," he said. "This is like watching 'Seinfeld'."

Trump responds

Christie has criticized DeSantis and other challengers, saying they haven't been aggressive enough toward Trump.

"There is one lane to the Republican nomination, and he's in front of it, and if you want to win, you better go right through him," he said in New Hampshire Tuesday.

Trump responded to Christie's launch by poking fun at his weight in an edited video that showed Christie announcing his candidacy at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Trump also mocked Christie's word choices, questioning whether he has a "problem with SIZE" after the former governor repeatedly said that Trump and others in American leadership had made the country "smaller."

"Not very good"

“How many times did Chris Christie use the word SMALL? Does he have a psychological problem with SIZE? Actually, his speech was SMALL, and not very good. It rambled all over the place, and nobody had a clue of what he was talking about," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Christie fired back at Trump in a CNN interview, calling him "juvenile."

"I have struggled with my weight for about 20 years, like tens of millions of Americans," he told CNN.

Some anti-Trump observers are fretting that the crowded field will divide the vote to Trump's advantage. Trump's former vice president Mike Pence joined the race a day after Christie by also rebuking Trump, saying he "should never be president again" after January 6th.