MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace grilled former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Tuesday for writing a book about liars and conspiracy theorists that failed to go after one of the biggest players in that field.
“The book is about conspiracies and lies, and you really don’t take on Fox News. Why not?” Wallace asked. “Have you seen the Tucker Carlson program?”
Christie, who appeared on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” to promote his forthcoming book, “Republican Rescue: Saving the Party From Truth Deniers, Conspiracy Theorists, and the Dangerous Policies of Joe Biden,” said he doesn’t watch Carlson’s program and was “not really” aware of what he does.
“It’s a book with truth deniers, conspiracy theorists on the cover, and you’ve attacked CNN, The New York Times and MSNBC and not Fox?” Wallace asked.
Christie argued that he didn’t attack them as truth deniers but cast them as biased.
“Is bias more dangerous to the country than conspiracy theorists?” Wallace interrupted.
Christie insisted that he delved into that in the third section of the book and that Wallace was conflating two different portions.
“I don’t think it’s an intellectually honest case to make about conspiracy theories without taking on Fox News,” Wallace said.
“Well, you can write that in your book,” Christie snapped.
“I’m not trying to rescue the Republican Party,” Wallace shot back.
Carlson, whose program is among the most-watched in all of cable news, devotes hours of airtime to spreading misinformation and stoking culture wars on a wide range of subjects.
Fox News won a defamation lawsuit that had been brought against Carlson last year by successfully arguing, according to a judge, “that given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statement he makes.”
Christie, now a critic of former President Donald Trump, has made a spate of media appearances to promote his book and urge Republicans to let go of Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and move forward.