Chris Christie's attack on former President Donald Trump during the GOP debate has already been turned into a viral meme.
Seven GOP presidential candidates hit the stage in Simi Valley, California, on Wednesday evening, except Trump, a fact Christie took issue with and even labeled him "Donald Duck."
"Donald, I know you're watching. You can't help yourself. I know you're watching, okay?' said the former Trump adviser.
"And you're not here tonight—not because of polls, and not because of your indictments. You're not here tonight, because you're afraid of being on the stage and defending your record," Christie continued.
"You're ducking these things...You keep doing that, no one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore, we're going to call you Donald Duck."
One person then took that comment about the famous Disney character by turning it into a meme and posting it on X, formerly Twitter.
They shared an image of Donald Duck's head the right way up with the name "Donald" underneath. The other head in the image was upside down with the name "The Donald."
"Donald Duck upside down is secretly Donald Trump. #GOPDebate," they captioned the post.
The tweet went viral with more than 188,000 views, but X users were divided.
"This is disrespectful," replied one person.
Another added: "I laughed for a borderline embarrassing long time at this."
And a third wrote: "My grandfather who was the animator for Disney that drew Donald Duck, known as the 'Duck Man' would be turning over in his grave. Not cool."
Trump has since responded to Christie's jibe by calling the former New Jersey governor a "bum."
"Chris Christie is talking about the job he did as Governor. He had a 9 percent approval rating. N.J. wanted to throw the 'bum' out," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"Also, I built almost 500 miles of Wall (not 50, Sloppy Chris!), got Mexico to give us 28,000 soldiers (free of charge!), and had the safest and best Border in U.S. History, with record low drugs coming in!"
Trump has justified his lack of appearances at the Republican debates, saying he was too far ahead in the polls and did not need to attend.
Before Wednesday's debate, Trump was leading his closest rival in the primary race—Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—by nearly 40 points, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll. Other candidates were battling for third place, including former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Christie and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.
Instead of attending, Trump gave a speech to car workers in Michigan.
Fox Business Network and Univision hosted the chaotic presidential debate which was plagued with hopefuls speaking over one another or launching personal attacks at the others on the stage.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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