How to run against Trump? GOP considers lessons from 2016

NEW YORK — Chris Christie, one of the only 2016 presidential candidates to seriously consider taking on Donald Trump again, says he and his fellow Republican rivals made a strategic error in that race. Asa Hutchinson, who has been critical of Trump in recent months and announced in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” that he’s running for president. He has mostly taken a softer approach with Trump despite having to flee to safety as Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and some in the crowd chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!” Pence, who is now considering his own presidential campaign, has made limited criticism of Trump and reserved his sharpest comments for an untelevised speech in Washington to politicians and journalists. Speaking last month at the white-tie Gridiron Dinner, Pence said Trump was “wrong” on Jan. 6 and his “reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol.” But on Thursday and Friday, after news of Trump’s indictment broke, Pence repeatedly called the case an outrage. If there’s one lesson from 2016, it’s that Trump’s Republican rivals can “get so preoccupied with trying to trade blows him that they don’t realize that they’re taking mortal punches,” Roe said.