Chris Christie is making it clear that his political ambitions are far from over.

One week before his book "Let Me Finish: Trump, The Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics," hits shelves, the former New Jersey governor and Republican presidential candidate gave a broad and crowd-pleasing speech Tuesday evening in Indian Wells that covered his past and possible future, touching on stories including the 2005 wedding of Donald and Melania Trump, meeting with Trump to discuss the chief of staff position following Gen. John Kelly’s departure earlier this month, and potentially running for president in 2024.

Speaking to a well-heeled, Republican-leaning crowd as part of the Desert Town Hall Series, which is sponsored by The Desert Sun and presented by the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation, Christie took a shrewd and measured approach toward the president. He commended him for bucking politics as usual, but criticized him for surrounding himself with family members without political experience and shutting down the government.

“The president made the fundamental mistake, in my view, when he said in his first meeting with the couple he affectionately calls ‘Chuck and Nancy,’ ‘I’ll shut down the government. I’ll own the shutdown. I’ll be happy to do it.’” Christie said. “Now, we’re 32 days in and no one knows how to get out.”

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During the 2016 Republican Primary, Christie once derided Trump in a New Hampshire speech by saying “We are not electing an entertainer in chief,” but, on Tuesday evening, Christie said the president’s appeal stemmed from many of the qualities the two men share, including their bluntness and willingness to spar with political opponents when they believe it's necessary.

Reflecting on why Trump won the White House, Christie said that after eight years of “No Drama Obama,” the American public wanted a change in style. “They want someone who can give to them straight, hit ‘em between the eyes,” Christie said.

“If I’m not blunt enough for them, then, man, Trump is going to win,” he remembered telling his wife, Mary Pat Christie, during the South Carolina primary,

"I think, in many ways, he's exactly what the country needs right now, but the job is too big for any one person,” Christie said. “He does things that need to be done to politicians in Washington D.C., which is to tell them business as usual is over.”

He recounted his clashes with Ivanka Trump and Steve Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News who was one of the president's most trusted advisers until he was ousted in August 2017.

He said Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump's husband and an advisor to the president, was "in over his head." Christie said that the fact that Kushner and Ivanka Trump hold prominent positions in the administration repelled many potential quality advisors. The challenges of navigating the relationship between the president and his family member-advisors reportedly made Kelly's chief-of-staff job difficult before his eventual resignation.

While Christie headed up the president's transition team, he and Ivanka Trump fought over Gen. Michael Flynn's role in the administration. Christie opposed recommending any appointment for Flynn, who, after being fired by President Barack Obama, became one of Trump's fiercest supporters on the campaign trail.

Trump later appointed Flynn as National Security Advisor but dismissed him less than a month into his term. In December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his 2016 communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. At a hearing last month, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan delayed Flynn's sentencing but made his overarching judgment clear.

“Arguably, you sold your country out,” the judge said. “I’m not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense.”

Of all of Trump's advisors, it was Flynn whom Christie spoke out most emphatically against. Flynn himself addressed an admiring audience at an East Valley Republican Women's event last year.

“From the first time I met with Michael Flynn, I could tell this guy's a train wreck, but I didn’t know that he was also a criminal,” Christie said.

In both his speech and in a town hall where he addressed high school students earlier in the evening, Christie identified indifference as the largest threat facing the country's political discourse.

Indifference, not polarization or foreign influence, threatened the health of American democracy, Christie said to applause.

Christie did not shy from questions about Trump, Russia and the Mueller investigation.

While The New York Times reported recently that the FBI had, in early 2017, opened an investigation on whether Trump was a "Russian agent," Christie said he considered idea far fetched.

Like many executives who have to work with a legislative branch, Trump often feels frustrated by gridlock, Christie said. The president's admiration for strongmen who can enact their agendas without resistance, like Russian President Vladimir Putin or North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, didn't amount to any collusion, Christie said.

“This idea that President Trump is a Russian agent, to me, is just laughable. By the way, they couldn’t trust him either! Like, if Trump were an agent, he’d be a double agent,” he said. “He’d be working both sides of the street, trying to get the best deal he could. You know, I don’t think the Russians want to invest in that intelligence asset.”

Christie did not say he would again run for president in 2024, but willingly addressed questions about his future political ambitions. Many candidates who had run and lost early in their careers, including Ronald Reagan, Christie said, went on to win later elections and become successful presidents.

“Once you’ve got this in your blood, it’s hard to get rid of it,” he said.

Sam Metz covers politics. Reach him at samuel.metz@desertsun.com or 760-218-9942.