Chris Christie says his $700,000 income doesn't make him wealthy

Gov. Chris Christie
(Image credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

Following Hillary Clinton in the grand political tradition of claiming poverty to be more "relatable," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Friday that he does not think he is rich. His claim is ill-supported by his family's nearly $700,000 annual income, which The Daily Beast calculates is "nearly 10 times New Jersey's median, which in 2013 was $71,692; and well over $539,000, the amount necessary to qualify as one of the top 1 percent of earners there."

Christie's "Help me, I'm poor" act is even more ridiculous in light of the median national income, which is about $20,000 less than New Jersey's. The governor also neglected to mention to his New Hampshire audience the many perks of his position that he doesn't pay for out of pocket — like private plane trips and a $30,000 per night hotel stay funded by the Jordanian royal family.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.