“It is a teenage, you know, food fight, between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump … and it certainly doesn’t make me feel inspired, as an American, on the Fourth of July weekend to have this type of back and forth going on,” Christie told CNN’s Dana Bash.

Former Rep. Will Hurd, a recent entrant into the GOP primary field, also criticized the line of attack, calling on candidates to focus on foreign policy and economic issues.

“I wish they would focus their attacks on war criminals like Vladimir Putin, not my friends in the LGBTQ community,” Hurd said. “It is 2023. We should be talking about how do we embrace our differences.”