President-elect Donald Trump recently shared a meme poking fun at former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, suggesting he was behind the unexplained series of drone sightings in the northeast.
The meme, which appears to be AI-generated, shows Christie leaning over a table covered with McDonald’s food, while several drones bring more fast-food orders to him in the background.
Trump shared the humorous image across Instagram, Truth Social, and X, where it collectively garnered over a million likes.
The X user “MisterMemekur” originally uploaded the image on Friday, captioning it, “We now know the source of the drones over New Jersey.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2024
The internet quickly latched onto the joke, with comments like, “A picture is worth a thousand pounds” and “McDonalds stock is about to skyrocket.”
Actor Kevin Sorbo chimed in, praising the post with, “This is why we love Trump.”
However, not everyone was amused by the meme. Critics accused Trump of body-shaming Christie, with one person commenting, “I thought this was funny at first. But then I realized if I was fat, I probably wouldn’t want my president making fun of my kind.”
❤🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/6NmnZ6SFmx
— Trump Lover❤🇮🇳🇺🇸 (@SUBRATA30016572) December 15, 2024
“Mocking Chris Christie for being (a) out of shape and (b) eating McDonald’s underscores that the Trumps are the least self-aware people on the planet,” another added.
This isn’t the first time Trump has taken aim at Christie’s weight. On past occasions, he referred to him as a “fat pig” on the campaign trail and once shared an image of a man at a buffet, joking that it was Christie at a Roy Rogers late at night.
Their relationship, once collegial during Trump’s 2016 presidential run, began fraying significantly in January 2021 after Christie criticized Trump for refusing to concede the election to Joe Biden.
— PatMan (@DahenchX) December 14, 2024
Meanwhile, Christie had his own thoughts on the recent drone issues. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” he expressed frustration at the lack of government transparency surrounding the sightings.
“I lived in New Jersey my whole life. This is the first time that I’ve noticed drones over my house, and I was in a restaurant in Monmouth County on Friday night,” Christie recounted.
“I had people at the bar coming up to me and saying, Governor Murphy won’t tell me anything. The president won’t tell me anything. Do you know?” he detailed.
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) December 14, 2024
“Well, I don’t know, but I will tell you this. I think this is what happens in our society now, George, when because we’re used to having things so rapidly, if you don’t fill that vacuum, then all the conspiracy theories get filled in there,” he added.
Christie went on to call for state police to have more authority to bring unauthorized drones down, adding, “Of course, you would have to coordinate with the FAA, but we do that kind of coordination both when I was U.S. attorney as a law enforcement officer, and as governor all the time.”
On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told the ABC program that the agency was “limited” in its authority to shoot down drones.
Roger won the internet when he posted this.. pic.twitter.com/o7YTUCLXxc
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) December 14, 2024
“With respect to the ability to incapacitate those drones, we are limited in our authorities. We have certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that can do that, and outside our department, but we need those authorities expanded as well,” he remarked, noting that there are 8,000 drones flown every day across the country.
Meanwhile, Christie warned that without better transparency and laws, frustrated individuals might become “drone vigilantes,” taking it upon themselves to remove drones from the sky, which could further complicate matters.
“We need to be able to operate in a safe way and we’re not doing that,” the former governor added.
Federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, FAA, and Department of Defense, have tried to explain away to the public that the recent uptick in drone sightings pose no security threat.
“Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones,” the multi-agency joint statement said.
However, the sheer number of reports, with over 5,000 tips received in recent weeks, shows just how concerned residents are. Out of those, officials say around 100 have been actionable leads.