Murphy won't hug Trump if he comes to New Jersey

Gov. Phil Murphy won’t join his predecessor in hugging a president belonging to the opposing political party on the eve of an election that will decide who sits in the country’s highest office.

“I’m not giving anybody a hug right now or in the foreseeable future,” he said when asked if he would embrace President Donald Trump should he visit the state in October. “But if the president were to come to New Jersey — clearly he’s the president of the United States — I would do right by that.”

Though he often sharply criticized Trump before the onset of a global pandemic that has left thousands of New Jersey residents dead and the state tossed into a fiscal tumble, Murphy has eschewed such criticisms more recently.

Former Gov. Chris Christie drew fire from Republicans after embracing then-President Barack Obama on the eve of the 2012 general election.

Read more: https://newjerseyglobe.com/governor/murphy-wont-hug-trump-if-he-comes-to-nj/