‘Obviously, He’s Afraid’: Chris Christie Taunts Trump Over Skipping GOP Debates
Chris Christie is not just the former governor of New Jersey; he is also a former adviser and political ally to former President Donald Trump. And he is also a possible candidate for the Republican nomination in a bid for the presidency in 2024.
As such, he has blasted Trump’s threat to skip Republican primary debates, as he announced last week on Truth Social, later confirmed by the New York Times reporting.
Christie was asked about this recently by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who said that Trump “does have one good point” in that the former president currently enjoys a 30-40 point lead, adding, “why would someone this far in the debate?”
“Because this is about letting the American people decide who’s best prepared to be president,” Christie replied. “This is not running for student body president. And if he really cares about the country, and I have deep questions about that.”
“I’m sorry to see that Donald Trump feels like if he gets on the stage, he’s at risk of losing his lead,” he continued. “If, in fact, his ideas are so great, if his leadership is so outstanding, then his lead will only increase if he gets on the stage, not decrease. But obviously, he’s afraid.”
Read the transcript of the exchange below via Hugh Hewitt:
HH: Now he does have one good point, Governor. He’s got like a 30-40 point lead over everyone. Governor DeSantis is in second place. And he says why would someone this far ahead debate? And what’s your response to that?
CC: Because this is about letting the American people decide who’s best prepared to be president. This is not running for student body president. And if he really cares about the country, and I have deep questions about that, but if he really cares about the country, then he’s going to get up there, and he shouldn’t be afraid. I’m sorry to see that Donald Trump feels like if he gets on the stage, he’s at risk of losing his lead. If, in fact, his ideas are so great, if his leadership is so outstanding, then his lead will only increase if he gets on the stage, not decrease. But obviously, he’s afraid. He’s afraid to get on the stage against people who are serious. And I’m sorry to see that he’s that afraid of it. If he’s that afraid of that, how can we count on him to do any better with President Xi than the failures he had in his first term with China? How can we expect him to do any better with Putin than having set the groundwork for the invasion of Ukraine, which his conduct towards Putin certainly helped to establish? This is a guy who seems like he’s afraid. And if he’s afraid, he has no business being president.
HH: Well now, I think Ronna McDaniel, David Bossie and their colleagues at the RNC are doing a good job setting up an obstacle course of debates, and we’ll find out what that is. My last question, Governor, I’ve got 30 seconds. When are you going to decide by? When are you going to make this formal?
CC: Yeah, I will make a decision in the next two weeks.
HH: Oh, that’s why I’d gone dark. I thought I ran over your dog. Will you text me if you say no?
CC: By the way, the Jimenez thing didn’t help, either, Hugh.
HH: Governor Chris Christie, always come back. Always a great interview. Thank you, Governor.
