Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to get out of the presidential race on Wednesday probably won’t affect the outcome of the GOP primaries, except perhaps to give more votes to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. But Christie’s run and his exit tell us a lot about the state of the Republican Party in 2024 — none of it good.
Christie first ran against Donald Trump in 2016, only to bend the knee and not only endorse Trump but become chairman of his transition team. Yet in recent months, Christie has shown a candor and strength of character that is regrettably rare on the political scene today. He was the only person in the current GOP field willing to speak out against Trump without pulling any punches. Last week, he appeared in a 60-second ad in which he bluntly stated, referring to his decision to get on board the Trump train in 2016, “I was wrong. I made a mistake.”
In an earlier ad, he stressed that he was the only GOP candidate willing to call Trump a liar and a man willing to “burn America to the ground.” In Christie's words, “Every Republican leader says that in private. I’m the only one saying it in public.”
And look where that got him.
Obviously, this kind of unapologetic “Never Trump” stance does not win votes in today’s Trump-dominated GOP. Even those Republican voters who want alternatives don’t, for the most part, want a candidate who criticizes Trump too harshly. Hence, the verbal pirouettes we’re seeing from his top-performing rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Haley. Haley criticizes some of Trump’s positions, particularly on foreign policy, without naming him. DeSantis is willing to go after Trump on those few issues on which Trump has weak support among his own far-right base — such as his response to COVID-19, which many right-wing voters consider too aggressive.
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Christie, on the other hand, has described Trump as a man unfit for the presidency and has repeatedly focused on his attempt to steal the 2020 election through bogus legal challenges, political maneuvering, and finally the instigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot.
In his final speech announcing the end of his candidacy, Christie was as outspoken as ever — perhaps more so. “Anyone who is unwilling to say that [Trump] is unfit to be president of the United States is unfit themselves to be president of the United States,” he said.
For the same reason, he has refused to endorse Haley — not only because he believes, as he said on a hot mic just before his exit, that she doesn’t have a chance, but because he knows, as he told a voter on Tuesday, that she will likely end up endorsing Trump.
Meanwhile, none of Trump’s other rivals are willing to pledge that they won’t endorse him if he is found guilty of a crime. They’re reading the room: Only about a quarter of Trump supporters told a New York Times/Siena College poll last month that he shouldn’t get the nomination if he is convicted.
Christie has said that he will not “enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again.” He may not, as some have suggested, go so far as to endorse Joe Biden; but there is little doubt that he will continue to speak against Trump. It’s a lonely place in his party, but an honorable one.
Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.
Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.
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