Chris Christie balks at backing Trump if ex-president wins GOP nomination in 2024
Chris Christie is poking the orange bear — and he’s not putting down the stick anytime soon.
The onetime New Jersey governor Tuesday pointedly refused to commit to backing former President Donald Trump if he wins the Republican nomination to make a White House comeback bid in 2024.
“We do have fundamentally different views. And if we were to ever run against each other again, we would debate out the fundamentally different views. What happens after that, who knows,“ Christie said on CNN.
“I won’t look into the crystal ball this morning,” Christie added.
Christie also gave the strongest hint yet that he plans to run in 2024 no matter what Trump does. Several other GOP White House wannabes have said they would not challenge Trump.
“I may run in 2024,” he said. “So there you go. You got a two-fer.”
Christie is promoting his new book, “Republican Rescue,” which lays out his position that the GOP must move away from Trump and his campaign of election lies if it wants to win back Congress and the White House.
Trump hit back hard at Christie after the Newark native made his case at a recent gathering of Jewish Republicans, reminding Americans that Christie left the Garden State as an unpopular figure and crashed and burned in a 2016 presidential bid.
Christie brushed off the criticism, noting that he has had ups and downs with Trump over the years.
“Look at me. I’m still standing, alive,” Christie said. “And so you know, this is not a death sentence for anybody. It is a disagreement.”
That may be wishful political thinking given Trump’s near-unquestioned power over the Republican Party and its right-wing base of voters.
The former president is seeking to enforce universal adherence in the GOP to his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and to exile any Republican who dares to criticize him.
So far Trump’s been extraordinarily successful, forcing several GOP critics into retirement and inspiring primary challenges against others.
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