Chris Christie says he won’t wait for Trump to decide on 2024 presidential run

Chris Christie says he’s not waiting for anybody to decide whether to run for president in 2024 — even former President Trump.

The former New Jersey governor and 2016 GOP presidential candidate insisted Tuesday he’ll do what he thinks is best for himself and the country.

“I’m ... not going to be one of these people who’s going to say, ‘Well, I’ll wait to see what President Trump’s going to do,’” Christie said on the Ruthless Podcast. “I’m not going to defer to anyone if I decide that it’s what I want to do, and that I think I’m the best option for the party and for the country.”

The Ruthless Podcast is popular in conservatives circles and is co-hosted by Josh Holmes, former chief of staff and campaign manager to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Christie made it clear he is strongly considering a White House run, saying: “I certainly wouldn’t preclude it.”

He suggested that he would aim to turn the page from the “reckless” policies of the Trump era.

“What I want to do is to try to lead the party in a productive and smart way for us to continue to argue for populist-type policies, but not to be reckless, not to be reckless with our policies, not to be reckless with our language, to be smart about it,” Christie said.

Even though he did not criticize the former president by name, it remains to be seen if Christie or anybody else can carve out a place in the Republican Party primary contest without demonstrating unquestioned loyalty to Trump.

The one-term president has already trained bitter attacks on any Republicans who dared to vote to impeach him or criticize his conduct during the 2020 election.