Christie predicts Trump will attend GOP debates 'because his ego won't permit him' to skip the events

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie predicted in an interview that former President Donald Trump will participate in the first Republican primary debates “because his ego won’t permit him” to skip the events.

The former president has jacked up threats in recent weeks that he’ll skip at least the first Republican debate, scheduled for Aug. 23, pointing to his significant lead over his GOP rivals in polls. Last week, he also targeted Fox News, one of the sponsors of the first debate, accusing the outlet of ignoring his recent campaign events.

Christie, speaking to The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd for an opinion piece published Saturday, told the columnist “I think that he’ll show up at the debates because his ego won’t permit him not to,” adding “He can’t have a big TV show that he’s not on.”

“He’s on Truth Social going bonkers, and no one’s paying attention? He won’t deal well with that,” he said.

2024: Donald Trump threatens to boycott Republican debate over Fox News coverage

Christie last month tweeted that “If Trump doesn’t want to debate then he doesn’t want to be president.”

And the former New Jersey governor isn’t the first Republican in recent weeks to predict that Trump will participate in the GOP primary debates.

Reince Priebus, a former Trump White House Chief of Staff and Republican Party chairman, told ABC's "This Week" last month that Trump would jump in, potentially to respond to opponents such as Christie.

"I think it'll happen," Priebus said, adding that the country is in the midst of "middle finger politics … the world of Wrestlemania politics, the world where, you know, attention is what everyone is seeking in order to get support."

But Trump last week told Reuters he was considering offers to hold another event or give an interview conflicting with the August debate.

"We've had a lot of offers, whether it's a rally or whether it's an interview by somebody else," he said. "Not to be braggadocious but the debate will not be a very exciting one if I'm not there."'

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chris Christie predicts Donald Trump will attend Republican debates