Without Donald Trump, who will Chris Christie target at GOP debate? | Stile

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been spoiling for a prime-time fight with his ex-dining partner, Donald Trump, for months now.

But at the first presidential Republican primary debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday night, Christie will be left to feast on the B-team of GOP contenders.

Trump, true to Christie's characterization of him as a coward, is expected to be a no-show, choosing instead to sit down for an online interview with the fallen former Fox News celebrity Tucker Carlson, who privately expressed his deep disgust with Trump in a text message sent two days before the Jan. 6 rampage at the U.S. Capitol.

"I hate him passionately," Carlson wrote.

Without Trump, what will Christie do?

Christie has built his long-shot second bid for the presidency on a full-on takedown of The Donald.

It's built on a strategic belief that Trump will wither faster than the Wicked Witch of the West doused with a splash of water once he is called out. Christie is sure to take aim at what he sees as Trump's callow disregard for truth and norms, his policy failures, and the blight of the losing record he has brought to the Republican Party.

Christie, who remains deeply unpopular with much of the Republican base, is the loudest — and first — Never Trumper willing to say the emperor has no clothes. The bombastic former governor, who enabled Trump with legitimacy by being the first establishment Republican to endorse his candidacy in 2016, has been hurling brickbats at Trump from the moment he announced his candidacy in New Hampshire in May.

The debate stage was where Christie was hoping to land a body blow to the puffed-up Trump in front of a national audience, in much the same way he destroyed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in a presidential debate just before the 2016 New Hampshire primary.

Christie came in sixth in that contest and quickly bowed out of the race, but his depiction of Rubio as a robot incapable of talking off-script earned him a reputation for being a ruthless, not-to-be-taken-lightly debater.

Christie has even boasted of that campaign-killing appearance as a way to goad Trump onto the debate stage, suggesting he's too afraid that he might not survive the Rubio treatment. But Trump, sitting on a fat lead in the polls, simply doesn't want to risk getting pummeled by a bunch of contenders trailing far behind him in the polls.

In an interview with The New York Times last week, Christie was sanguine about being denied the high-profile chance to tangle with Trump on a national stage.

"It doesn't change my perspective or my tactical approach,'' he said. "Because if he's not there, it just means two things. One, he's afraid to be on the same debate stage and defend his record. And two, you know, this is a guy who, by not showing up, just gives me more time. So it's OK. Either way, I win."

That may be true, but constantly harping on Trump the Hollow Man could put Christie at risk of sounding like an obsessed, one-note candidate who offers little else.

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Taking aim at DeSantis

Christie will need another target. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the conservative "Trump without the baggage" candidate who has been touted as the likely alternative for the Republican nomination, is the most obvious choice. DeSantis, who trails Trump by double digits in most polls, already has a bull's-eye on his back.

Christie has mocked DeSantis as a lightweight on the war on Ukraine for suggesting the conflict is merely a "territorial dispute.'' And last week, the DeSantis campaign stepped on its own foot by posting a campaign strategy memo that urged DeSantis to defend Trump from Christie's expected attacks on the stage, and instead to call out candidate and Trump wannabe Vivek Ramaswamy.

Christie told a friendly audience in south Florida last week that if DeSantis follows his consultant's advice, then "he should get the hell out of the race."

"He should do Donald Trump a favor and do our party a favor, come back to Tallahassee and endorse Donald Trump,” he said. “The only way to beat someone,” he added, “is to beat him.”

Christie, who has virtually set up camp in New Hampshire, the site of the first Republican primary next year, has booted DeSantis from second place in a recent Emerson College college poll. It found Trump with 49% support, Christie at 9% and DeSantis at 8%. Christie used the results to taunt DeSantis in a New Hampshire radio interview.

“He sounds like a really angry guy," said the former governor, known for his own thin skin and blowing up at critics during town halls. "He’s squinting his eyes all the time and pissed about something, you know, so I’m skeptical, right. I’m skeptical that somebody who’s that angry cares about healing the divide or has the ability to do it."

So carving up DeSantis on Wednesday night may be his consolation prize.

Meanwhile, Trump will bide his time, pandering to the right with an interviewer who apparently loathes him — but apparently has decided he has no path to reestablishing his relevance without him. Trump keeps opening his lead with every passing indictment.

Christie needs to pummel Trump in public to maintain his relevance. He'll have to wait for another chance — if it comes at all.

Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com 

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: GOP debate: Who will Chris Christie target without Donald Trump?