Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie quit his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday, but not without aiming one last shot at former President Donald Trump.
Announcing his decision to drop out of the race during a campaign event in New Hampshire, where he based his operation on, he urged GOP primary voters to not vote for Trump as he would put himself before the American people.
Trying to make a case for his perception on Trump’s candidacy, he said, ““Donald Trump wants you to be angry every day, because he’s angry. He wants you to be angry so that you’ll relate to his anger and then to vote for him. Please understand this: I have known him well for 22 years, more than anybody else in this race has known him.”
“And I can promise you this — if you put him back behind the desk in the Oval Office and the choice comes and a decision is needed to be made as to whether he puts himself first or he puts you first. How much more evidence do you need? He will pick himself,” he added.
Chris Christie on Donald Trump: “If you put him back behind the desk in the Oval Office and the choice comes and the decision is needed to be made as to whether he puts himself first or he puts you first, how much more evidence do you need that he will pick himself?” pic.twitter.com/WjIn3KMBtM
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) January 10, 2024
Christie’s campaign has been mostly focused on criticizing Trump. His Wednesday announcement came as a surprise even as a longshot candidate because he was not expected to not stay around for the New Hampshire primary later this month. He himself had said during an interview with The New York Times that he will walk away from the race if his performance in the primary is below par.
He had said at the time that he did not see “any circumstances” in which he would quit his campaign before the primary.
In another interview with NewsNation, he said, “If you don’t do well in the first few states, you should get out of the race. Voters are speaking, money will dry up. I’m just being practical about it.”
According to Christie, his decision to drop out of the race was borne out of his low momentum, as he admitted to supporters in New Hampshire that “It’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I’m suspending my campaign.”
By quitting, he also said, “I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be President of the United States again. And that’s more important than my own personal ambitions.”
Trump is not the only one Christie took an issue with in the GOP presidential pool as he walked away. Minutes before his announcement on Wednesday, the former governor was caught talking about another candidate on a hot microphone, saying that “she’s gonna get smoked, and you and I both know it, she’s not up to it.
Given that there is only one female candidate in the race, Christie’s comments are being said to be about former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
