NEWSChris Christie Taunts Donald Trump: Ex-NJ Gov Says Donald Threatening to Skip Debates Because 'He’s Afraid'
May 4 2023, Published 11:15 a.m. ET
Chris Christie thinks the reason Donald Trump is threatening to skip the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates is because he's a coward.
“Obviously, he’s afraid,” Christie told radio host Hugh Hewitt during an interview. “He’s afraid to get on the stage against people who are serious.”
The former New Jersey governor, 60, said the GOP should hold "as many" debates as possible to allow for follow-up questions instead of giving answers with little substance.
“If he really cares about the country — and I have deep questions about that — but if he really cares about the country, then he’s going to get up there, and he shouldn’t be afraid,” Christie said of his former pal.
“If, in fact, his ideas are so great, if his leadership is so outstanding, then his lead will only increase if he gets on the stage, not decrease,” he added.
Last week, Trump claimed he didn't need to attend the primary debates because his poll numbers were looking great.
“I’m leading by 40 points. A lot of people say, ‘Why would you do a debate when you have people at two and three and fifteen and fourteen [percent]?’” Trump told John Catsimatidis. “People don’t debate when they have these massive leads."
The reality star also said the event shouldn't be held in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
“The publisher of the Washington Post is the chairman of the Reagan library. And that’s where one of the debates would be. I don’t want to be there,” Trump stated.
This is hardly the first time Christie has made fun of Trump.
As OK! previously reported, Christie made it clear that things will be bad if Trump is back in office for the second time.
“Tonight is the beginning of the case against Donald Trump,” Christie said in New Hampshire in late April. “You’re not going to beat someone by closing your eyes, clicking your heels together three times and saying, ‘There’s no place like home.’ That’s not going to work. In American politics you want to beat somebody? You have to go get them.”
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“Donald Trump is a TV star, nothing more, nothing less,” he said. “Let me suggest to you that in putting him back in the White House, the reruns will be worse than the original show.”
