Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of the few potential Republican presidential candidates willing to attack Trump directly, lashed out at the former president on Wednesday for refusing to participate in the presidential debates.
“Obviously, he’s scared,” Christie, a Trump supporter turned critic, said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt, a conservative media personality.
“He’s afraid to be on stage and face people who are serious.”
Trump, who currently leads in the Republican polls, is likely to sit out at least one of the first two debates in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, saying he does not want to favor his rivals who are trailing in the polls.
A group of them — most notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to announce his campaign soon — have refused to confront Trump head-on, a sign of the influence he continues to wield over most of the public. republican base.
“If he really cares about the country — and I seriously doubt that — then he’s going to participate and he shouldn’t be afraid,” Christie said. Adding that “In fact, if your ideas are good and if your leadership is so outstanding, then your advantage is going to increase if you participate in the debate, and it would not decrease.”
When asked what he thought of Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesman, he said Christie has no idea what he is talking about and should think before speaking rather than trying to play the candidate.”
Christie, who currently sits at 1 or 2 percent in the polls, said in an interview that he would make a decision on his presidential plans in the next two weeks.
He also suggested that Trump, who continues to lie about the integrity of the 2020 election, is refusing to debate “because he doesn’t have serious answers to the problems the country is facing right now. All he wants is to reprocess the 2020 election because he feels hurt in his feelings. In that aspect he behaves like a child ”.
