Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suspended his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday after failing to gain traction in the early primary state of New Hampshire.
Speaking at a town hall in Windham, New Hampshire, Christie acknowledged that “there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination.”
He had staked his entire campaign on performing well in the nation’s first primary on Jan. 23, according to CBS News, but recent polls showed him languishing in a distant third place behind front-runner Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.
The former governor has been a fierce critic of Trump, referring to him as “Voldemort,” a “dictator” and a “bully” and calling him “unfit to be president” at the fourth Republican primary debate last month.
In his concession speech, Christie made it clear that the end of his presidential campaign was not the end of his campaign to stop Trump.
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“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 ambition,” he said.
But Christie sounded a lot less confident during an off-camera conversation before his speech.
In a giant gaffe, he could be heard on a hot mic trashing Trump’s remaining opponents.
Chris Christie is caught on a hot mic ahead of his expected announcement that he’s dropping out of the presidential race:
He says Nikki Haley is “gonna get smoked” and a “petrified” Ron DeSantis called him. pic.twitter.com/fGOFEtVDHn
— The Recount (@therecount) January 10, 2024
“I mean, look, she’s spent 68 million so far just on TV,” Christie said, clearly referring to Haley. “59 million by [Ron] DeSantis and we spent 12.”
“I mean, who’s punching above their weight? And who’s getting a return on their investment, you know?” he asked.
“She’s gonna get smoked, and you and I both know it. She’s not up to this.”
Christie added that “DeSantis called me, petrified,” presumably that Christie would endorse Haley. The feed was then cut.
Social media users had a blast mocking the failed candidate for his faux pas.
“It wouldn’t be a Christie campaign without a major gaffe,” one X user said.
It wouldn’t be a Christie campaign without a major gaffe 😂 this one just made the cut!
— CreedThoughts.Gov (@CreedDotGov) January 10, 2024
In addition to foolishly letting himself be overheard, Christie did exactly what he said he wasn’t going to do: He enabled Trump by affirming what he believes, which is that no one else has a chance in the race.
Trump agreed in a post on Truth Social, writing, “I hear Chris Christie is dropping out of the race today — I might even get to like him again! Anyway, he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement: ‘She’s gonna get smoked…You and I both know it, she’s not up to this.’”
Trump even joked about it at a Fox News town hall in Iowa on Wednesday when asked whether he would be open to “mending fences” with his GOP opponents.
“Oh, sure. I will, I will,” he replied. “I’ve already started to like Christie better. “
🚨 TRUMP ON HIS VP PICK: “I can’t tell you that… I mean I know who it’s going to be” pic.twitter.com/yYu6pDGKCn
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 11, 2024
After all the hateful things he’s said, it’s ironic that the words we will remember best from Christie were a tacit admission that the only person he believed could win the 2024 nomination was Donald Trump.
