Radio host Hugh Hewitt confronted Chris Christie about his potential impact on the presidential race, suggesting that Christie’s continued presence in the primary may inadvertently support Donald Trump.
Christie refuted this, stating that he is the only candidate actively trying to beat Trump in New Hampshire.
The conversation also delved into the potential impact on other candidates if Christie were to drop out and Christie’s stance on voting for the Republican nominee. (Trending: ‘American Idol’ Producer Sued For Sexual Assault)
“If you dropped out in New Hampshire, would any Chris Christie supporters vote for Donald Trump?” Hewitt asked.
“You know, I will tell you this. From polling that we’ve done, there are some that would, yes,” Christie said.
“What percentage, do you think, is it the high-water mark would go for Donald Trump?” Hewitt pressed.
“In the last poll that we had, it was about 15%,” Christie said.
“All right, so 85%, you’re very strong in New Hampshire. I went down and saw you at one of your town halls. But you’re staying in. I’m not the View. You’re not going to put this over on me. Your staying in the primary undeniably helps Donald Trump get the election, doesn’t it?” Hewitt asked.
“No, it doesn’t. The fact is that we’re going out. We’re the only one running against Donald Trump. We’re the only one trying to beat Donald Trump. No one else in New Hampshire is trying to beat Donald Trump. We are, and so no, Hugh, I don’t think that’s true,” Christie pressed.
“Now Governor, I was talking to Noah Rothman, who like me is a big admirer of you, and unlike me, is actually your constituent, knows your record by heart, and thought you were a great governor. But I want to quote Noah. ‘It is simply undeniable that he is hurting Nikki Haley, and he is doing profound reputational harm to himself. I cannot understand what he is doing that is on the upside right now.’ How do you answer Noah?” Hewitt questioned.
“Well, first of all, you know, Noah doesn’t have the first idea of what he’s talking about. The fact is that I’m running for president of the United States, and no one’s voted, yet. And I don’t have an obligation to do anything other than to answer questions, tell the truth, run a good campaign, and try to win. And so you know, where this has become Nikki Haley’s campaign when no one’s voted yet is kind of a mystery to me, Hugh,” Christie said.
“Well, I’m not calling it Nikki. I’m in Switzerland. I don’t know who’s campaign it is, but I do algebra. I used to do algebra. I’m not going to say that anymore. You might ask me something. But I can do math, and if Chris Christie drops out, every, someone’s going to benefit not named Donald Trump. Isn’t that undeniable?” Hewitt pressed.
“Look, there’s, that’s possible, although I think given the campaigns that are being run by some of the other folks, that a lot of the people are going to vote for Chris Christie in New Hampshire just won’t vote,” Christie said.
“That’s possible, too. But the only way Donald Trump isn’t the nominee is if somebody else beats him in Iowa and/or New Hampshire. I think that’s just, if he wins those two, he’s the nominee. Is that true?” Hewitt asked.
“Well, I’m not exactly sure about that, either, because we’re in unprecedented times here. Every day, there’s a new legal challenge for Donald Trump that’s brought on by his own conduct. And not just legal challenges, but political challenges that are brought on by his own conduct and his own words,” Christie said.
“And so no, I don’t think any of that is definite. Hugh, we’re in a time that we’ve never dealt with before. We’ve never had a situation in our party or in our country where we’ve had someone who’s facing a defamation damages trial in two weeks, who’s facing a challenge to his business, and a decision coming on that, someone who’s under four criminal indictments, someone who has now been removed by two different states from the ballot, and others having challenges to his positioning on the ballot coming.”
“We don’t know what’s going to happen here, and the idea that somehow this is an algebra equation, this is not. This is finite math,” he added.
“This is an algebra equation from Switzerland. And all I know is there are variable that we cannot yet quantify, but we can guess. And it seems to me at this point, given the urgency in the world and the timing of the campaign, that the amount of spectrum left for major changes as the campaign has gone to almost zero absent a natural event of some sort that I don’t wish on anybody, and that therefore, Chris Christie, if Nikki Haley loses New Hampshire by 5%, and you’ve got 10% or more, you will have elected Donald Trump president. Are you okay with that?” Hewitt asked.
“Well, first of all, I don’t think that anyone at this juncture, if you’re going to be a slave to these polls, Hugh, that have happened beforehand, the polls that if they were right, Hillary Clinton would be in her second term. You know, if you’re going to be a slave to that, there’s nobody who’s within 5% of Donald Trump in any credible poll in New Hampshire at the moment,” Christie answered.
“But you brought up polling first when you said your polls showed 15% of your voters would go for Donald Trump. So you’re using them,” Hewitt said.
“That’s because you asked,” Christie pressed.
“All right, so what do your polls show?” Hewitt asked.
“I’m not saying that that is a definite occurrence. You asked me if I had any reasons to believe that any Christie voter would vote for Trump, and so I gave you a statistic that we have. I don’t know whether that’s accurate or not,” Christie said.
“All right, true enough. I love arguing with a prosecutor,” Hewitt quipped.
“I have no idea,” Christie said.
“Let me reframe the question, Governor Christie. Does your data show that a significant number of Christie voters would vote for Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis if you dropped out?” Hewitt questioned.
“Yes,” Christie said.
“Okay. Point taken. That’s all I want to know. Now I want to know, have you ruled out No Labels?” Hewitt asked.
“I’ve said that over and over. Yes,” Christie answered.
“I know, but it’s something you said on the View yesterday made me think huh. That View interview was odd, Governor. I thought you were kind of hedging your bet there, so it leads to this question. If it’s Donald Trump, Republican nominee against Joe Biden, Democratic nominee, who will Chris Christie vote for?” Hewitt pressed.
“At this point, I wouldn’t vote for either one of them,” Christie said.
“What would you do?” Hewitt asked.
“I’d vote down ballot,” Christie said.
“But then, you’d abdicate?” Hewitt pressed.
“I mean, Hugh, Hugh, this is not news. I’ve been saying this from the beginning. I’m the guy who didn’t raise my hand on the stage when they asked me if you would support him if he was a convicted felon,” Christie said.
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