Chris Christie says he’s the only primary challenger who’s going “directly through” Donald Trump in pursuit of the Republican nomination, and certainly hasn’t been shy about blasting away at the GOP front-runner – but he still has no regrets about supporting him in 2016.
Christie appeared on Thursday’s edition of “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” which is broadcast on Talk TV in the U.K. and Fox Nation in the United States. For several minutes, the former New Jersey governor took Trump to task, in particular for his denying the outcome of the 2020 election and his indifference as the Jan. 6 Capitol riot unfolded.
“I love the people who say, ‘I know he’s not a great guy, but I like his policies,” Christie said at one point. “Well the question is, if you like his policies, why would you ever hire him to get those policies implemented?”
That’s when Morgan held Christie to account for his past support for Trump: “How do you defend yourself against the charge that, ‘Well, you should’ve stood up against him much earlier?’” Morgan asked.
“This reminds me of a story about one of your former prime ministers,” Christie began to reply. “Prime Minister Cameron, I went over to visit in 2015, when he was getting ready to run for re-election. And he’s telling me, it’s only 48 days, election season in Great Britain. And he says, ‘How the hell do you guys do this for as long as you do it? Explain you system to me.’ And I said well David, the easiest way to describe it is, you don’t necessarily get to vote for who you want to vote for, you get to vote for who’s left.”
Christie was among Trump’s primary opponents in 2016, when it came down to the real estate mogul and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“I did not want Hillary Clinton to be president,” Christie said, “and I will tell you as I sit here right now Piers, I have no regrets for helping Donald Trump get elected in 2016, because I think Hillary Clinton would have been a monumentally worse president than Donald Trump.”
Christie didn’t explain why, and Morgan then took his line of questioning to the next logical step – 2024: “If he’s the nominee this time ’round, and he beats you again to be the nominee, would you vote for him?”
“I’ve answered this one before,” Christie said. “No.”
Morgan: “What’s the difference?”
Christie: “Undercutting of the democracy.”
“You’d be prepared for Biden to win again?,” Morgan asked.
“I hope that neither one of them is the nominee.”
Watch the entire exchange in the video above.
