I’m as glad to see Chris Christie depart the presidential race as anyone. But what I marvel at is that less than a week ago, Christie was insisting that our Noah Rothman, among others, didn’t know what he was talking about by contending that by staying in the race, Christie was splitting the non-Trump vote increasing the odds that Trump would win the nomination.
HH: 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?
CC: 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.
That was six days ago! And now Christie recognizes he doesn’t have any path to the nomination and that he doesn’t want to “enable Donald Trump to become, to ever be president of the United States again.” Okay, but nothing changed in the past six days. No one has voted. We haven’t even had many new polls come out. What changed Christie’s assessment from last Thursday? Secretary Austin’s disappearance? Michigan winning the national championship?
Another key point from that interview:
HH: 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?
CC: Yes.