Christie's eager solution in case Trump refuses to debate: "I'm going to follow him around the country"
The Republican candidate is willing to change his entire calendar to exchange words with the former president.
Chris Christie/Wikimedia Commons
Chris Christie is arguably the Republican candidate for president most opposed to Donald Trump. In addition to making it clear from his rhetoric, only he and Asa Hutchinson said they would not support the former president should he become the Republican nominee for president, who has one or more convictions to his credit. With the latent frustration of not being able to debate face-to-face with him, Christie said he was willing to chase him around the country to be able to parley with him.
The former New Jersey governor stopped by Fox News to talk about the Republican primary and the upcoming debate scheduled for September 27. As it could not be avoided, he was asked about Trump, who currently leads comfortably in the national polls.
Christie was not very hopeful about the possibility of an event organized by the Republican National Committee (RNC), so he proposed an interesting solution. "I’m sure he’s not coming to the Reagan debate. We’ll give him another chance in Alabama. But if he doesn’t come there, then I’m going to follow him around the country. Wherever he goes, I’ll go. And we’ll wind up talking to each other one way or other. And he knows that’s true", he stated.
In addition, Christie said that voters are tired of hearing Trump and President Joe Biden's "lies", so he hopes they will lean towards other candidates for 2024.
The requirements to qualify for the second Republican debate
The second debate of the cycle will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley (California) on September 27. To take the stage, candidates must meet the following requirements:
- 50,000 unique donors, including 200 donors in 20 states or more each.
- A minimum of 3% of voting intention in two national polls and do the same in two polls conducted only in the states that will go to the polls first, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
- Pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee.
- Not participate in debates outside those of the RNC.
"Once you get on the debate stage and you get in front of the American people, if you're not having momentum, if you're not showing growth in your campaign, then that's a problem," Ronna McDaniel, president of the RNC, said in an interview with Fox News.
"And we need to make sure that we are putting in front of the Republican primary voters the candidate who's going to take on Joe Biden. And I say this all the time, you know, you don't go to the Olympics unless you pass the prelims, right? This is the Olympic stage, the Republican Party primary. And there's going to be criteria that you have to meet to be on that stage," she closed.
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