(Headline USA) After taking a calculated risk in crossing former President Donald Trump to gain the favor of leftist media outlets while attempting to rebrand himself as a Republican alternative, ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie now claims to fear reprisal if Trump is reelected in November.
Christie was one of the first high-profile Republucan officials to endorse Trump in 2016, and he was rewarded for his patronage with an offer to chair Trump’s transition committee—a move that the president likely came to regret as his White House team was staffed with disloyal seditionists who undermined his every move.
After being frozen out of a Cabinet position, Christie subsequently denounced Trump midway through his first term, while eyeing the opportunity to run against him in 2024.
However, like other GOP primary contenders, Christie appears to have miscalculated voters’ unwavering support for the defacto party leader, who coasted to his third consecutive victory as the presumptive presidential nominee.
Christie said his biggest fear is that Trump will go after those who opposed him and that no one will be able to stop him.
“There’ll be no one around to put guardrails up, and he will be on the vendetta tour against all enemies that he perceives,” Christie told the Washington Post. “And that’s a scary thing for the country.”
That’s one of the reasons Christie has refused to endorse Trump since dropping out of the race, he admitted.
However, despite his “fear” of Trump, Christie said he will not endorse or vote for President Joe Biden.
“President Biden, in my view, is past the sell-by date. Seriously, look at him. If the American people are stupid enough to nominate these two guys, doesn’t mean I have to be stupid, too,” he said.
Christie also admitted Biden hasn’t called to ask him for his support.
“It’s pretty stupid for him not to,” he claimed.
Last month, the failed Republican candidate ruled out running his own third-party bid for the presidency, acknowledging that his return to the race would likely “help Donald Trump become president again.”
He also admitted to the Post that he didn’t pursue the option because he recognized it wasn’t viable.
“Nobody that we put up, including me, got higher than 17% [in the GOP primary],” he said.
“So what happens is [voters] love the idea of someone other than Trump or Biden, but then … once you [put forward an alternative], they don’t want to hear it,” he added. “We looked at it pretty closely. There was no path to winning.”
