Chris Christie Spots The Moment When GOP Race 'Was Over': It Told Voters 'This Is OK'

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said the primary battle for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination “was over” on the night of the first GOP debate in August.

Christie, who withdrew from the presidential race last month, told “The View” co-host Joy Behar on Thursday that there was nothing he would’ve changed on the campaign trail, adding that his bid showed that it’s a “really hard job” to change a party before reflecting on the Donald Trump-less debate.

“It was the biggest audience we’d ever had. The people, by definition who were watching, were at least willing to consider somebody else. ’Cause if you’re tied to Trump, why would you watch? He wasn’t there,” said Christie, who endorsed the former president in 2016 before becoming a critic.

He continued, “And when six of the eight people on the stage raised their hand and said, ‘I will support him even if he’s a convicted felon,’ what it told the voters was, ‘This is OK. Being a convicted felon’s okay, it’s normal behavior.’”

Christie, prior to the debate, signed the Republican National Committee’s loyalty pledge to back the Republican Party’s eventual nominee although he previously called it a “useless idea” that he’d take “just as seriously as” Trump did in 2016.

During the debate, the former New Jersey governor did not raise his hand and instead shook his finger when candidates were asked if they’d support Trump as the party’s nominee.

Christie spoke to “The View” about the moment and the eventual booing from the debate audience after he criticized the current GOP front-runner.

“In private, Republicans in the House, in the Senate, all say to you ‘He’s awful, it’s an abomination, it’s gonna be terrible,’ but none of them have the guts to stand up –– because they love their title more than they love their country,” he said.

“They’re worried about a primary, they’re worried about him coming out against them and what they should learn is that what you’re gonna be really judged for over the long haul is what you stand for. Who you are and what you stand for and they’re gonna have to live with having been with him.”

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said the primary battle for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination

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