Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie on Thursday said former President Trump “can’t avoid” the GOP presidential debates as he runs for the White House in 2024.
“Trump says he doesn’t ‘think it’s fair’ for him to have to debate. Crybabies and losers say life isn’t fair. And Trump is both. Want to be President? Then get in the ring pal…” Christie wrote on Twitter.
Trump has previously suggested that because he’s polling as the GOP front-runner, he doesn’t need to engage in the primary debates.
“When you’re way up, you don’t do debates. If you’re even or down you do debates, but when you’re way up, what’s the purpose of doing the debate?” Trump said in April.
Earlier this week, he said he still has not made a final decision on whether to participate in the first Republican presidential primary debate later this summer. However, he’s reportedly said he is willing to debate President Biden, who is running for reelection.
Christie on Thursday shared a video of himself on “Fox and Friends” saying Trump shouldn’t think he “should just default to the nomination” in the GOP primary race.
“It’s not fair, poor Donald Trump, the guy who wants to because the United States, the guy who says that he’s the toughest person to lead this country — doesn’t want to get up in front of Republican primary voters and defend his record and make a case for the future of America?” Christie said in the interview.
“Every Republican primary voter should have the opportunity to see all those people qualified up on the stage, debating with each other. … He can’t avoid this … It’s not fair to the Republican Party voters. In fact, I think it’s disrespectful,” he said.