Why former Trump 'flunky' turned 'truth teller' Chris Christie should 'stay in the race': conservative

Daily Beast columnist and Never Trump conservative Matt Lewis has urged former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to drop out of the 2024 GOP presidential primary and give his support to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. As Lewis sees it, Haley is the Republican Party's best chance to avoid having frontrunner Donald Trump as its nominee.

But another well-known Never Trumper, The Bulwark's Charlie Sykes, has a different viewpoint.

In a Bulwark column published on January 4, Sykes urges former Trump "flunky" Christie to "stay in the race" — not because he has a chance of winning, but because he is the only GOP presidential candidate who is truly aggressive in his anti-Trump attacks.

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"In (a) fantasy scenario," Sykes argues, "Nikki Haley finishes second in Iowa — which terminates the already-dead (Ron) DeSantis campaign — and rolls into New Hampshire, with a chance to take on Trump one-on-one. A recent poll put her within four points (!) of the Orange God King in the Granite State. If you add Chris Christie's support to her column, she might have an actual shot at beating Trump which then creates a tsunami of momentum that propels her to…. What?"

Sykes continues, "Folks, I regret to tell you that this is an exercise in unicorn-watching. And we all know that…. Spoiler alert: Trump is romping."

The Never Trump conservative goes on to describe Christie as the "unlikeliest champion" of anti-Trumpism in the Republican presidential primary.

Sykes writes, "For all his sins — and they are legion — Chris Christie has been a magnificent beast…. Look, the guy is not going to win. He's not going to be the nominee. But sometimes, lost causes are the ones worth fighting for…. So contra some of my colleagues, I think Christie should stay in the race, at least for now. Because America needs all the truth-tellers it can get."

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Charlie Sykes' full column for The Bulwark is available at this link.