Christie slams 'afraid' GOP in exit speech: 'Being booed for telling the truth is a badge of honor'
10 January 2024
Former New Jersey governor and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie announced his exit from the race Wednesday in New Hampshire, using the opportunity to criticize his fellow GOP candidates' unwillingness to tell the truth — and, once again, to criticize former President Donald Trump.
During much of his campaign, Christie has received significant backlash from Trump supporters over his refusal to back down in calling out the MAGA hopeful's attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
"Problems in our country, the divisions and influx at our border, the problems with our enormous debt, the failures of our education system — all of those things and much more will not be solved by people who are too afraid to talk about what the real problems are," the failed Republican candidate said. "If we ever have a hope of restoring this party to be a governing party of principles, we have to be willing to do the hard work and take some of the heat that comes with it."
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Christie continued, "We have candidates in this race who have run away from forums where they were afraid they were going to be booed. I run into the forums where I know I'm going to be booed because being booed for telling the truth is a badge of honor. I'm proud of everything we've said and done so far. And I'm proud of all the people who have supported us and are willing to do what needs to be done to restore the soul of our country. in the end, all these issues we've talked about at all the town halls, they're all really important. But they're no more important than the most important issue. And that is the character of the candidate. You don't know what's going to come across the next president's desk."
The former governor emphasized, "You think you can predict it, but you can't. No one asked George W. Bush or Al Gore what they would do if four airliners were hijacked and flown into symbols of American power and killing thousands of Americans. No one asked them that in New Hampshire in 2000. But I was glad we had a man of character sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office when that attack came, because I knew George Bush would do everything he needed to do to protect people of this country and its people and put them first and not himself first. Imagine, just for a moment, if 9/11 had happened with Donald Trump behind the desk. The first thing he would have done is run to the bunkers to protect himself. He would have put himself first before this country. And anyone who is unwilling to say that he is unfit to be president of the United States."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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