I think it's fair to say that the fourth Republican debate delivered a bad day for former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. We've seen interesting moments in the prior debates, but this one certainly had some fireworks with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy trying to go after both former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Christie.
Moderator Megyn Kelly asked Christie about how he ran just to try to stop former President Donald Trump.
NEW: The Republican debate has been an absolute beatdown on Chris Christie.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 7, 2023
Christie had to sit through 30 seconds of the brutal truth from Megyn Kelly after she reminds him how unliked he is compared to Donald Trump.
Then he got bodied by Vivek Ramaswamy who told him to leave… pic.twitter.com/pTt3omzjub
"His [Trump's] approval rating with Republicans is currently at 81 percent. Yours is at 25," she said as Christie glowered at her. "Your best state is New Hampshire, and even there, two-thirds of GOP voters say they would be disappointed if you won." She said—"respectfully"—that he had not stopped Trump and asked how he could expect to be the nominee of a party that "does not appear to like you very much." That's cutting straight to the point and not holding anything back.
Then Vivek Ramaswamy let loose on Christie and his foreign policy experience. Ramaswamy was asking candidates who wanted money to go to Ukraine if they could even name some of the oblasts in the country. He had also leveled that question at Nikki Haley. His point was to show they didn't even really know the nation that they were demanding all the aid for.
“Your version of foreign policy experience was closing a bridge from New Jersey to New York," Ramaswamy said. "So do everybody a favor, just walk yourself off that stage, enjoy a nice meal, and get the hell out of this race.”
That obviously disturbed Chris Christie because he then went over to Megyn Kelly after he got bodied by Vivek and appeared to be complaining about it in vigorous terms.
Holy crap…
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) December 7, 2023
Chris Christie is now throwing a FIT to Megyn Kelly after Vivek told him to go enjoy a nice meal 🤣🤣🤣#GOPDebate
pic.twitter.com/5HchRT8DiJ
I'd say that ended Christie, but as Kelly said, his numbers don't even put him on the same level as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or Haley. His polling has remained low, as Kelly noted, and he hasn't moved up despite taking the aggressive tack that he has against Trump and others. Maybe because he's taken such an aggressive tack and because of his focus on Trump.
As far as I can tell, Chris Christie was the only candidate to use the debate as a plug for an upcoming book.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) December 7, 2023
Christie also promoted a book during the debate, which was not a great look.
So Megyn and Vivek didn't have to end him because it looks like his campaign has not gained a foothold. But if he had any chance, I think they just closed the door on him.
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