'Four-time loser': Chris Christie predicts voters will ignore Donald Trump if he loses 2024 GOP nomination
WASHINGTON – Republican presidential hopeful and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie predicted that the American public “en masse” will ignore former President Donald Trump if he loses the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.
“I think the public en masse will begin to ignore a four-time loser like Donald Trump,” Christie said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Trump has been the dominant frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary race, polling far above his rivals, including Christie, in state-level and national polls. The former New Jersey governor is banking on a victory in New Hampshire, a critical early voting state, to secure the nomination.
If Trump does lose the nomination, Christie said he doubts the former president will concede. But Christie brushed off the scenario, saying he wouldn’t “care” if Trump does not concede and noting that he still falsely claims he won the 2020 presidential election.
“Look, no one will expect him to concede. He hasn’t conceded the 2020 election, who cares?” Christie said. “I don’t suspect he’ll ever concede.”
Christie said Trump would be a “four-time loser” if he does lose the Republican nomination, blaming the GOP’s string of lackluster election results on the former president.
“He lost in 2018 in the House, he lost in 2020, in the Senate and in the White House. And in 2022, he led us to more losses in the governorships and the Senate, and if he loses in 2024 he will be a four-time loser,” Christie said.
“I think he’ll go back to Mar-a-Lago. He’ll continue to carp and moan and complain and say we don’t deserve him. Anything that gets him out of this race and what keeps him out of the White House is fine by me,” he continued.
While Christie has been one of Trump's most vocal critics, he is still trailing far behind the former president. In a Real Clear Politics average of polls on the Republican field, Christie is behind not only Trump but also Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chris Christie: Voters will 'ignore' Donald Trump if he loses primary