NEW YORK (NewsNation Now) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says if Donald Trump wants to be part of the Republican party’s future, he needs to stop talking about the election allegedly being stolen.
“I don’t think he himself is dangerous,” Christie said on “Dan Abrams Live.” “But I think that the rhetoric he used on election night and in the months thereafter, and has continued to use, is bad for our democracy. And it undercuts people’s confidence in our elections. And that is not what you want in a democracy. And it’s certainly not what you want from the president.”
Christie joined Abrams to discuss his new book, “Republican Rescue,” which lays out the plan for how the party should move forward.
Christie said if the party continues to look backward and “truth deny on the results of the 2020 election,” they are “going to lose.”
“If we want to win, again, if we want to be a party that can take back the House and Senate, and ultimately the White House, we got to talk about tomorrow, about people’s futures, and our plans and how we contrast them against the ones that have been offered by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Christie said.
Christie denies the book is about rescuing the party particularly from Trump, who he supported throughout his presidency.
“I think there were a lot of things, when you read the policy section of the book, that adopt things that President Trump did while he was in office,” Christie said.
The book also addresses conspiracy theories such as QAnon, pizzagate and birtherism.
“I want to stop Republican-on-Republican violence,” Christie said. “I want to stop vendettas.”
Abrams asked Christie if he was concerned about the possibility of Trump running in 2024 and denying the results.
“I’d be afraid of any of those things that continue to undercut our democracy,” Christie said. “But it would be a much different quality. If a challenger refuses to accept the results, it would still not be good. But he’s not going to be sitting in the White House and have the levers of power of government at his at his fingertips.”
Christie has not made an announcement about running for office in 2024, but says any candidate who does potentially run against Trump should not be afraid of what he says.
“If you’re going to be scared or concerned about what Donald Trump or anybody else might call you during the race, you’re probably not fit to be president in any way,” Christie said.
Watch “Dan Abrams Live” weeknights at 8/7c on NewsNation.