Ahead of a Fox News debate, he’s the only candidate willing to denounce Donald Trump’s election lies.
US primary debates rarely made for good television until Donald Trump arrived. But even without the brash frontrunner, the Fox News debate on 23 August between Republican presidential hopefuls will offer valuable insight into the party’s decline. Eight candidates will take the stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, each trying to win over primary voters. What stands out the most, however, is Trump’s absence.
The former president justified his snub by claiming that he is so far ahead in the polls that attending the debate is unnecessary. Since March, Trump has steadily increased his lead over his Republican rivals; recent figures show a commanding 37-point lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, with others lagging far behind in single digits. However, Trump’s refusal to participate is not just about his poll numbers. On 18 August, Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, suggested that Trump is “very scared” of him, and there’s some truth to that. Despite polling at just around 3%, Christie is the only candidate at the debate willing to openly challenge Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election being stolen.
Christie’s outspoken stance makes him a rare figure in the current Republican field, where many candidates have largely avoided taking a strong position on Trump’s election lies. His willingness to call out Trump, even at the risk of his own campaign, is a reminder of the courage it takes to speak the truth in a party increasingly dominated by Trump’s narrative. Christie’s refusal to let the lie go unchallenged stands in stark contrast to the party’s other candidates, many of whom have either supported or quietly accepted the falsehoods, not wanting to alienate Trump’s base.
Despite his marginal position in the race, Christie represents the kind of leadership that the Republican Party desperately needs. The fact that he’s virtually alone in standing up against Trump’s distortions of reality should be a point of shame for the rest of the party. The Republican Party’s silence on the issue not only undermines its credibility but also risks further eroding public trust in democratic institutions. As long as the GOP remains unwilling to confront Trump’s lies, it will continue to sink further into the swamp of dishonesty and division.
Ultimately, Chris Christie’s role in the debate may be symbolic — the lone voice of reason in a sea of political opportunism. However, his bravery in challenging the status quo makes him a more valuable figure than many of his higher-polling rivals. It’s a tragedy for the Republican Party that it’s Christie, not someone more prominent, who has had the courage to speak truth to power, and even more so that his position is so precarious despite his moral clarity.
