GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie disagreed with Eric Bolling’s assessment of his chances of becoming the party’s nominee after the Newsmax host told him he doesn’t “see a path” for him.
“TV, governor, is intoxicating,” Bolling said. “I love being on TV. Just about everyone who’s been on TV loves being on TV. I don’t see a path for Chris Christie to be the nominee, nor the president. I do think you’re a wonderful TV analyst. I mean you’re great at what you do. I love these interactions and I just have a hunch you kind of like TV too, and you might like the ABC gig where you sit next to Stephanopoulos, you’re talking about Trump and whoever.”
But Christie countered, noting that he gave up his contract with ABC because he was very serious about running for president.
“And I know you don’t see a path right now, but I’ll tell you this, Eric. When I win New Hampshire, and when I become the nominee, I’m still gonna be coming on the Eric Bolling show ’cause it’s one of the great places to be on TV. You can admit you were wrong and then we can go ahead and go beat Joe Biden.”
To that, Bolling pulled up Christie’s placement in a New Hampshire poll, which has the former New Jersey governor at 6.7 percent, tied with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and behind former President Donald Trump (41.7 percent) and Gov. Ron DeSantis (17.7 percent).
Bolling wished him luck and pointed out that taking on the frontrunner, as DeSantis has tried, isn't working out too well.
"[DeSantis] is trying to have it both ways. Look, you have to make the case against the frontrunner. I am making the case against the frontrunner and by the way he helps me every day," Christie said.
This is not the first time Bolling has confronted Christie about his campaign's chances. Last month, the host asked him why he's running for president when the frontrunner, Donald Trump, is ahead by double digits.
"What motivates Chris Christie to run for president? Is it to take out Donald Trump or Chris Christie’s sort of fulfilling some sort of, I don't know, emotional void that you're looking for? Why are you running?” he asked.
"Eric, are you a psychiatrist today? You know, if you’re psychiatrist, spend more time on the former president than you will on me," the former governor shot back. "Let me remind you that at this time in 2015, Donald Trump was at 6 percent and Jeb Bush was at 24 percent. And I also remember the polls because I was deeply involved in the president’s 2016 campaign that all told us Hillary Clinton was going to win that race, going away to and including the exit polls that night. I’m running because I believe that the country needs a change, that Joe Biden is an awful president of the United States, should have never been there and it’s only because of Donald Trump’s failings that he is there. And what we need to do is move this country in a new direction. Stop looking backwards.”
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