Fox News host Greg Gutfeld and the rest of the gang at “The Five” reacted to Chris Christie’s sudden ending of his longshot presidential campaign which happened while they were on the air.
This time Christie didn’t bother waiting for another crushing loss in the New Hampshire primary like he suffered in 2016, running up the white flag in a speech to supporters that was chock full of his hostility for GOP frontrunner Donald J. Trump.
Some would suggest that the blustery former New Jersey governor’s campaign was always doomed considering that he was a one-issue candidate whose only mission was to take out Trump, in the words of Gutfeld, like a “hockey goon” whose job is to bloody up the opposing team’s top player.
(Video: Fox News)
“You know, he knew Trump would be the nominee, but he felt that he had to make the case that he shouldn’t,” Gutfeld said. “Well, get in line. That’s not necessary. You have the media doing that. You got the government during that. You have tech companies doing that, he was like, it was so redundant.”
“You didn’t need that candidate in there. I think, you know he’s a good guy, likable guy, very intelligent,” he continued. “But the analogy for me is a hockey goon. You know you put a guy out on the ice and take out the best player. That’s what it was.”
Co-host Jesse Watters added his two cents and then some, “I agree, I like the guy personally. I used to like when he used to tee off people on town halls but he killed himself with the bridge and the hug,” referring to the “Bridgegate” scandal and Gov. Christie’s famous embrace of then-President Barack Obama in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy hit Jersey.
“He ran out of money,” Watters said. “Let’s be honest. He ran out of money and I don’t like how he says that ‘I’m here to tell the truth,’ that’s basically saying 75 million Americans don’t want to hear the truth. They just don’t want to hear your opinion about Donald Trump.”
“They just don’t want to hear your opinion about Donald Trump,” he said. “Ok, he had a lot of bad things to say about Donald Trump. You can hear that from the Biden campaign. We don’t need to hear that from a Republican. So good luck, Chris Christie. It’s been real.”
Dana Perino noted that Christie had to “read the writing on the wall” as he struggled mightily, looking for a breakthrough in the Granite State that was never realistically going to materialize.
Judge Jeanine Pirro agreed. “It wasn’t happening for him, it isn’t happening for him. It was almost an embarrassment, but I have to tell you, I was offended by that,” she said. “I mean clearly he is you know, he’s auditioning for some kind of you know, contributorship or something on another channel…”
Christie was a longtime analyst on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday mornings but left the gig to launch his doomed campaign in the hope that he could be the human torpedo who sank Trump at a nationally televised debate, an opportunity that never came.
Making as much news as his officially ending his campaign were Christie’s brutal remarks about fellow candidate Nikki Haley, the “surging” media favorite who would seem to benefit the most from his exit before the New Hampshire contest.
“She’s gonna get smoked,” he said on a hot mic in audio that went viral. “You and I both know it, she’s not up to this.”
BREAKING: While waiting for Chris Christie announcement, he can be heard on a hot mic criticizing @NikkiHaley while talking to someone. “She’s gonna get smoked,” he says. “You and I both know it, she’s not up to this.” He also claims DeSantis called him, then feed is cut. pic.twitter.com/3Lrz2t6BQ8 — Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 10, 2024
“I hear Chris Christie is dropping out of the race today — I might even get to like him again! Anyway, he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement: ‘She’s gonna get smoked…You and I both know it, she’s not up to this,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.