When former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie pulled out of the 2016 presidential race, he endorsed his then-opponent, Donald Trump. Then he began working for Trump’s campaigns, where, according to The New York Times, he became “one of the most influential advisers” and was reportedly considered a potential vice presidential running mate.

Now, however, there’s no love lost between the two men, and Christie says he now believes Trump is trying to avoid a debate with his fellow GOP candidates because he’s “afraid” of his opponents, BusinessInsider reports.

“I’m sorry to see that Donald Trump feels like if he gets on stage, he’s at risk of losing his lead,” Christie said in an interview with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday. “If, in fact, his ideas are so great, if his leadership is so outstanding, then his lead will only increase if he gets on the stage, not decrease.”

This seems logical. But maybe there’s a small chance Trump knows his ideas and leadership could easily be shown up by the others at any potential debates.

“But obviously, he’s afraid,” Christie said. “He’s afraid to get on the stage against people who are serious.”

Trump, who’s thrown his MAGA hat into the 2024 presidential race, and he has been questioning whether he really needs to attend a second GOP presidential debate.

He even questioned this in a late April post on Truth Social.

“When you’re leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile Networks with angry, TRUMP & MAGA hating anchors asking the ‘questions,’ why subject yourself to being libeled and abused?” he wrote at the time.

The Times also reported that Trump believes the summer GOP debates aren’t worth his time.

While Christie is considering running for the GOP nomination but hasn’t announced his intentions yet. However, he said if Trump declines to face his GOP opponents, there’s a good chance he’ll have trouble standing up to foreign leaders Russian President Vladimir Putin, and China’s Xi Jinping.

Christie also asserted Trump made serious foreign policy mistakes that made it easier for the war in Ukraine to begin.

“How can we expect him to do any better with Putin than having set the groundwork for the invasion of Ukraine, which his conduct towards Putin certainly helped to establish?” Christie told Hewitt.

“This is a guy who seems like he’s afraid,” Christie added. “And if he’s afraid, he has no business being president.”

Christie has continued to become more critical of Trump, dissing him for his attempts to overthrow the 2020 election and chiding him for failing to fulfill his 2016 campaign promises.

Then there was the time when Christie and Trump were still working together in the White House and the former governor accused him of giving him COVID-19. And discussing Trump’s indictment in March, Christie said the former president was wrong to claim that his arrest and being charged would boost his popularity with voters.

But like so many Republicans before him, Christie told Hewitt if became president, he’d work to reduce government spending.

“And that’s not going to be an easy job, but you know, I did it with a bunch of Democrats in New Jersey, and we did balance that budget without raising taxes,” Christie said. “And I think the same thing needs to be done here in Washington.”

This has been the typical Republican mantra for decades and all it’s done is further disenfranchise the poor, the elderly, women, and people of color. Donald Trump exemplified all this and it’s really time for Republicans to sing a new tune because clearly, the old one is a flop.

Chris Christie says that Donald Trump is afraid to debate because he doesn’t have serious solutions to America’s problems: “All he wants to do is go back and re-prosecute the 2020 election because his feelings are hurt. He’s a child in that regard.” pic.twitter.com/iOOXtoCQhB

— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) May 4, 2023