On January 10, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out of the Republican presidential primary, to the elation of many right-wing media commentators. Hosts denounced his “arrogance” and “bitter” attitude toward Republican voters, expressing disgust for the once-popular politician over his well-known opposition to former President Donald Trump. 

Christie’s unceremonious exit from the primary is another reminder of Trump’s dominance in right-wing media, and how thoroughly Trumpism has evicted the previous generation of Republican leaders out of power. Even though Christie and Trump were once close -- he endorsed Trump in 2016 and was chair (and then vice-chair) of the transition team -- his nerve to eventually criticize the infallible Trump permanently cast him out of the party.

On the evening of his concession, Fox host Laura Ingraham asked a simple question: “Why would Republicans vote for someone who despises Trump and essentially wants him prosecuted, when we already have the Biden campaign for that?” Later on, her guest, Fox Business host Sean Duffy predicted that Christie will “work inside of the Republican Party to elect Joe Biden. … He’s working for Joe Biden.” 

In fact, multiple right-wing media figures cast Christie as essentially a Democrat. While Christie was dropping out, The Five co-host Jesse Watters said Christie’s lane in the race was already occupied by President Joe Biden.

“I don’t like how he says ‘I’m here to tell the truth.’ That is basically saying 75 million of Americans don't want to hear the truth,” the notoriously untruthful Watters complained. “They just don't want to hear your opinion of 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 has been real.” 

The campaign was “almost an embarrassment,” said Watters’ co-host Jeanine Pirro, adding that “he’s auditioning for some kind of, you know, contributorship or something on another channel” after being in the race solely to attack Trump. On her show, Ingraham similarly suggested that Christie could now “be a paid contributor on CNN.”

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk also suggested Christie could be fishing for a media job, which he did have at ABC prior to his 2024 campaign. “I want you to understand how sick this man is,” Kirk began, denouncing Christie’s pledge to not help Trump win the White House. “Chris Christie is more concerned about Trump not becoming president than a Democrat going to the White House. That’s repulsive. Absolutely repulsive.”

“That’s why he’s going to keep on going on ABC and NBC,” Kirk deduced. “He is controlled opposition.”

Another hot topic among the celebrations of Christie’s downfall was the hot mic incident just before his concession speech. Christie was caught saying former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley was going to “get smoked” in the primary, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was “petrified” of the coming contests. 

On his radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity predicted that Christie “is going to turn around and endorse” one of them anyway, “becoming the very coward that he’s accusing everybody else of — He thinks he’s better than everybody. This is what Christie’s problem has always been.”

In conversation with a caller, Hannity called Christie’s exit “perfect justice” because “the real Chris Christie came out” on the hot mic. “Did you catch the bitterness in him,” Hannity asked. “He’s bitter because he thinks he’s the greatest, and everyone should have flocked to him, and they didn’t. We’re just too dumb to see his greatness.”

The following day, Hannity continued: “The greatest moment yesterday had to be Chris Christie about to get out of the race.” Saying he “never felt [Christie] was a serious candidate,” Hannity added that the hot mic moment revealed “how full of himself he is” and “the level of arrogance that he has.” 

“I mean, it’s just unbelievable to me,” he said, shocked. “It kinda validates what my gut was telling me from the beginning, which is this guy's not a serious candidate.”

Hannity’s Fox colleague, Mark Levin, also used his radio show to castigate Christie. “This is not a classy guy,” he began. Christie “is an angry, ruling class, establishment Republican … and he is doing what establishment, ruling class Republicans always do. Try to sabotage their opponents.”

Christie is “a self-righteous egomaniac,” Levin said. “If you don’t agree with him, there’s something wrong with you. Fundamentally wrong with you and your character. And that he will do everything he can to stop Donald Trump from getting elected president.” Levin then suggested that Christie’s entire campaign was a limp attempt at revenge for Trump not appointing him attorney general.

“Christie liked the high life, always did, always does,” Levin diagnosed. “Likes being around people of wealth, people of prominence. And then the light bulb went off. Suddenly, he’s a never-Trumper,” which, from the post-mortems across right-wing media, may be Christie’s only remaining audience.