Forget about smashing glass ceilings.
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said that Nikki Haley would “eat glass” for the chance to be Donald Trump’s running mate in the race to beat President Joe Biden in the presidential election.
Christie claimed he spoke this weekend with an unnamed South Carolina politician “who knows her really well” and that person suggested Haley would jump at the chance to join former President Trump’s ticket.
“I said, ‘Am I reading this wrong?’ And he said to me, ‘Governor, she would eat glass to get the vice-presidential nomination under Trump.’ That’s how ambitious she is,” Chris recalled on ABC’s “The View.”
The former New Jersey governor, who has ruled out being Trump’s veep, commended Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for shutting the door to serving as Trump’s No. 2.
“Give DeSantis credit for this. He said he would not take vice president under Trump under any circumstances,” he said. “Nikki Haley won’t say it.”
Although typically refraining from explicitly countenancing the possibility, Haley has repeatedly insisted on the campaign trail: “I don’t play for second.”
Recently, Haley and Trump have begun increasingly trading barbs on the stump at a higher tempo. Trump’s campaign has begun deploying its “Kiss of Death” email blitz, typically reserved for DeSantis, against her.
Murmurs about Haley serving as Trump’s VP have reached a fever pitch in recent days, with Trump asking some of his allies for their thoughts on adding Haley to the ticket, CBS reported.
DeSantis has repeatedly needled Haley over the veepstakes and his campaign even launched a tongue-in-cheek website for Trump-Nikki 2024.
Some of the 45th president’s allies, including Donald Trump Jr. and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have warned of a revolt if Haley gets the VP nod.
“Nikki Haley can’t beat him because she doesn’t want to,” Christie continued. “If lightning struck her tomorrow, and she got the nomination, she’d take it. But that’s not what she’s playing for.”
Christie’s slings and arrows at Haley comes as the former South Carolina and US Ambassador to the UN has nabbed strong poll numbers out of New Hampshire, a state on which Christie has effectively bet his campaign.
With Haley in the way, his uphill climb to the nomination becomes even steeper.
A chorus of Republicans keen on seeing Trump’s primary campaign go down in flames, have urged Christie to step aside. This includes the Haley-aligned Super PAC, SFA Fund Inc, publicly calling on Christie to drop out, arguing the New Jersey Republican has “some helpful impact for Trump.”
Tom Boucher, a former New Hampshire steering committee member for Christie, recently jumped ship to Haley contending she has a better shot at winning.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who has endorsed Haley, has even publicly nudged Christie to call it quits.
Underpinning many of those nudges is the conviction that many of Christie’s voters would flock to Haley, bolstering her already tough odds of surpassing Trump in the Granite State.
“How insulting to my voters that you would think that they would immediately just waltz over to Nikki Haley, even though Nikki Haley has called Donald Trump the right president for the right time,” Christie said.
Christie, who previously endorsed Trump in 2016 but has since said he regretted doing so, also fired back at Sununu earlier in the day Wednesday.
“Since Chris started to work for Nikki Haley and become an employee of Nikki Haley, it’s not the same Chris Sununu anymore,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Haley’s campaign declined to comment on the record.
Christie has fashioned himself the Trump attack dog of the 2024 GOP pack. He clarified Wednesday that he would not vote for either President Biden whom he described as incapable of being commander in chief or Trump.
“I am anxious to see who a third choice might be,” he said, while also casting aspersions on environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The New Hampshire primary is slated for Jan. 23. Trump is averaging 46.3%, followed by Haley at 24.8%, and Christie at 10.5%, per the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.
Nationally, Haley recently surpassed DeSantis for second place in the RCP average.
