From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Free Expression with Jerry Baker.

Hello and welcome to free expression from the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal.

I'm Jerry Baker, editor at large of the journal. If you're not already a subscriber,

please do sign up at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week,

the latest in my interviews with the Republican candidates for the party's 2024 presidential

nomination. It's Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey. Now, Governor Christie, who

once supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election and afterwards, is now among his party's fiercest critics of the former

president. He's repeatedly condemned him for his refusal to accept the results of the 2020

election, has criticised him over a whole range of other issues, including the way he governed,

and he said the party can't win if Trump is the candidate on the ballot next year.

At last week's opening debate among the

eight GOP candidates not named Trump, Christy was one of only two on stage who said they

wouldn't support Trump if he were convicted and then became the party's nominee. Polls currently

show Christie trailing by a wide margin, even in New Hampshire, where he's in third place,

and that's the state where Christie's focusing much of his campaign efforts. So what's the future for Governor Christie and the GOP? Well, Governor Chris Christie joins me now. Governor, thanks very much for joining free expression. Jerry, happy to be on. Thanks for having me. Now, Governor, you've been a very fierce critic of Donald Trump. You've repeatedly said his behavior has been completely unacceptable. You've one of those who said you wouldn't support him if he were

convicted and ran for president. You've also said the party will lose if he were the nominee.

And I want to start off, though, by asking you about this particular question about whether or not

Trump should even be allowed to be on the ballot. As you know, there's a movement in some states,

including in New Hampshire, that actually Trump may already actually be essentially disqualified

from running for president because of his behavior relating to January the 6th under the 14th Amendment.

There is a movement to get him removed from the ballot. What's your view about that? Do you think

Trump has already disqualified himself from actually even being a candidate?

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