Tonight’s debate may have finally answered the question of why Chris Christie is still in the race or participating in these GOP primary debates.

It’s definitely not his momentum, or his poll numbers. Christie has thrown all of his energy into New Hampshire, where he is running a distant third to Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. His presence in the GOP primary, as little-known candidates like Doug Burgum and bigger names like Tim Scott are exiting the race, is a bit of a head-scratcher. And the chorus is getting louder, asking why he’s still on the stage.

Christie has largely centered his campaign around his criticism of Trump, but that message, coupled with a crowded primary field and a New Hampshire-centric operation, has complicated his path in the Republican field. There was even speculation that he wouldn’t qualify for Wednesday night’s debate, which will be hosted at 8 p.m. ET by The Hill’s sister news organization NewsNation, though in the end he did.

But with the Iowa caucuses steadily approaching, Republicans are pressing the New Jersey Republican to exit the race.

“I think he should absolutely drop out. There’s just no path for him to win the nomination,” said Sarah Matthews, a former Trump administration official who’s backing Haley.

“I think he did add a really important voice to the race, but obviously his whole campaign was centered around trying to deny Trump the nomination,” she added. “And I think that right now, if he stays in the race, all he’s doing is helping Trump to secure the nomination, because he’s dividing the vote.”

I’m not sure how much of Christie’s support would really go to Nikki Haley if he dropped out. Even if you assume all of his support in New Hampshire would automatically go to Haley, that still doesn’t give her the numbers to overtake Donald Trump in the polls.

But tonight, we learned a very salient fact about Chris Christie during this last GOP presidential primary debate of 2023. This happened during the last segment, right before closing statments, when the candidates were asked to pick a former president that they would personally draw inspiration from in their own presidency. Interestingly, none of them picked the same president. Nikki Haley chose George Washington. Ron DeSantis chose Calvin Coolidge. Vivek Ramaswamy chose Thomas Jefferson – apparently based solely on Jefferson’s age when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, something Ramaswamy mentioned twice during the debate.

Chris Christie, who was asked this question first, chose Ronald Reagan – a solid, if somewhat predictable choice for a Republican candidate. But then Christie added in this little detail. He’s got a BOOK coming out on Reagan early next year, which he says will be called “What Would Reagan Do?”

Chris Christie reveals he has written a book called "What Would Reagan Do?" coming out in 2024.

Was his whole Presidential campaign just to boost his book sales?#GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/slIAjltmVL

— Iyan Velji (@IyanVelji) December 7, 2023

Wait. Wait wait wait wait what???

At least now we know the reason for his presidential campaign.

— Meg Brock (@MegEBrock) December 7, 2023

Apparently I’m not the only one drawing this conclusion. Chris Christie has a book he needs to sell. He’s not doing anything else with his time, except hating on Donald Trump. That might be lucrative if you are, say, Mary Trump and can write a book on it, but that won’t work for Chris Christie – not that he hasn’t tried. So what to do? Write a book on Ronald Reagan, and I can bet almost anything that Christie will draw the conclusion that Reagan would have disapproved of Trump in every possible way.

So, ladies and gentlemen, we now have an answer. Chris Christie will stay in the GOP primary race until his book comes out, even when he loses in New Hampshire. Once he drops out of the race, he will likely be invited on all the news shows to discuss him dropping out, and what that means for the GOP primary – which will give him some prime opportunities to plug his book. How conveeeeeenient.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click