Chris Christie barely made Wednesday night’s Republican presidential candidates’ debate.

That was probably why it took almost 17 minutes for him to be given a chance to speak.

And when he did, it was to answer a pointed question. The polls say most Republicans don’t like him, so how can he win?

The former governor was ready.

It’s tough, he said, to tell the truth. And the truth in this case is that Donald Trump is “unfit” to be president. He called that the biggest issue in the race.

Christie ridiculed the three people with him on stage – Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy – when he said they act as if they are the only ones in the race.

The point was clear, and Christie has said it before: If you are serious about running for president, you have to take on Trump.

It’s a sound strategy, but politics is not that simple.

Clearly, the other candidates are afraid to annoy the Trump cult.

Christie is not, but for his troubles, he’s lagging in the polls, and as stated, was probably fortunate to make the debate.

His presence, of course, is just about always noteworthy.

Remember his take down almost eight years ago of Marco Rubio? That was great theater.

On this night, he had a great exchange with Ramaswamy. The topic was foreign policy and Christie accused Ramaswamy of insulting the intelligence of his opponents, not merely their positions.

Ramaswamy shot back, suggesting that Christie’s foreign policy experience is limited to closing a bridge between New York and New Jersey.

Ouch.

Furthermore, Christie’s new adversary, advised that the former governor should leave the stage and “enjoy a nice meal.”

Such snide comments from Ramaswamy are not new. In an earlier debate, he brought up Haley’s daughter and her alleged fascination with TikTok.

So, Haley probably was silently laughing when Christie called Ramaswamy the “most obnoxious blowhard in America.”

As the debate moved on, all candidates were asked about Trump, but as has been customary, none responded like Christie, who called the former president an “angry, bitter man.

And he concluded by saying that those too “timid” to condemn Trump have no chance of forcefully dealing with Putin and other U.S. enemies.

This was an impressive performance, but one can not ignore Trump’s lead and popularity among Republicans.

Christie likely will be in the race through the New Hampshire primary, but unless he does remarkably well there, it really is debatable how long he will continue.

This brings up another perhaps paradoxical observation.

Democrats probably love what Christie is doing when he goes after Trump.

But they have to hope it doesn’t go too far. The last thing Democrats want is a candidate like Haley, or even Christie, on the GOP ballot next year.