Chris Christie Presidential Run – Throwing Himself On the Trump Grenade

I started to write this when I learned Christie planned to announce his Presidential run last night.  While I was pretty sure how it would go I chose to wait to make sure.  I was right.  Former NJ Gov. and former Trump ally Chris Christie is on a mission to Take  Trump   Down!

He doesn’t have a chance at winning.  He never has.  And I’ll readily admit I don’t like the guy.  He’s a bully and has abused power.  But now and then he’s done the right thing.  One example, putting Jared Kushner’s dad in federal prison (which is why Jared got his father in law to reject Christie as a running mate in 2016) for one.  And he was after all gracious in thanking President Obama and the country for the support in the wake of that hurricane.  The old “even a broken clock is right twice a day thing.”  This however is in a whole new category.

It’s been said no one can get down in the pigpen’s slop and whip Trump.  I for one have always thought it was possible and a big reason was that we have Chris Christie.  Every bit as much a bully as Trump.  And a smarter and more skilled one.  Add to that he was once a strong ally of Trump.  That means he knows where some of the skeletons are buried.  If Joe Biden was the ONE Democrat Trump feared running against, I have sometimes thought that if challenged in another run for the Presidency Chris Christie is the ONE Republican Trump would fear in the primaries.  Unlike Trump Christie can throw a devastating punch, and do so “in the moment” (i.e. during a debate) but also take one, a hard one and turn right around and hit back harder.  Trump has never in his life face a “bar brawler” who not only can keep going when hit but actually likes the fight.

It’s clear last night and today Christie not only intended to come out swinging, but that he’s not going to stop.  He wants to CRUSH Trump.  To once and for all expose him a a poser of an “alpha male.”  If Trump doesn’t have the balls to appear on a debate stage with him Christie will prove perfectly capable of reaching through the camera and out of Trump’s magic tee vee box and rip em off!

Christie was done in GOP politics anyway.  If there had never been Trump the MAGA goobers might have loved the guy but as I said, Jared made sure Christie was rejected (and publicly so) by Trump so getting their support won’t happen now.  Christie’s abuses of power will get drug up in the primaries and would be again in a general election campaign if he was the GOP candidate.  That when combined with his abrasive personality would mean certain defeat.   He can’t win and he knows it.  He knows public opinion of him is baked in and won’t change.  I’m sure Christie would like to be President, and he’s not shy about saying there were Trump policies he approved of.   However unlike Mike Pence he’s not delusional.  Like I said he knows win. What he CAN do however is clear the minefield for others.

Or, to continue the metaphor he can, as his squad approaches the machine gun next and a grenade falls in front of them jump on it and sacrifice himself so the others can overwhelm the machine gunner.

Somebody has to do it, for both the sake (long-term) of the GOP and the country overall.  No one has had the guts, much less the ability to match Trump insult for insult.  To engage in a political steel cage death match.  I’m saying right here and now Christie can and will do just that.  How serious is he?  He’s already made it clear he’s not limiting things to Trump personally.  I saw a video clip after starting to write this where he calls out Jared Kushner getting a couple billion from the Saudis.  Christie’s not only willing to call out Trump’s corruption, but that of those who were and still are close to and supporting him.

I haven’t even gotten to the best part either.  Think back to the 2016 primaries where at the beginning of 2016 Trump still wasn’t being taken seriously.  Even comedians were still having a field day with him.  But suddenly Trump started picking up support and the more brazen he got the more the MAGA numbers grew.  Right into a giant, cancerous tumor on our country.  Most of the people reading this were horrified as it became clear Trump might actually be the nominee.  We weren’t the only ones.

For decades, the old guard of the GOP had carefully managed their “pet monster”, that large group of poor and working class white voters in mostly rural/small town America.  Fed them all manner of racist dog-whistle stuff but keeping them on the leash.  They were skilled at letting out the leash just enough come election time but otherwise kept their beast under close control.  Everyone, and I mean everyone knew what was happening including the beast who recognized and responded to the dog-whistles.  But they were out there, all over the place and in significant numbers.  Then Trump came along.  A guy who knew these people because he was as racist and sexist as any of them and actually could exploit them because he’d done so for decades in various ways.  Trump sensed there was a way to win these people’s undying support:

He said all the quiet dog-whistle stuff in plain language!

He didn’t just say it out loud he freaking shouted it.  We all saw how MAGAs responded and still are responding.  Again I have to remind folks we weren’t the only ones horrified.  So was the GOP establishment.  They had good reason to believe that even against a candidate they’d worked so hard to make unpopular that Trump would still lose and they were aghast at how to close the Trump version of Pandora’s box they’d created.  But to almost every non-MAGA’s surprise (including Trump himself) Trump threaded the needle (with help from his buddy Vlad) and eked out a win.

Let’s be clear.  The old school GOP didn’t like or trust Trump.  But they loved much of what he said he intended to do.  In particular there were two things they wanted from Trump.  The first was another big tax cut for the wealthy.  They managed to pass one and he signed it.  The other was to reshape the federal judiciary with young hacks, every one of them GROOMED by and presented to Trump by The Federalist Society.  Including the SCOTUS seat that would have and should be being filled this very moment by Merrick Garland.  That wasn’t all however.  In retrospect it’s clear that once THAT was done they intended to force former Justice Anthony Kennedy into retirement giving them a pretty good solid 5-4  majority.

Kennedy was no liberal but as the “swing vote” he went the correct way a little too often for conservatives liking.  They had a way to force him out and they used it.  On top of that, when they went to bed a night they dreamed that maybe RBG, advance in age and having already been through a series of health problems might die.  Sadly that’s what happened, securing a 6-3 SCOTUS majority, with every one of the 6 being not merely Federalist Society approved, but developed and groomed by them.  I’m sure you’ll agree the tragic results are far from over.

But even before ramming Barret through confirmation after early voting was already underway the old school GOP types had gotten what they wanted from Trump.  They also lamented how much more they could have gotten if he’d have toned things down and behaved himself!  Think about it.  How many times did you hear credible reporters talk about elected and appointed people, both current and former complain about Trump’s antics?  Wish that he’d tone things down?  Wish they they could have “Trump without all that Trumpy nonsense and baggage?  But they were afraid to criticize him on the record!  With the exceptions of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who accepted the electoral consequences virtually everyone else was too afraid of Trump twittering their careers into the political grave to confront him.

What’s been needed, and needed for years is someone just as brash but also smarter than Trump fearless enough to fight him on his own terms.

Enter Chris Christie, Presidential candidate.  Unlike all those gutless Republicans Christie has already proving a willingness to do what matters most:

He’s saying all the private stuff (criticism) out loud.

I’m quite certain he’s just warming up, and that we are going to see lots more and harding hitting from Christie.  He’s going to proverbially punch Trump in his mouth over and over again.  Knock out teeth.  Break and bloody his nose.  Kick him in the balls.  And if Trump goes down which I for one think he will don’t think Christie will let up.  Nope.  He will give Trump as much mercy as Trump has given to the countless people he’s f**ked over during his too long and ugly life.  Which is ZERO.  If Trump had any sense he’d find a way out of all this running for another term stuff before he winds up flattened by the steamroller.  And have what’s left fed into the wood chipper.

Christie will never be a political player again for doing it but I truly believe he intends to and will destroy Trump.  Drive the stake through his heart and for good measure cut off his head and stuff his mouth with garlic.

In return he probably hopes that he’ll get a quiet, under the radar gig at some pricey old school GOP law firm and collect considerable riches until he can retire in great comfort.

Trump would be in real trouble now even if he wasn’t facing multiple indictments in multiple jurisdictions.  Now Christie is indicting him politically and will “try him and fry him.”

Much as I hate to say it, a year from now when the primaries are winding up and Trump is nowhere in the picture I’ll be thanking Christ Christie.  If things unfold the way I’m saying they will so should everyone.

Christie has chosen to fall on the grenade to save his Party.  It will save more than the GOP.

(Final note.  Stock in a supply of brain bleach because you’re about to get bombarded over and over with images of Christie during his infamous beach trip during that time NJ public beaches were close and he took his family and friends to one for an outing.  Trump and the other candidates will make sure we see all kinds of pictures of that debacle.  I almost chose one for the title pic but elected not to go that route.  You’ll see far more of that than you want to in the days and weeks ahead.  I wanted to focus on what will be important, not how bad – as bad as I’d look myself in a beach chair these days – those pictures were)