Trump’s Oreo body shaming of Christie? Deliberate, and part of the plan

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Yes, the Donald was in rare form last night at during his high-security visit to Lawrenceville, Save Jerseyans.

My favorite quote of the night? “Who the hell cares if there’s a trade war [with China]?”

Lovely. Just lovely! No way this is going to go badly…

But the line getting the most play in the immediate aftermath of the event designed to replenish Governor Chris Christie’s depleted coffers wasn’t related to policy at all but directed at Christie himself. And it wasn’t very nice.

It came during the aforementioned foreign policy/trade rant. Referring to his own personal boycott of Nabisco-owned Oreo cookies after the company recently moved jobs to Mexico, Trump awkwardly pivoted to his host, declaring, “I’m not eating Oreos any more you know. Neither is Chris.

YCHRISTIE TRUMP OREOikes, right? Lord knows Chris Christie has weathered more than his fair share of fat jokes from his detractors over the years. Trump is supposed to be a “friend” but the price of his friendship (and last night’s high dollar fundraiser) appears to be a steady stream of insults – like when he razzed Christie, who had recently endorsed him, for being an absentee governor back in March of this year.

“And your governor is absentee,” Trump told a revved-up crowd. “He goes to New Hampshire, he’s living in New Hampshire. Living! Where’s Chris, is Chris around? Even more than Chris Christie, he was there, right? Even more.”

Why Christie puts up with it all isn’t as much of a mystery to those of us who know him well and understand the reality of his situation. Trump is likely his last shot at a future in national partisan politics. The high-functional political animal is willing to swallow a lot of B.S. if it helps get him where he’s trying to go.

Why is Trump being a jerk? It’s too simplistic to dismiss it all by pointing out the obvious, that Trump himself IS a jerk, because for all of his faults, the Donald is no dummy when it comes to manipulation and the art of salesmanship. He knows how to shape a narrative and use storylines – and people – to suit his ends.

Here’s my theory: again, he knows his audience, and his audience exists precisely because they want Trump to punish – and subjugate – politicians like Chris Christie. Look at the polls right here in our own backyard. They forgive the awful things he says, like mocking the handicapped, because he also says awful things about the people they hate (like Hillary and Boehner).

While Trump has a firm lock on the NJ GOP’s base support these days, a significant number of dissenters remain and none of the Trump love is transferred to the Governor. Put another way, Trumpies by-and-large HATE the guy who Trump picked to hand-pick his administration. And as evidenced by that unprecedented release of a SCOTUS shortlist the other day, Trump knows, contrary to what his verbal shrugs on the subject of unity, that he’s got to win over more conservatives if he’s going to take states like Georgia and Arizona (!) out of the swing state column in November.

Trump knows all of this, folks. So, I’m 100% convinced that he smacks Christie around, and treats him “very poorly” (to use a Trumpism) in front of the cameras in order to project the reality of the Donald being in charge, calling the shots, looking strong and, most importantly, dominating the type of people whom Trumpies blame for the status quo which they’re currently trying to burn down. It’s all optics from a master of the television medium. It’s not personal… just business. But don’t think for a minute it’s just delightful spontaneity from a non-politician. 

You can take that to the bank. Trust me. You’re watching reality television.

Here’s video from last night’s event if you missed it…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIrHwaxQyRs

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Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8405 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.