The Hill‘s story is “Christie ups profile with acerbic attacks on Trump.”
Politico? “Christie sees a lane in the GOP primary: Trump destroyer.”
Matt Drudge, who has gone full MSM as of late, is running “Christie the Trump Slayer?” as his own Wednesday morning headline.
Chris Christie is probably still one of the country’s most recognizable Republicans despite having left office in January 2018 and he’s got a steady gig on ABC’s Sunday political program, but he’s also the guy who finished 6th in New Hampshire in 2016 and left office with an approval rating in the teens. There was a time – not all too long ago, even if it feels like it – when the ex-New Jersey governor was hailed as the hope of the party from New Jersey to the Reagan Library. Today, poll after poll shows him failing to even register a numerically significant level of support (> 1%). His latest book on how to save the GOP flopped.
Are these media outlets seeing something the rest of us aren’t? Unlikely; I’m told by a reliable source that Christie’s recent New Hampshire event fetched several dozen attendees… a very weak showing for a presidential contender AND when compared to the events which Christie used to host in his prime. I remember attending a Christie event in South Jersey back before 2016 which had a line to enter!
What’s going on here?
Christie is a clever marketer; he may be flawed, but he’s definitely not dumb. He knows the Media will greedily cover well-packaged Trump criticism, and they’re starting to develop an appetite for DeSantis slams, too. The Media wants a vehicle for their Leftist-approved attacks, and Christie the performer is giving them plenty of material which ultimately shores up his career as a political commentator. Christie is attacking his ex-ally Trump 24/7, and he hasn’t spared DeSantis either, criticizing the Florida governor’s campaign strategy and comparing his recent statement on the conflict in Ukraine to “Candyland.”
The former U.S. Attorney isn’t even being shy about what he’s offering to do for the Media, declaring at his poorly-attended New Hampshire event that “[y]ou better have somebody on that stage who can do to him what I did to Marco, because that’s the only thing that’s gonna defeat Donald Trump,” referring to his infamous takedown of the Florida Senator during an early 2016 debate clash. That’s not an argument he expects will win over enough New Hampshire primary voters to change his fortunes; he’s advertising his services to the MSM.
So it’s clear enough what Christie gets out of all of this. It’s also obvious that Christie will NOT be president, but he’s a talented political boxer who could land some punches (and help the Democrat cause in the process) if he continues taking shots at the two leading contenders for the 2024 nomination.
Will it work? That depends! Regardless of how GOP voters feel about Trump, DeSantis, and the other potential contenders, they’ll need to decide whether they want to the Media and their rented gun (Christie) to pick the 2024 nominee to take on Biden OR, as they did in 2016, select their own candidate to carry the Republican banner into the general election.
We know what Christie is about. It’s on us, the GOP primary electorate, to perform a gut check and decide what we’re really about.
