Chris Christie Is Doing Something Very, Very Important

[applegrove]

Frank Bruni
OPINION
Chris Christie Is Doing Something Very, Very Important
June 21, 2023

By Frank Bruni

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/21/opinion/chris-christie-trump-republicans.html

"SNIP........

Chris Christie made a complete fool of himself back in 2016, fan-dancing obsequiously around Donald Trump, angling for a crucial role in his administration, nattering on about their friendship, pretending or possibly even convincing himself that Trump could restrain his ego, check his nastiness, suspend his grift and, well, serve America. But then Christie, a former two-term governor of New Jersey, had plenty of company. And he never did style himself as some saint.

It’s all water under the George Washington Bridge now. The Chris Christie of the current moment is magnificent. I don’t mean magnificent as in, “He’s going to win the Republican presidential nomination.” I don’t mean I am rooting for a Christie presidency and regard him as the country’s possible salvation.

But what he’s doing in this Republican primary contest is very, very important. It also couldn’t be more emotionally gratifying to behold. He’s telling the unvarnished truth about Trump, and he’s the only candidate doing that. A former prosecutor, he’s artfully, aggressively and comprehensively making the case against Trump, knocking down all the rationalizations Trump has mustered and all the diversions he has contrived since his 37-count federal indictment.

None of the other candidates come close. They’ve for the most part gagged themselves or decided to play laughable word games about who Trump is, what he has done and what he may yet do.

........SNIP"

[marble falls]

1. He's looking for wabbits ...

[elleng]

2. He's telling the unvarnished truth about Trump,

[marble falls]

7. Too little, too late. He needed to do that before he crawled to DC to beg for the AG at the TFG's...

... invitation and TFG just cold shouldered him.

[speak easy]

24. "Too little, too late"

It's never too late for Republicans to go for each other's throats. That does not mean I think one penny more of Christie.

[BComplex]

3. I have a feeling it's going to help him in the long run.

It's a smart political move on his part for his future, and probably the future of his party.

[Straw Man]

4. Some talking head on TV ...

... opined that some of the corporate mega-donors may have tasked Christie with destroying Trump, whether or not Christie himself has a chance at the nomination --- which he doesn't. I think they might be right.

[2naSalit]

12. +1

[FoxNewsSucks]

19. Christie will enjoy that task.

I know I would.

[calimary]

35. Works for me!

They can angrily slam Chris Christie as a tool. What they don’t get is - he’s OUR tool!

[Raven123]

5. Bull. Where the heck has he been? Like all others, he hoped the Dems would take TFG down

….. so he could whine about how TFG was being unjustly persecuted. Only now, the GOP sees they will lose to Biden again and suddenly someone has to take TFG down. Enter Christie. I’m no Kasich fan, but he called out TFG in 2016 and avoided the GOP convention even though it was in his own state. Where was Christie then?

[anciano]

6. But it may ultimately be in vain .....

Since the Repub primaries are mostly either "winner-take-all" or "winner-take-most" delegate contests, tfg could still get the nomination with only a small plurality of votes. And his magat disciples are "true believers" regardless of what anyone says.

[thenelm1]

15. All true, but in the long run, if he helps make inroads into the independents or...

undecideds leaning towards TFG, every little bit helps. Take these small favors where you can, distasteful as they may be. You're never going to make any inroads with the MAGAts. They're a lost cause.

[anciano]

17. Agreed.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

8. I've had the impression

He is “modeling” a return to pre Orange-Glo politics, and a republican party that accepts truth, the rule of law and consent to the limits imposed by a democratic system.

Then again, I was re-varnishing an old chair earlier…

[applegrove]

11. LOL! Nostalgia for the old Republicans may just work. Trump is exhausting.

[grantcart]

18. I thought he is getting free publicity for an eventful book

But it's all good. Christie is telling the truth about Trump and he will never be elected to any office again.

[Takket]

9. he can tell the truth all he wants but...........

1. The gop voters only here the "adult in a Peanuts cartoon" sound when someone says anything bad about drumpf.
2. He's only doing it in the hopes that taking the opposite strategy from others will give him a chance to win. If he thought kissing drumpf's ass would get him nominated, he would kiss his ass. Never forget christie is a complete scumbag

[BlueTsunami2018]

10. It has no effect on the cult, they hate Christie's guts.

He’s a “RINO”, you know? He’s deep state establishment. He treated President Obama with respect. He’s repeating “Democrat” lies.

And blah, blah, blah…

He won’t even make the debate stage for the debates that Тяцмр won’t bother to attend. They hate him.

Christie missed his shot in 2012.

[Marcuse]

13. Get ready, you mother, for the big payback.

[MOMFUDSKI]

14. Every circus

needs a clown

[CaptainTruth]

16. The radical right are all calling him a RINO.

They're rejecting everything he says, of course.

[oldsoftie]

20. Christie is the ONE guy who can really get under trumps skin

He's not afraid to say what he REALLY thinks.
And Christie has already heard every insult about himself & wont care.

*Bill* Barr has been getting to Trump too.

[oldsoftie]

26. Yep; I keep doing that! Fixed.

[applegrove]

27. I'll delete.

[panfluteman]

22. Chris Christie's 2024 Rhetoric May Not Have Any Effect on the MAGA Cultists, BUT...

What he's saying is very, very important, and may influence independent voters and those sitting on the fence NOT to vote for Trump in 2024. The core of what he's saying about Trump is universal, and goes way beyond any political considerations that one might have. The basic truth is that, to be in any position of leadership at any level of government, the candidate in question needs to be a responsible, functioning adult - which Donald Trump clearly isn't - he's an enabled, overgrown baby, basically. Way back in 2016, Hillary Clinton said that Donald Trump was temperamentally unfit to be president - and she was 100% right on that. Now, with a Republican saying basically the same thing, Republican and independent voters might be more receptive, and listen.

[crickets]

28. +1

I loathe Chris Christie, but he is doing the electoral process a service by being honest about tfg.

[bucolic_frolic]

23. You mean he's angling for an important job in the next Republican administration

[ancianita]

25. He's trying to revive the pre-Trump Republican Party, invite trumpcult to walk away.

But to what.

"Away from Trump" is no long term political strategy. His campaign can get sane oligarch money. And as a former governor he can eat DeSantis' lunch, but given the field, there won't be unity enough to win battlegrounds.

[elocs]

29. If somebody truly has a "come to Jesus moment" & repents,

do well tell them, "screw you, too little too late". So why then should they ever bother to do it? I'm an atheist myself, but I'll give people the benefit of the doubt just as I would like it to be given to me.
Besides, I never tire of hearing an ex-Trumpster tear him down.

[NowISeetheLight]

30. My Profile

Says I’m a former Reagan Republican. People can change. He has a long way to go to convince me but I’m willing to give him the chance to prove it. I hope he does.

[ByebyeTrump]

31. Phat mouth

Who will be the first Republicans to pile on him for not piling on?Lol,
Yup Kasich would’ve been a dream President compared to these goofballs.

[LisaM]

32. That guy has always frustrated me.

When he and Obama were jointly working to help victims of Hurricane Sandy and Obama engineered a phone meeting with the Boss, Christie seemed like a pragmatic and likeable guy. But then he'd switch and pull stunts like closing a bridge out of spite.

The fact that Christie likes Bruce Springsteen at all sums up the dichotomy, I think.

[applegrove]

33. He was really high in the polls right after Sandy.

[BaronChocula]

34. Oh, Puh-lease Frank Bruni

Mind your keyboard doesn't short out from your drooling over Christie. Don't let the unfettered scumbaggery of the gop make the bar so low that when one tells the truth they are canonized. There are so many people deserving of public praise. Christie isn't among them. What would be impressive would be if he fed needy children, defended the wrongfully accused, or even left the Republican party. This little 180 he's doing on Trump though, is worthless. Trump is already baked in. You either love him or you're maga trash. There may be a handful of lack-a-brains who are still on the fence Trumpwise, but if they haven't been convinced one way or the other by this point, Christie's hot-airing of grievances against Trump won't do anything to move them. As some headlines have pointed out, Christie was Trump before Trump. He's a loud-mouthed bully with a better vocabulary. His arrogance is reminiscent of everyone who is fully aware of their white privilege while denying that there's any such thing as white privilege.

But other than that, Chris Christie's awesome!