Chris Christie and his pal the POTUS go way back. The New York Times relates that they’ve been BFFs since 2002, at which time Christie, then the Garden State’s top federal prosecutor, met up with Atlantic City casino owner Trump at the request of the latter’s big sis, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry. Soon the two became tight, and in 2016 Christie took quite a bit of flack from his own party by endorsing a candidate the mainstream Republicans considered to be a maverick.
Well, that worked out pretty well for Christie when his candidate pulled off a surprise win, and at first their friendship (something that former Bush advisor Alan Steinberg once referred to as “the perfect bromance” continued unabated. Alas for the two, who doubtless bonded over what Steinberg considers to be their “immense egos” and bullying ways, even this once-beautiful friendship was destined not to last forever.
Christie broke from Team Trump on masks
Lately, however, their relationship has seemed to be trending downward. Christie, like Trump, was also diagnosed with coronavirus in October. While in his pre-diagnosis days Christie said some pretty controversial things about the virus, even insinuating that he didn’t mind losing a few lives in order to get the economy back on track, he started singing a different tune upon being released from the hospital.
According to Politico, Christie appeared on Good Morning America a week after his discharge and told George Stephanopoulos that he thought Trump should double down on the mask-wearing message rather than merely expressing the mildest approval. Christie said that leaders such as the president “need to be telling people that there is no downside to you wearing masks and, in fact, there can be a great deal of upside.” Well, as anyone who watched any of Trump’s late-innings rallies undoubtedly noticed, that mask-endorsing thing never really happened.
Christie the lawyer thinks Trump made a big mistake
But on election night 2020 the Christie-Trump friendship may have completely derailed. At a White House speech delivered in the wee, wee hours, The New York Post reports that Trump preemptively declared victory, calling the numbers shifting in Biden’s favor “a fraud on the American public.” Christie, however, felt otherwise, and did not hesitate to express his disapproval of such a claim.
According to an interview he did with ABC News, Christie said, “I talk tonight not as a former governor, but as a former US attorney. There’s just no basis to make that argument tonight. There just isn’t.” He pointed out that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had already allowed an extension of three days for counting that state’s hotly-contested votes, and acknowledged that there may be grounds for a legal challenge depending on the outcome of the vote counting, but stated that such argument could not be made at this stage. Christie was adamant as he insisted, “Tonight, this was not the time to make this argument.”
As to what Trump thinks of his former compadre’s comments, we’re not yet sure, since it seems he’s got more on his mind at the moment than disloyal former governors. If the two wind up splitting for good over this disagreement, well, it won’t be the first relationship torn asunder by political difficulties, and it won’t be the last, either.
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