New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was the keynote speaker for the Republican nominee Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention back in 2012. Christie embarked on a coup d’etat against Romney when he failed to recognize Romney officially in his speech until about 16 minutes into it.
Politico reported about Christie post-speech, “16 was the number of minutes that passed as Christie talked about his personal history and New Jersey record before he mentioned Mitt Romney’s name. Seven was the total number of times he referred to Romney by name.”
And Fox News’ Chris Wallace laughably noted after Christie’s speech, “the most curious keynote speech I have ever heard… for a moment, I forgot who was the nominee of the party.”
You would think that Governor Christie would be upset with Donald Trump for failing to choose him as his Vice Presidential running mate. I assumed that and was shocked that Christie wasn’t Trump’s choice for VP.
Although, we shouldn’t discount the idea that Trump promised Christie a cabinet position if he played ball. Perhaps though, Christie is content with keeping the title of New Jersey Governor. But I would bet that Christie is fully aware that New Jersey will vote against him when his election term is up.
We should also think that when Christie was the first to endorse Trump early in the year, because his endorsement most likely stemmed from a Trump promise, even if Trump could not, or even, would not tell him for what position he had in mind for Christie.
Christie has been at Trump’s beck and call anytime Trump needed his lapdog’s aid. Last night was no exception.
The Republicans booed Cruz offstage once he failed to endorse Trump in his speech. Republicans were furious at Trump and Christie was right there for him. CNN’s Dana Bash interviewed Christie post-speech where he bashed Cruz for not upholding the oath of the Republican party to back the nominee, no matter the personal grievances, and of course, Cruz has many against Trump. Christie bellowed that Cruz’s speech “awful” and “selfish.”
It might be reasonable to assume that in hindsight Christie was embarrassed — or maybe even sorry — for what he did to Mitt Romney in 2012 at the RNC. It is interesting to think why he has such an allegiance to Donald Trump in 2016, while disrespecting Romney as a keynote speaker in 2012.
Maybe Christie knows his time will soon come to an end on the state level and his only desperate hope is a cabinet position, forcing himself to be Trump’s lapdog — no matter how hypocritical it seems.