And It's Chris Christie, Coming Off The Top Rope--
And It's Chris Christie, Coming Off The Top Rope--
Picture if you will, a WWE extravaganza featuring a grudge match between two super-heavyweights (literally) in which one wrestling star is just play-acting for the audience, and the other is not acting at all. The non-acting wrestler despises his opponent and is out to hurt him. Instead of a prop, he uses a real metal chair to bash his head in, and then does a step-over toe hold followed by a sleeper hold in order to choke out his opponent for real.
The guy that's acting never knew what hit him. This is what happened today. And it is very, very interesting.
Now, I already hear you thinking, "Chris Christie, that jerk, that corrupt opportunist and super-ambitious Republican flesh blob whose campaign for President stands as much chance of succeeding as him being invited to a Kushner family Bar Mitzvah, that Chris Christie?" "The frozen Wooley Mammoth that somebody defrosted and then cloned his DNA in order to reanimate and elect him as Governor of North Jersey?" (He hates Philly, their sports teams and the fans, so I choose to not recognize him as Guv of South Jersey) Well, honestly, I know this obese and flatulent chunk of political residue better than I want to, and I feel the same way. Herman Melville wrote a novel about this theme once, the story of a big white fish and his running mate, named Ahab. They "bottomed out" and it all ended badly, as will Christie's campaign. But...
But, in the words of the immortal Gomer Pyle, "surprise, surprise, surprise," the flabulous ex-Governor must have had a Cranial Bypass procedure to go with his Gastric one, and an actual useful thought was able to pass through entirely.
He went after Trump on Russia. RUSSIA!
He totally broke the rules, he kicked the game board off the table, and said what no self-identified big-wig Republican has ever said, nor will likely ever say. He said in response to Trump's town meeting statement on Ukraine that Trump is a "puppet" of Vladimir Putin.
Now, this is a BFD. It is a seismic event, a tectonic shift every bit as eventful as when Christie fell out of bed one time, and set into motion New Jersey's last Tsunami. It is important however to think through the implications of it, and cut through the hoopla.
There will be some theories thrown about for why he chose this line of attack, and why now. Revenge for example. Trump gave Christie covid by hiding his positive test, and entering into close proximity with him during his debate prep for Biden in late 2020. Or, because he has an older grudge, in having been promised a cabinet post and then having it pulled because Jared Kushner wishes death on him, having prosecuted and jailed his father Charles Kushner. Trump has frequently attacked Christie personally in response to valid criticism, subjecting him to threats and harassment. And finally, Christie being Italian-American and former US Attorney knows everything about Trump's mob connections in New York, and wants his own brand of justice.
Well that's all very nice, and explains his opposition to Trump up to this point, but none of it accounts for him doing THIS.
Think about it. He's not only attacking his policy, his personality, and his corruption for that matter. He is saying that Trump is an agent of a hostile foreign power, and by implication that our enemy, Vladimir Putin controls the likely next Republican Presidential nominee, and the political party which he leads. Whoooaaa boy! It is an act of political Hari Kiri which goes beyond anything done by Liz Cheney, Lisa Murkowski, Adam Kinzinger, Mitt Romney, or anyone in the GOP establishment. Christie may or may not continue his campaign, but his days as a Republican and a candidate are over. Totally. He threw himself on the sword, or the harpoon as it were, or whatever would be stout enough to go through. It's a very B.F.D. indeed.
It is big because it is a strategic attack, which comes from a place which is not entirely personal, and must necessarily involve some other higher level faction of the establishment giving him the go-ahead. I strongly suspect Rupert Murdoch has a hand in this, and not just to boost DeSantis either.
Murdoch is attempting massive damage control at the moment in the aftermath of Dominion, and the firing of Tucker Carlson. Almost certainly there are redacted and still unreleased texts implicating Fox and Carlson in acts of agentry on behalf of Putin, and Murdoch I believe is trying to disentangle himself from this legacy as he does extensive "cleanup" of his son's network, and tries to build plausible deniability on Russia's historic use of Fox News hosts.
Murdoch would have no beneficent motives in initiating such an attack on Trump, but he is capable of doing it anyway for reasons of self-interest.
So, Chris Christie, former prosecutor, former Governor, former friend and collaborator of Trump, was delegated, in my view to play the "Russia Card" against Trump, because in addition to being all of these things, he is and always has been an establishment attack dog. Or attack whale, as rare a thing as that might seem.
This story of course is tangentially related to other ongoing narratives, and there is no denying that. All of the investigations, criminal and civil trials, the Presidential campaign, the Ukraine invasion by Russia, and not least the factor of personal animosity. But make no mistake, this is a strategic move, and there will be more like it coming now that someone has busted through Trump's vulnerable flank like a tank brigade. And Christie has, like a tank, indeed made a very wide hole.
The Oligarchy which groomed and enabled Trump is facing their own version of a "Frankenstein problem." They've created a monster which has gotten out of their control which now threatens them, and they don't have confidence that the current array of court cases against him are enough to get rid of him. Playing the Russia card might be their Ace card in trying to get him under control or finish him, the one thing which Trump fears the most, and where he is most exposed. The one thing which up until today no Republican would dare say.
Trump belongs to Putin. The words no one has had the guts to utter throughout the many months of the January 6th hearings, or any legal investigation since.
So, picture Chris Christie in the ring, wearing wrestling tights. (ugh, forget that, start over) Anyway, picture Christie the prosecutor, smelling blood in the water with Trump in the witness stand cross examining him under oath. This, my friends, is round one. And it's going to get even more interesting from here on.
For this, Ima gonna make some Popcorn, you betcha'.
