Immediately after Chris Christie's surprise endorsement of Donald Trump, pundits began trying to explain it. How could the New Jersey Governor troll Trump one week and support him the next, they asked. The interviews that Christie has done since the announcement shed light on some answers.In every interview, his first move is to try to duck his seemingly insurmountable stumble. But, if pressed, he says two important things. First, on the issue of substantive differences, the Governor does not try to rationalize them. Instead he maintains that his ideas are better and that the interviewer should ask Trump why he's not using Christie's policy fixes. That showed integrity.
Second, he explains his decision as an endorsement of the best candidate left in the race. But, aren't they all? This clear non-answer serves a couple of purposes. Politically speaking, it makes him sound like he answered the question, even if it took three tries. At a practical level, it virtually guarantees the end of the discussion of that topic, as the time allotted for the segment has certainly elapsed by then and the interviewer must move on. Its an old trick.
My meditation on manipulation by politicians was quickly, er... trumped if you will, by my suspicion that Christie was being opportunistic. Then the Donald commented on the matter, and everything fell into place. You see, he quoted Christie as saying, Donald, you've started a movement and I want to be a part of it. THIS is the real reason for Governor Christie's endorsement of Trump. THIS is the reason he could pivot from maligning Trump to mugging for the camera with him. THIS is the reason that Christie is dodgy when asked for an explanation. THIS IS OPPORTUNISM.
And I thought he had integrity...
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