Chris Christie on Trump: “He doesn't care about the American people. he's putting himself first…This next administration of Donald Trump as president will be all about retribution for him personally, is that the show we want to watch?” pic.twitter.com/KbVoBul0SQ
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 4, 2024
Chris Christie — and he would probably admit this, cheerfully, on camera — is an attention whore. I’m glad he’s (back to) calling out the man he once hoped would make him vice president; I’m even gladder he turned down No Labels when it might have encouraged those grifters to keep sucking up media attention.
On the other hand, he’s yet to earn a Profiles in Courage award. His apostasy makes a tingle run up the leg of Politico race-horse tout Jonathan Martin, but the answer to the question “Why Hasn’t Biden Called Chris Christie?” is that it’s only April, and that means we’ve got five or six more months of Christie grandstanding to come.
A much better argument, from Tom Moran at the Star-Ledger — “Will Christie vote for Biden? Logic demands it”:
… If you believe, as Christie does, that Trump is an unhinged maniac with a knife at the throat of American democracy, then why not swallow hard and vote for Biden?…
When Christie left the race in January, he vowed that he would never vote for Trump “under any circumstances.” But he added that, “I can’t see myself voting for President Biden, either.”
And so, he joins other refugees from Trump world, like former Vice President Mike Pence, who can’t bring themselves to support Biden. Also in that camp are Sen. Mitt Romney, the GOP’s presidential nominee in 2012, William Barr, the former attorney general, Mark Esper, the former defense secretary, and of course, former Rep. Liz Cheney, the unlikely heroine of this era.
The problem with their middle ground is simple math: If they want to stop Trump, a Biden vote is worth twice as much as a protest vote…
If you put Christie’s statements under a microscope, you can find reasons to hope he will come around and endorse Biden, as former Gov. Christie Whitman did in 2020. He ruled out voting for Trump absolutely; but he stopped shy of that on Biden, saying that he “can’t see” it right now.
Maybe he just needs time to move this decision from his heart to his head.
That, finally, would clear him of culpability in creating this national nightmare. He was, remember, the first major Republican to endorse Trump in 2016. And he stuck with him during the entire first term, even after Trump talked about the “fine people” in the KKK, after he spread his poisonous nonsense during the pandemic, after he blackmailed Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden. He helped Trump prepare for the 2020 debates with Biden.
Christie saw the light on election night, when he declared Biden the legitimate winner on national TV. He broke cleanly from Trump after Jan. 6, and ran for president against Trump with the determination of a kamikaze pilot.
So, his place in the history books is not yet settled. A Biden endorsement just might tip the balance in his favor.
Dear Chris Christie
You made the right move turning down No Labels. You're on roll. Don't stop now. It's time to say his name…. it's Joe Biden. It'll feel great, I promise. Join us. pic.twitter.com/ZCybENduz4— AntifaKate???? (@antifakate) March 29, 2024
NotMax
Honorable mention for best movie line of dialogue encountered this evening.
“What am I supposed to do about it? People are too scared to shtup.”
;)
Jay
Not this Asshole again,……..
Cue visual.
VFX Lurker
Saw a free screening of Dev Patel’s Monkey Man tonight. Violent, beautiful film.
It also had more positive trans representation than I’ve seen in any other mainstream action film. Darned awesome.
NotMax
Anyone ever been in or gone through Missouri City, Texas? Only asking because a package containing a single item ordered from Amazon arrived there and proceeded to settle in for over 5 days this past week. Best guess is to take in the sights and sounds of that burg.
;)
NotMax
@VFX Lurker
Saw a trailer. Much too bloody violent for this codger’s equilibrium. As always, YMMV.
mrmoshpotato
Meh.
Not sure who to cheer for tomorrow night (tonight?).
But, Go Hawkeyes on Sunday!
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Maybe it was just confused about what state it was in.
opiejeanne
@NotMax: There was something on the news recently about a particular post office in Texas that has a massive backlog of packages, just piles of boxes of all sizes, that are waiting to be delivered.
Chet Murthy
@opiejeanne: I mailed a letter using certified mail, across the country, and it took two weeks (ffs) to get to its destination. Just shocking. DeJoy is really destroying the USPS.
SpaceUnit
The media trying to resurrect Christie’s career is a joke. His political fortunes are on a par with Mike Pence’s.
Just endorse RFK Jr. and fuck off already. Thank you for your service.
mrmoshpotato
@SpaceUnit: Couldn’t Mr. Bridgegate just fuck off?
mrmoshpotato
@Chet Murthy: I never got my vote-by-mail ballot for our primary election. Thankfully, my polling place is pretty close.
But still…
m.j.
Is there any way to weaponize the term, “rino?”
Republicans pretend to be masculine. They like big things. Walls. Trucks. Guns. Flags.
I want a GOP civil war.
Rhino.
SpaceUnit
@mrmoshpotato:
He’ll probably be a regular commentator on NBC or some other prominent media platform. Because of course he will.
But fuck him.
Chet Murthy
@mrmoshpotato: May I ask in which state ?
Steeplejack
@Chet Murthy:
I believe mrmoshpotato lives in Chicago.
janesays
A Biden vote isn’t really worth twice as much for most of them, because none of their states will be remotely competitive. Biden is gonna run away with New Jersey (Christie), and get smoked in Utah (Romney) and Wyoming (Cheney). I don’t care enough to look up the home states of Barr or Esper. But anyway… how these people vote doesn’t really matter. What matters much more than actually voting for Biden for any of these people is telling people they intend to vote for Biden, and giving other reluctant Never Trump Republicans permission to do the same.
HumboldtBlue
Late night open thread means drug advertisements, don’t it?
NotMax
@
Chet? is this something new?
mrmoshpotato
@Chet Murthy: I’m in Illinois.
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue: These days any time of the day means drug ads.
Haha, that was great! And no modern forms of leperosy! Excellent!
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
Bruce K in ATH-GR
How does the saying go? Faith without works is nothing? Well, Christie’s words are worth nothing without works to back them up. And I’m not exactly holding my breath waiting for an epiphany from someone who’s having difficulty deciding when the choice is between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Baud
@janesays:
Agreed. People tell themselves swing state voters will do the right thing and people everywhere else don’t have to model good behavior. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.
lowtechcyclist
@janesays:
This. The wingnut anti-Dem propaganda would be comical if it only had a fringe audience, but probably 45% of the population has absorbed the propaganda that all Demon-rats are evil socialist baby-killers, so if Dump is also that evil, the only choice is to not vote for either one.
People like Cheney and Christie and Pence need to help the small fraction of reachable voters in that 45% see voting for Biden as an acceptable choice. And it would almost certainly move some of the low-info swing voters in swing states, which is what we really need.
If they want to save democracy, they need to stop being purity ponies and say they’re gonna vote for Biden.
Baud
Glad no one was hurt and hope they catch the guy soon.
lowtechcyclist
@David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch:
Sorry, Caitlin, but I’ll be rooting for the Gamecocks.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
👍
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
That’s really good. Thanks.
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
@lowtechcyclist: I always knew you were chicken
Baud
Via Reddit, VGER lives maybe)
NotMax
Baud
“So long, and thanks for all the
fishchips.”p.a.
“There are no second acts in American lives” because people like Christie never get off the fucking stage.
lowtechcyclist
@David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch:
I’ve a mind to throw something and make you duck. ;-)
Princess
Christie was a huge disappointment. He entered the primary ostensibly to stop Trump then pulled most of his punches and never landed a real blow (see Biden with Giuliani or Warren with Bloomberg for examples of what that looks like). Nikki Haley, who I think is mostly fine with Trump and is just ambitious for herself, did a better job in the end.
Baud
@Princess:
Agreed. Maybe if Trump were a school teacher, Christie’s heart would have been in it.
lowtechcyclist
@p.a.:
I don’t blame him for continuing to seek the limelight; the problem is the media’s desperate search for the chimerical ‘reasonable Republican.’
Gin & Tonic
@David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch: Credit the zebras with a crucial assist.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud: It amazes me that even the possibility exists of resuscitating Voyager 1. It’s billions of miles outside the solar system, it’s been gone for 46 years, it runs on 1970s tech…it’s amazing that it kept on sending back data as long as it did, let alone that NASA’s people might figure out a way to get it operational again.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
The 8 Track tapes onboard are still playing David Bowie’s Space Oddity on a continuous loop.
Geminid
Bill Burns is back in Cairo. He is meeting once again with his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts as well as Qatari Trime Minister Al-Thani. They are trying to hammer out a truce in Gaza with a hostage/prisoner exchange. These negotiations are indirect, with the Egyptians and Qataris in touch with Hamss representatives in Cairo and presumably in Gaza also.
Axios reporter had a story yesterday on this titled, “CIA director to to travel to Cairo for Gaza hostage talks”:
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/05/israel-gaza-hostage-talks-cairo-cia
Seems like I botched the link. It’s good article so I’ll try again.
Baud
@Geminid:
Putting side what Israel wants, not sure what incentive Hamas has to negotiate at this point.
Chet Murthy
@mrmoshpotato: i asked because if it had been a red state, I would have wondered about malfeasance on the part of the state election authorities. I know that in Texas it’s extremely hard to get an absentee ballot, for instance.
Kay
Kaine, along with Pelosi yesterday, is a big shift.
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
“Try turning it off and back on again.”
;)
Tony Jay
Christie had a perfect opportunity to flense Stinky Pants every time he opened his mouth during the Republican Not-Real-Candidates debates. It would have been so easy given the amount of material he had to work with to ridicule the malign bastard’s self-serving term in office, but he didn’t land a single solid blow. He had an entire stage and a microphone and Donald Fucking Trump’s entire legacy of catastrophic failure as leader of the Republican Party to aim at… and he whiffed it.
He had one job, and anyone here could have done it better.
TBone
Alvin Bragg and Leticia James double teaming in New York State while Jack Smith and Fani Willis continue to also fuck with his head is a delight. I wake up each day knowing that, even on my worst days, I’m still feeling better than that diseased, rotting boil on the ass of politics is.
Geminid
@Baud: I think the pressure to agree to this truce is pretty intense, and might persuade Hamas to go along.
President Biden had personal letters delivered to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urges them to push this ceasefire through, and I think they want the truce also. But like much of this negotiation, the incentives and/or threats they’re presenting yo Hamas are not reported.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also pressed Hamas on this matter, and they are in a position to offer both incentives and threats. Iran and Russia on the other hand may be encouraging Hamas to hang tough because they know this war is a big problem for the US.
NotMax
@Tony Jay
Asa Hutchinson also attempted this but to the MSM he may as well have been the invisible man.
Kay
@Tony Jay:
Republicans are genuinely afraid of him. I think it’s because Trump has dirt on all of them – only the cleanest Republicans – Romney, Murkowski- dare to oppose him. It should be seen as an indicator of corruption. The more corrupt, the more loyal to big mouth who knows all the dirt in the GOP.
NotMax
@Kay
An endless parade of dead girls and live boys?
//
Baud
@Geminid:
One hopes there’s pressure behind the scenes from the Arab states. Still seems like it’ll be a miracle. Both Bibi and Hamas seem to prefer conflict over the alternative, as is the manner amongst right wingers.
Tony G
Wow, Chris Christie. As a lifelong resident of New Jersey, I can attest that Christ Christie was a terrible governor, and is a lousy human being. But I have to give him credit for attacking Trump.
Kay
@NotMax:
Christie started out great guns then choked. Some Trump thug got to him. He has dirt on all of them and they know he’ll use it.
Kay
@Tony Jay:
The single most depressing thing about Trump has been finding out how many cowards there are.
A lot.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Cracked me up!
Raven
@Gin & Tonic: It was clearly an offensive foul .
“I thought we executed [the play] well and were going to get a shot off,” said Bueckers. “I was just trying to come off the screen. Everyone can make a big deal about that one single play, but not one single play wins a basketball game or loses a basketball game
NotMax
@Tony G
Arbitrarily canceling the Hudson River tunnel project was (and is) a stupid, stupid ploy.
Geminid
@Geminid: I will try the link to the Axios story again:
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/05/israel-gaza-hostage-talks-cairo-cia
This one works.
Princess
@Baud: That, I think, is a central problem. Neither Hamas nor the Netanyahu government has an interest in saving Palestinian lives in Gaza. You could argue Netanyahu has no interest in saving the hostages either. This is what really binds Biden’s efforts.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
All too true. And each know they can keep the conflict going as long as the other is in power. It’s like a mutual aid society against moderates
ETA: And what Princess said.
Princess
@Kay: Kaine, that commie red rose progressive squish.
I agree. When I saw Pelosi had signed, my thought was, that’s the ballgame. I don’t know how she feels about the Middle East but I know she knows how to count votes at home.
Tony Jay
@Kay:
But… but… don’t they know that they’re just empowering those Eeeeebil Pwogwessive Bwos who are being paid by Russia to divide the Democrats and make it impossible to challenge the fascist Right?
Clearly Pelosi and Kaine don’t understand grown-up politics and need to be issued a snide nickname and dismissed from the ranks of the righteous few. At this rate the Inner Party core who can be trusted to understand who the real enemy are will be down to the usual suspects and that cardboard cutout of Flawless Joe they’ve erected out of factional spite and the need to never admit they’re wrong.
artem1s
yea but then the sweet, sweet TV cash dries up. once he announces who he supports he’s admitting the horse race is over. if he really had any conscience about it he’d not only announce he supports Biden, he’d talk about the pretense of MSM’s obsession with perpetuating the horse race. I expect Pence to be clueless about what is really going on. Darth Jr’s only objection to TIFG and J6 is that he’s screwing her chance at running the WH from the VP seat just like daddy did. so many of these ‘tough guy’ GOPers had real chances of taking Donnie Doll Hands down but in the end they are all loud mouth bullies just like he is.
The TV grifters are in it for the long haul and will always be among us. another disaster foisted on us by the Roberts court when he decided money is speech. Assholes.
Princess
@Geminid: Will Hamas need Iran to give them the go ahead to make a deal? Is Iran inclined to do that at this moment? I feel like both Iran and Hamas are benefitting from the situation on the ground more than they are losing, still.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
There’s no doubt in my mind that Pelosi and Kaine will be 100% in support of Biden’s reelection.
Tony Jay
@Princess:
Yup. The long term policy of Likud and their allies of convenience in Hamas to eliminate any moderate civil leadership amongst Palestinians has reached endless blowback stage. Any hopes of ending the cycle of violence need those people, but they’re all either in Israeli jails or shallow graves.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
Nor in mine. Never was.
Kay
@Princess:
Pelosi would be the sense of the House on voter sentiment, true, but Kaine is a big foreign policy gun. If he says it’s not working, it’s not working. Kaine is policy so in terms of moving the Biden Administration he matters more.
I figured Congress would eventually step up. It is part of their constitutional role, after all, and Biden has been getting around them. Getting around them because of Republicans blocking, but still.
Geminid
@Princess: I don’t think Iran can stop Hamas from agreeing to a truce. Iran can encourage them not to, but I don’t think they can control Hamas in this matter.
Princess
@Baud: It wouldn’t shock me if the Biden admin has quietly authorized Pelosi and Kaine and likely more to come to put pressure on the admin. These people are known to the Israelis and it’s a strong signal to them it’s time to get serious.
RevRick
@HumboldtBlue: Elle Cordova does some hilarious stuff with fonts and search engines.
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
2009 really showed the extent to which the Rethugs were willing to put party over country. Just to keep the Dems from having accomplishments to point to, they killed the tunnel, a whole bunch of high-speed rail projects in the Northeast, Midwest, and Florida, and other stuff that I’ve long since forgotten.
We could be 15 years into extending HSR in this country instead of at zero, and of course the NYC area would hugely benefit from that tunnel. IIRC, the existing tunnels are all ancient.
RevRick
@Kay: I think Republicans are genuinely afraid of their sick, fanatical, gun-packing supporters. If they don’t toe the line, they get death threats.
Hoodie
@Tony Jay: So your point is? I’m sure there is one, but the caffeine hasn’t quite kicked in.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
And that’s really my only red line (as much as I detest that phrase).
Kay
@Princess:
Im really pleased
the make shift port isn’t going to be up until May – 20s of thousands will starve unless the US gets a truly massive of aid in
they have to move. We’re good at that, though, our armed forces.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: After California’s troubled high speed rail project, the next two most promising high speed rail proposals are service from Houston to Dallas and from Charlotte to Atlanta. That one would terminate at Hartsfield-Jackson airport and link to Atlanta’s extensive MARTA system.
Either project would require more federal funding than is in the pipeline so we’ll likely need an Infrastructure 2.0 bill to make them happen. I expect Congressional Democrats are already drawing one up.
Ed. The Infrastructure bill allocated $60+ billion to Amtrak for capital improvements. That money will mainly go to improving existing service and expanding the service map, which remained static while the nation’s population grew by over 120 million people.
Tony Jay
@Hoodie:
That with stalwarts like Pelosi and Kaine coming out against arming the IDF and basically saying Israel is waging war on civilians, the one-note chorus calling for factional war against the Left of the Democratic Party should wind their neck in.
Won’t happen. But it would be nice.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
It’s a good red line, where elected representatives of and senior figures in the Democratic Party are concerned. With you 100% on that.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
Every person. No exceptions.
Joey Maloney
@Tony Jay:
and Israelis.
sab
Somebody should remind Christie (and Pence) that they are undoubtedly at the top of Trump’s retribution list.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tony Jay: Actually, they are going to argue that anti-Democratic “leftists” are going to say that it is too little too late. That would be because their argument is that this group of “leftists” was only interested in Gaza as a weapon against Democrats.
sab
@NotMax: No, just money bribes. American and foreign (Russian.)
linnen
@m.j.:
“Democrats in Disarray” gets more love from the MBA’s running the media outlets. Even when they aren’t and the Republicans actually are.
Hoodie
@lowtechcyclist: OT, over a few beers with a friend last night I was discussing the whole deferred public investment thing and its possible relationship to the enduring Biden boom. We’ve had decades of deferred investment in infrastructure post Reagan and it’s been perpetrated by mainstream GOP pols like Christie. The country hasn’t had a good old fashioned Keynesian stimulus like this in decades except for military spending, which is probably less effective because of fewer knock on effects. Guys like Christie may be reluctant to endorse Biden precisely because they sense he’s succeeding in overcoming their entire political project, which lies in exploiting a particularly short-sighted, penny wise/pound foolish type of self interest.
Hoodie
@Tony Jay: That’s what I thought you might be saying, but respectfully wonder if your perception of that is colored by what’s happening with Labour in the UK. I’m not sure the US center left of the Democratic Party is all that analogous.
Tony Jay
@Hoodie:
You could well be right on that. It’s really hard not to see spiteful centre-right factionalism in action over there when I see more or less the exact same spiteful centre-right factionalism in action over here, with the difference being it’s a bespoke minority obsession in the Democratic ranks while it’s official top-down policy within newnewlabourinc.
I’m sure the proof will be in the pudding when the usual suspects get around to responding, or not, to this move by Pelosi, Kaine, etc.
All that aside, it’s bloody good news. The Lady of the Hammer always knows which way the numbers are falling, and if she thinks it’s time to accept that Israel can’t be trusted with big-boy toys and that something serious needs to be done about it…
Tony Jay
Baud:
Noted, voted, agreed. The motion stands.
@Joey Maloney:
Good correction. Yes, and Israelis.
@Omnes Omnibus:
Very likely, after scrabbling around through the online ratfucker community looking for ‘evidence’. Some obsessions just can’t be kicked.
Kay
@Tony Jay:
Sanders is doing a big push with young people – started last night.
Our Enemy :)
mrmoshpotato
@Chet Murthy:
Gotcha. Got an email that my ballot was put in the mail at the end of February for our mid-March primary. Checked my mailbox everyday for 2 weeks.
Jim Appleton
Not Trump R leaders: “He must not win, but I solemnly leave it to others to keep him from doing so. Amen.”
Tony Jay
@Kay:
He’s probably just grooming them. /s
UncleEbeneezer
@Tony Jay: Pelosi and Kaine are quite clear that at the end of the day we all need to vote for Biden. Period. They aren’t encouraging people not to vote. They aren’t threatening not to vote for Biden. They aren’t making bullshit, false equivalences between Biden and Trump. They aren’t claiming that your feelings on any single issue are more important than winning in November. They aren’t threatening to throw us all under the bus. They aren’t derailing every conversation about Protecting Democracy, Voting Rights, Abortion, LGBTQ Rights and to focus only on Gaza. They aren’t echoing Russian talking points. They are illustrating that you can have serious criticisms of US policy in Gaza and voice them without encouraging voter apathy or in any way diminishing the importance of voting for Biden in November. That’s how it’s done.
Josie
@UncleEbeneezer:
Precisely.
Torrey
@Tony Jay:
This is the title I will use for Nancy Pelosi going forward.
K-Mo
And the winners of this comment section are:
Jay @2
SpaceUnit @10 and @14
Princess @35
and
TonyJay @46
He’s a lousy human being and a negative ton the country.
Tony Jay
@UncleEbeneezer:
Yes, they’re not ratfucking creeps. They’re successful, professional politicians who know how to read a room and work strategically towards a goal.
But mate, if you’re falling into the trap of painting every single person who opposes the Administration’s current policy (policies) towards Israel’s Gaza campaign (and Israel/Palestine in general) as the ratfucking creeps you describe in your comment, how does that help to win their votes in November, or ever, at all?
Point at the ratfuckers. Name them. Shame them. But if the only hand you extend to thousands of young and ME-heritage Americans who are angry over this issue is a swinging backhand… that’s not good politics, is it?
Citizen Alan
@Chet Murthy: That is disturbing to read about since I just mail the check for $1600 dollars across the country through certified mail.
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
@K-Mo: I demand a recount @30
Citizen Alan
@RevRick: Yeah, it’s really sad when your blood-thirsty monster runs amok and terrorizes everyone, including you, its creator, in exactly the way everyone warned you it was going to when you started assembling it.
Citizen Alan
@Omnes Omnibus: If those leftists come out and say exactly that, will it be proof that they really do see gaza only as a weapon against the democrats?
wjca
There may be something to be said for them waiting to do that until September or so. When the disengaged will bw be starting to pay attention. It might have more impact that way.
Omnes Omnibus
@Citizen Alan: You will have to ask the people making that argument.
Tony Jay
@Citizen Alan:
Sure. That would be absolutely fair.
If….
1) If ‘Those Leftists’ are identified. People deserve to know who the dickheads are and how dangerous their shit is.
2) If 99.9% of people who identify as being ‘On the Left’ don’t actually do that, there’s a good faith attempt made to differentiate between the faux-Left ratfuckariat and the many, many people who are genuinely angry that it’s taken this long for their country to stop funding the security forces of a country that’s been pulling shit like this for a long time without much if any pushback.
Otherwise, that’s just a wedge issue being handed to the Right with complementary hammer and a pamphlet on effective rodent copulation attached.
Subsole
@Baud: Bibi is basically giving carte blanche to Ben Gvir and Smotrich in desperate hopes they will keep his sorry ass out out of prison by keeping his coalition in power.
Hamas? Hamas is simply staying loyal to their charter. Itbah al yahud. Damn the casualties. Send us more aid money.