Finishing sixth at 7.4% in the New Hampshire Primary Feb. 9, 53-yer-old New Jersey Gov. Christie threw in the towel Feb. 10, returning home to figure things out. When Christie watched Trump win South Carolina Feb. 20 and Nevada Feb. 23, he saw the handwriting on the walls: Trump was the best suited GOP candidate to beat Democratic front-runner, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. “There is no one better prepared to provide America with the strong leadership it needs,” said Christie, endorsing Trump today in Fort Worth, Texas. Christie’s endorsement helps Trump’s steamroller heading to Super Tuesday where 14 states divvy up 595 of the total 2,472 GOP delegates, only 1,237 needed to win the nomination. Calling Trump as clear “stand out” and “strong, tough leader who will restore America’s greatness,” Christie refutes Trump’s remaining rivals.
Calling Trump a “con artist” who is “wholly unprepared” for the presidency, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) continued to lash out like he did in last night’s CNN GOP debate at the University of Houston. Faced with a certain end to his campaign, Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) lashed out at Trump hoping for traction. Post-debate polls that count, especially the conservative Drudgereport with over 500,000 participants, show Trump beating Rubio and Cruz by over 20%. Wedged between Rubio and Cruz on the debate stage, Trump took Rubio and Cruz’s best shots, watching blow-after-blow bounce off. Only the media and GOP establishment gave Rubio and Cruz kudos, knowing that the end is near on Super Tuesday. Calling Trump a “con artist” marks a disgraceful bottom for Rubio, comparing a cash-strapped junior senator from Florida to a titan of American business.
When Christie cross-examined Rubio in the Feb. 9 ABC News New Hampshire debate about his lack of readiness for president, he looked like a punch-drunk boxer, repeating himself like a broken robot. Trump observed Rubio drenched in sweat, looking like someone in a panic attack. “I thought he was going to die,” Trump recalled about Rubio’s condition on stage Feb. 9 in Manchester, N.H. “He was sweating so badly. I have never seen anything like it,” said Trump. “Once a choker, always a choker,” said Trump, to a nodding Christie. Christie’s endorsement offers Trump mainstream GOP backing, prompting Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to insist his Party accepts the will of GOP voters. Of all the 17 GOP candidates running for president, none were more savvy than Christie, telling voters the junior senators weren’t ready for president.
Endorsing Trump today, Christie returns to the limelight, now subject of speculation where he fits into a Trump presidency. Chrsite’s political skills prompted former GOP nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to consider him for VP in 2012. Had Romney picked Christie, and not Tea Party favorite House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), he’d would have given President Barack Obama a run for his money. Whether admitted to or not, Christie’s now the odds on favorite for VP, not, as some suggest, for attorney general. Of all the candidates in the GOP field other than Trump, Christie had the most energy and political skill. Formerly heading the GOP Governors’ Assn., Christie commands respect with the GOP establishment. Rubio and Cruz spend too much time in debates and campaign rallies ripping Trump, hoping at some point to gain traction. So far, it’s backfired.
Christie called Trump’s campaign historic, rewriting the political playbook. “I can guarantee you that the one person that Hillary and Bill Clinton do not want to see on that stage come next September is Donald Trump,” said Christie. Rubio and Cruz both insist they’re the true conservatives, not realizing that train has left the station. When Trump took on Fox News in the first GOP debate Aug. 6, he’d didn’t know he’d be changing the 2016 GOP landscape. Since 1996, Fox News President Roger Ailes set the agenda for conservatives, pushing the Party too far to the right for mainstream voters, especially independents. What scares Hillary the most is Trump’s appeal to independents, fed up with Washington’s partisan gridlock. Christie believes Trump’s new brand of conservatism resonates with today’s Democratic, GOP and independent voters looking for something new.
Endorsing Trump only four days before Super Tuesday, Christie slammed the door on Rubio and Cruz whose campaigns haven’t generated too much excitement. Trump’s whopping margins of victory in the last three primaries speak volumes about what lies ahead. When Cruz and Rubio tout themselves as the true conservative, voters have rejected their pitches going for Trump. “They know how to run the standard playbook against junior senators and run them around the block. They do not know the playbook against Donald Trump because he is rewriting the playbook. He is rewriting the playbook of American politics,” said Christie. Christie sees what others saw when President Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980. He sees a growing national movement, expressed in voters’ discontent, to end the damaging right wing stranglehold on the Republican Party.
