As I stated on The Editors podcast, I think Chris Christie could be a major factor in the Republican nominating contest as he enters the race. I’m just not sure how. Most commentators dismiss him, thinking he missed his chance in 2012, then underperformed in 2016. Or they disdain him for being among the first and most important endorsers of Donald Trump in 2016, only to eventually publicly conclude that Donald Trump was unfit.
Sometimes people miss a chance, and it comes around again. And contradictions in a long public career are common in public life, no matter how much logic-choppers like us detest them.
After Trump, Christie has by far the most combative executive personality in the race. That’s an asset. He’s a blue-state governor who does not have any of the electoral downsides that prevent more-Evangelical style candidates from doing well in the Midwest. That’s also an asset. He can be memorable and combative on the stage.
The question is whether he finds his groove in going after Donald Trump, or going after Ron DeSantis. Likely one line of attack will work better than the other, and he’ll go with what works. It’s hard to predict which that will be. On the one side, Donald Trump is still more popular nationwide with Republicans than Ron DeSantis is. On the other hand, more Republicans when polled are implacably opposed to Trump.
If Ron DeSantis is a generational-change candidate, and a Covid-catharsis candidate, I take Chris Christie to be a “change the subject entirely” candidate — one who would help us all write off the last decade of American life as a misbegotten adventure we’d all rather put behind us.