My Facebook newsfeed was blown up Friday with articles saying how surprising it is that Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump for President. A big government, establishment Republican governor with no principles and a terrible record just endorsed a former Democrat who’s held multiple positions on almost every issue and still leans left on several of them.. shocking. I’ve read outrageous claims that this endorsement “legitimizes” Trump’s candidacy. If anything it makes him look worse, or at least it should to anyone who cares about fiscal conservatism and limited government

Christie enjoys a not so healthy snack during an appearance on Late Night With David Letterman.

      

     Before he launched his presidential campaign and lurched to the right to pretend he was conservative; Chris Christie spoke of bipartisanship, compromise and reaching across the aisle. His philosophy was basically this: “It doesn’t really matter what happens, but we just need to get things done!” In real Trumporian fashion he preached the importance of making deals and boasted about his special abilities as a deal making wizard.  

     Let’s go over what else New Jersey’s governor and the New York real estate mogul have in common. Christie funded Planned Parenthood. Trump is an outspoken supporter of Planned Parenthood. “You can say whatever you want, but they have millions of women going through Planned Parenthood who are helped greatly,” he said during the CBS Debate in South Carolina. In a 1999 interview with Tim Russert, Trump described himself as “very pro-choice”.

         Chris Christie betrayed the principles he never had by expanding Medicaid in New Jersey under Obamacare. The Heritage Foundation estimates that over the next six years this expansion by Christie will cost New Jersey taxpayers about $1.7 billion, and cost federal taxpayers a hefty $25 billion. Donald Trump has also shown support for government mandated universal health care. During a CNN townhall a couple weeks ago, Anderson Cooper asked Trump about his opinion on the individual mandate under Obamacare that requires people to get insurance or pay a fine. Trump responded, “Well, I like the mandate. OK. So here’s where I’m a little bit different. I don’t want people dying on the streets, and I say this all the time.”

           Chris Christie selfishly showed a blatant lack of concern for the outcome of the 2012 presidential race by appearing in a photo op with President Obama just days before the general election. The photo op created the illusion that the President was putting partisan politics aside to help clean up the disaster left behind by Hurricane Sandy. Christie heavily praised Obama for providing federal funding and resources to the hurricane relief efforts. “He’s done — as far as I’m concerned — a great job for New Jersey,” Christie said of Obama. Steve Doocy of Fox News asked Christie about the possibility of appearing at flood related events with Mitt Romney. Christie responded that he had floods to take care of, adding, “If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics then you don’t know me.” Donald Trump also has a history of screwing over Republicans. From 2001-2009 Trump was a member of the Democrat Party. He has donated over half a million dollars to more than 20 Democrat politicians including Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden, Anthony Weiner and John Kerry. The media refers to Trump as “anti-establishment”. Yet during the last midterm election Trump donated $2600 to Mitch McConnell for his primary race and another $2600 for his general election campaign, which is the maximum amount an individual can legally give to a campaign.

       “Chris, look, I’ll give you a ribbon for participation. And a juice box. But in the real world, it’s about results,” Bobby Jindal.

      Christie poses for pictures with Obama in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

       During a Fox Business Debate, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal substantively exposed Governor Christie’s record of reckless spending and expanding government. Here’s the video. My favorite part of the exchange was the moment Jindal looked at Christie and said, “Chris, look, I’ll give you a ribbon for participation. And a juice box. But in the real world, it’s about results. It’s about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending.”

            After the New Hampshire debate many news outlets misconstrued what happened between Marco Rubio and Chris Christie. They portrayed it like Rubio ran off the stage crying. Yet in terms of substance, I would argue Rubio actually got the best of Christie. Here’s the entire clip. Yes Christie got in some clever talking points, especially his line, “And the fact is when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments as you just did. You weren’t even there to vote for it. That’s not leadership, that’s truancy.” Besides that, all Chistie basically said was: “I’m a governor and you’re a Senator, which means I’m more qualified.” Everyone seemed to forget that Rubio pointed out how New Jersey’s credit rating has been downgraded nine times under Christie and how Christie said that he wasn’t leaving the campaign trail to deal with a major blizzard, but finally did after he was shamed into going back. Christie was very rude to a woman who questioned his decision to return to campaigning in the midst of a coastal flooding disaster. “I don’t know what you expect me to do. You want me to go down there with a mop?”he asked sarcastically.

       
            I suppose Christie’s recent embrace of Donald Trump is surprising when you consider how critical he was of Trump up until a month ago. “Donald’s a great guy and a good person. But I just don’t think that he’s suited to be president of the United States. I don’t think his temperament is suited for that and I don’t think his experience is,” he told Greta Van Susteren back in August. 

           If Christie truly believed the mantra of his failed campaign that only governors should be President, why didn’t he endorse John Kasich? He is counting on Trump winning the nomination. The Governor has already been appointed as a senior policy adviser to the Trump campaign, and if Trump wins the Presidency he’ll likely reward his new friend Chris with a high level cabinet position. I have doubts about Christie’s ability to find a job outside of government, and he knows that he probably wouldn’t be able to get re-elected governor of New Jersey even if he was running against his disgraced predecessor John Corzine.

      — American Exceptionalism 

      Check us out on Facebook