For the declared Republican candidates, he is the one who cannot be named.
Under multiple indictments, both state and federal, he faces conviction, a possible prison term but he could still be elected president.
Alas America’s founding fathers – Adams, Jefferson, Washington did not see him coming.
No one really did. It was little more than eight years ago when the GOP candidates were declaring that He who shall not be named received a mere one per cent of the vote in polling against the more fancied contenders. He took them all apart, one by one. The rest, as they say, is history.
The primary field is more Cox Plate than Melbourne Cup. So far it’s him, Ron De Santis, Nikki Halley, Mike Pence, Asa Hutchinson, Larry Elder, Doug Burgum, Ryan Binkley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Scott Johnson and Chris Christie.
The latter six declared candidates fall into the category of rank outsiders. Hutchison is a two-term governor of Arkansas. Burgum is a two-term governor of North Dakota. Binkley is a Texas businessman who has been running advertisements in Iowa to boost his recognition for the first clash – the Iowa caucus in late January 2024. Vivek Ramaswamy is a big Pharma exec who is making a name for himself lambasting corporate ‘woke’ culture. Johnson is a blogger and former CIA intelligence analyst who has been running some cable ads in Iowa.
Of most interest is Chris Christie, the former two-term governor of New Jersey. Like the rest of the outsider candidates, he has no chance of victory, but he will run as a spoiler candidate.
While the serious candidates try and pretend Trump is a figment of imagination, the mouthy New Jersian offers the prospect of a stand-up fight against Trump. He must be doing something right already because Trump has given him a nickname – ‘Sloppy’ Chris Christie.
“It was like [Trump] was Voldemort from Harry Potter. No one wanted to mention his name. ‘Someone who’s leading and looking backward.’ Say his name, man! Say his name, right. How do you beat someone if you won’t talk about them? How do you beat someone if you won’t distinguish yourself from them? I said before they’re playing politics, the second one is, some of them are afraid. They’re afraid of him. Look what he does. I’ve got a nickname now. I never got one all through 2016. It’s really nice. It makes me feel even more important.”
The ‘it’ Christie was referring to a campaign event. The first gathering of every declared Republican presidential candidate except for Donald Trump. The hopefuls gathered last weekend at the Iowa Fairgrounds for GOP Senator Joni Ernst’s annual “Roast and Ride”. RDS walked and chatted easily among the crowd. Mike Pence rode a hog. Chris Christie did not. It would be wise to keep the large former governor as far away as possible from a motorbike.
It would also be rude to point out that Christie didn’t actually name Trump in his spray during a town hall event yesterday. But Christie has a point.
The declared candidates, some of whom haven’t registered in polling, spent the early Iowan summer’s day pressing the flesh and quietly ignoring the prodigious pachyderm in the fairground. If Trump was named at all it was in hushed whispers.
Elephant? What elephant? Contrary to the old joke, an elephant is not long or thin or soft and mushy. It is big, ugly and will suck the political breath out of anyone who wanders around on stage aimlessly.
Trump’s federal indictment and his arraignment yesterday comes with a blaze of publicity for POTUS 45. RDS has been singing to the MAGA choir on the “weaponization of the DOJ” in bringing the indictments against Trump for what, if the indictment is anything to go by, is a fairly cavalier approach to the storage of classified documents.
In the wake of the indictment, Trump’s own appointment as federal Attorney-General, Bill Barr, said that if half of the contents of the indictment were found to be true, “Trump is toast”. Presumably served at Mar-a-Lago on a place mat revealing North Korea’s nuclear capability.
But consequences for Trump are a long way off and almost certainly won’t be determined before the next presidential election.
For a real contender like RDS, it’s too early to take Trump on, go jab for jab with him in a verbal stoush. But pretending he doesn’t exist is a plan that will end in doom. The Florida governor can only beat Trump if he is seen to differentiate from him, rather than help lug Trump’s Louis Vuitton baggage around during the campaign.
Sooner or later, RDS will have to stop going around Trump and run straight through him. Not yet but soon.
Enter Chris Christie, a man with the build of Norm from Cheers with the erudition of a New Jersey Devils’ goaltender.
Yesterday, Christie’s bombast continued.
“When did we get to the point, we’re always blaming our adversaries for the weakness of our candidates?” he spat.
“Oh, it’s the Democrats fault, it’s the DOJ fault, it’s this person’s fault, it’s the media’s fault. How about it’s his? He hasn’t won a damn thing since 2016. Three-time loser. 2018, we lost the House, 2020, we lost the White House, we lost the United States Senate a couple weeks later in 2021 and in 2022, we lost two more governorships, another Senate seat, and barely took the House of Representatives, when Joe Biden had the most incompetent first two years I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Christie can’t win but he has entered the fray with intent. His fellow candidates, many of whom can’t bear to speak Trump’s name, will quietly welcome him along for the ride. Christie is loud, brash and uncouth. You know, just like that other guy. You know the one.
If nothing else it is bound to be entertaining.
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