Mitch Perry
There’s no doubt Rudy Giuliani will get some meaty position in the upcoming Donald Trump administration, because the dude was loyal as hell to the president-elect throughout the past year.
Chris Christie, on the other hand, may be looking at bupkes.
The New Jersey governor was one of the first mainstream Republicans to endorse Trump, which he did after he flamed out in the New Hampshire primary. Since that time, reporters have had a field day blasting the one-time fierce (bullying?) New Jerseyite for being a “manservant” to Trump (there even was an unfortunate rumor that Trump had summoned Christie to fetch him McDonalds).
But things have gone downhill for awhile for Christie in terms of where he’s at with the new leader of the free world. Sure there’s been tension forever between him and Jared Kushner, going back to Christie’s days as a federal prosecutor in the aughts sending Kushner’s pop to prison on charges of tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions, but there also were multiple media reports last month that Trump was not pleased to learn what was unearthed during the Bridgegate trial that saw Bridget Kelly, his former chief of staff, be convicted in federal court for her involvement in the scandal, which could send her to prison for 20 years.
And then there was this, from today’s NY Times:
Mr. Christie’s fall in the Trump circle was weeks in the making. There was already grumbling, particularly from former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, and from Mr. Trump’s children. Mr. Christie, they believed, had gone off-message after an “Access Hollywood” tape was released in which Mr. Trump made vulgar comments about women; the governor first canceled Sunday show appearances, then emerged on the radio the next week to call Mr. Trump’s comments “indefensible.”
No, in that crucial time for Donald Trump, Chris Christie wasn’t the loyal foot soldier Trump apparently demands. If you’ll recall, Giuliani was the only surrogate from the Trump campaign to make the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows less than 48 hours after that story went viral on Oct. 9. Even Kellyanne Conway was MIA from the airwaves that weekend.
But in the case of Christie, maybe, just maybe, he couldn’t look himself in the mirror (or his wife and kids) and try to some how spin anything positive about those stunning remarks, dismissed as “locker room talk” by Trump and his allies.
Team Trump apparently wasn’t too pleased with Christie’s work on the transition pre-Election Day, as many members of that squad were former lobbyists — not the way to start out a new administration from someone who called for “draining the swamp.”
There was also a report of Christie trying to nudge his way into the picture frame when Trump gave his speech after winning the general election, when reportedly he hadn’t been seen helping the campaign for weeks.
So all of that is to say that Christie may not get anything from Trump as he goes about naming his Cabinet. A tragedy? Not really, but still sort of ugly to watch it all play out.
In other news …
Kathy Castor says she will work with President Donald Trump and the GOP Congress if the opportunity presents itself. She’s also mum on whether she’ll vote to retain Nancy Pelosi as House Minority Leader.
Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg was in Gitmo last week to attend a hearing one of the suspects being held at the U.S. prison in Cuba. He added that the man’s trial is not scheduled for another three years.
And your Florida Legislature is in Tallahassee today — all 160 of them elected earlier this month — if not earlier during the primary season.
Jim Davison blasts the Tampa Bay Times and his opponent in next month’s Tampa City Council District 7 election for its recommendation of Luis Viera.
And Tampa will play host to the National League of Cities annual convention — in 2020.
