What's the deal with Chris Christie?

There is little more unappealing in American politics than a candidate that consistently resorts to fear mongering, emotional and illogical arguments. Combine that with the arrogance and anger of a wannabe tyrant and you do not have a recipe for success.  And yet, all that and more are wrapped up in a tidy package that resembles a current GOP presidential candidate: New Jersey governor, Chris Christie.

Christie, a Republican governor in a Democratic state, wants to be seen as the consensus builder candidate, while in fact, he's only shown himself to be an establishmentarian big government moderate with a decidedly authoritarian streak.

Consider the following:

Exhibit A: In the first GOP debate, Christie and Sen. Rand Paul has a spirited exchange over the NSA collection of meta-data in regards to thwarting terrorist attacks.  Paul, the most outspoken opponent of the NSA spying, filibustered the senate for over 13 hours to stop the collection.  Christie bragged about all his terrorist prosecutions, all the while repeatedly trying to capitalize on the emotion of 9/11.  Even after Paul schooled Christie on the 4th amendment and the need for a proper warrant, Christie continued to beat on the 9/11 horse.

Exhibit B: Just yesterday Christie said that if he were the New York City mayor he would bring back the stop-and-frisk policy. He declared that reforming the controversial and arguably unconstitutional program was a "liberal policy." It appears that anything that protects the individual right to privacy and demands that the government follow the constitution is a liberal policy.

And it only gets worse from there.

Exhibit C: Perhaps Christie's most egregious use of authoritarian language comes when he's fear mongering about the evils of marijuana.  In April, Christie said he'd shut down pot "big time" and that he was sick of the addicts and liberals with no self control, as well as needing to enforce the laws "from the White House on down through federal law enforcement."

Exhibit D: Christie is having more than enough trouble in his own home state of New Jersey where he has been embroiled in multiple scandals. From Bridgegate to his most recent pension scandal, Christie has shown that while he claims to stand firm for the rule of law, his personal and staff actions show anything but that in practice.

All of these examples lead me to one question: who is Chris Christie's constituency? Big government moderates already have Bush and arrogant blowhards solidly back Trump.  Anti-drug social conservatives have their pick of Cruz, Walker and Huckabee.

Which means that Christie is currently sitting outside the top 10 of GOP candidates at just under 3% and looks like he won't be on the main stage in the upcoming GOP primary debate next week. Which should be a relief to everyone.

--Ray--