As the GOP presidential candidate field narrows down, those who drop out often jump behind someone else who's still in the race, perhaps with the hope of some kind of cabinet position in mind.
So it makes sense that New Jersey Governor and one-time presidential hopeful Chris Christie, presumably after paying someone to do a little math, threw his support behind heavyweight Donald Trump Friday, whose prospects for winning his party's nomination are, at the moment, the yuuugest.
Christie, who dropped out after the New Hampshire primary earlier this month, allegedly blames a PAC supporting Sen. Marco Rubio, another frontrunner, for torpedoing his campaign with a blistering array of attack ads ahead of that contest, the New York Times notes.
In return, Christie took Rubio down in a debate days before that election by exposing Rubio's penchant for repeating the shit out of the same catchphrases since, like, 2009. (Think the Fonz's "aaaaayyyyy," but with more "Let's dispel once and for all this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing…") Christie, in the political equivalent of a body slam, called him out on that. Big time. And Rubio kept doing it, which was funny. Rubio subsequently lost in New Hampshire.
But with his second place wins in South Carolina and Nevada — and a scathing takedown of Trump at Thursday's debate as well as calling Trump a "con artist" Friday morning — some say Rubio is within striking distance of Trump, especially if one of the other three candidates drops out and endorses Rubio.
Hence, one would surmise, Christie's endorsement of Trump.
The endorsement comes at a key time for Trump and everyone else: four days ahead of Super Tuesday, the political smorgasbord in which over a dozen states pick their candidate, including Texas, Colorado and Virginia.
Christie's endorsement of Trump is also significant in that it marks, for some, anyway, the first time a nationally known, generally recognized as somewhat sane politician or celebrity has endorsed Trump.
Trump's include Phyllis Schafly, Ted Nugent, Roosh V, Gary Busey, Kid Rock, Joe Arpaio, Wayne Newton, David Duke, Tila Tequila, Mike Tyson and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 2, 2016.