Suddenly everyone is doing it
There’s an apocryphal story that noblemen present at a banquet in honor of his “discovery” of the New World suggested that Christopher Columbus’s journey across the Atlantic Ocean was no great accomplishment. In response, Columbus asked that eggs be brought to the table and wagered that no one could make an egg stand on its end. None were able to do so. Columbus then tapped the end of an egg against the table, breaking it slightly such that it could stand on its own. Suddenly, everyone could do it.
In like manner it seems that former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has set an example for other Republican presidential candidates. Last week Christie audaciously cracked the egg and stood it on its end before an audience of Republicans when he called Donald Trump what he is: a liar and a charlatan who stole national secrets and deserves to be criminally charged for it. To everyone’s surprise Christie wasn’t lynched. No one shouted him down. Instead he got tentative but polite applause.
Mike Pence took notes. Now Pence is confessing that, “having read the [37 count] indictment [of Donald Trump], these are very serious allegations.” This is a decided volte face from his former severe criticism of the charges, when he said “I hope the DOJ thinks better of [charging Trump] and resolves these issues without an indictment,” because “I think it would also send a terrible message to the wider world.”
In other words, now that Roger Bannister has broken the four minute mile, suddenly everybody can do it. Pence never had much of what you would call a spine so he borrowed one from Chris Christie. What Christie did was an act of pure (albeit brilliant) political calculation. He understood that the only way he could distinguish himself from other Republican presidential candidates was to actually be different.
Christie noticed that Ron DeSantis is falling flat as a candidate. Part of the reason for this is because DeSantis has doubled down on Trumpism and largely kept quiet about how awful his principal rival is. Christie realised that in order to take Trump’s place he had to be different, and he had to underline that difference with invective directed at his former hero. And it appears to be working very nicely. A lot of Republicans are sick of Trump, and Christie decided to start saying that quiet part out loud.
We could now start to see a whole flood of new Republican candidates looking very much like 2015 versions of Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, back when they saw Trumpism as a distinctly dangerous trend. Chris Christie tested the waters of that kind of opposition and noticed that not only was it absent the usual sharks, it’s suddenly quite suitable for swimming. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.