Is Chris Christie Pulling Off Bridgegate 2.0?

How could Chris Christie do it? Yes, his disdain for Marco Rubio was apparent. And yes, he clearly has a bias for brash authoritarian leadership. But when the chips are down, Chris Christie seems to put country first. He hugged and collaborated with Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy, even though he knew the optics of it. He embraced education reform knowing that it would cause him problems later on. During the campaign he lashed out at Trump when he proposed a ban on Muslim immigration.

So how could he then endorse Trump, and accelerate his momentum just before Super Tuesday? It seems so self serving, so irresponsible…so out of Christie’s character.

Here’s a conspiracy theory.

After finishing sixth in New Hampshire, it was clear to Christie that he had no viable path to the nomination and that he needed to drop out. But what to do next? Endorse someone immediately? Wait a bit? Never endorse and go quietly into the night?

Naturally, he holds off on a decision until after South Carolina to see how things shake out. Jeb Bush underachieves and drops out. To the media, it now looks like a three person race going into Super Tuesday between Trump, Rubio and Cruz. But Christie knows there is still a dark horse in John Kasich.

Christie has said throughout the campaign that, above all, he thinks the country needs an executive — a governor — as their next president. He desperately wants to endorse John Kasich, a close friend and popular reform conservative governor, but he sees a way to have his cake and eat it too.

By endorsing Trump before Super Tuesday, Christie gives Trump several more days of national media dominance, and momentum. Since Ted Cruz placed such importance on Super Tuesday for his bid, helping Trump dominate it would effectively shut off Cruz’s path to the nomination, even if Cruz still wins Texas. It would also hurt Marco Rubio’s ability to frame himself as the uniting force in the party. With Christie’s endorsement of Trump, it seems that Trump is actually the uniting force. Who else gets a blue-state moderate governor’s endorsement, and Sara Palin’s?

With Cruz and Rubio badly weakened after Super Tuesday, Christie can pull off Bridgegate 2.0. Here’s how:

This week sometime, he goes before the country — perhaps in a written op-ed or a news conference or a sit-down interview — and recants his Trump endorsement. He says that, like so many Americans, he was drawn to Trump’s independence from big money and ability to convey a message of anger and tough leadership. But, once he entered the campaign, and saw things close up from the inside, he knew he’d made a mistake.

He saw how uninterested Trump was in wading into the details of issues, how unwilling he was to hear dissent or be challenged by experts. He learned new details about his shady business dealings, and the flimsiness of his excuses on filing tax returns. He heard Trump admit he didn’t actually intend to follow through on the Muslim ban and other extreme positions. These were just negotiating markers and “truthful hyperbole”. And there was that interview where he said he didn’t know about the KKK and David Duke.

And so, for the good of the country, he is coming forward to admit a wrong, because the only thing worse than being wrong is failing to admit and rectify one. He realizes this may tarnish him in the eyes of the American people, but patriotism calls for us to worry less what people think of us, and more about what’s best for the country.

And, although his endorsement might not mean much to folks anymore, he is now throwing his weight behind the last governor standing — John Kasich. Kasich hasn’t received the media attention he deserves. He’s a successful governor, a working class guy who understands what Trump voters are talking about even if he doesn’t channel the anger as aggressively, and a reformer who has changed Washington once and can do it again.

In an instant, Chris Christie will go from GOP villain to party darling. He will have done what no Super PAC or media outlet could — expose Trump from the inside. And, he will have satisfied his desire to prevent a first-term Senator from getting the opportunity to lead his party.

And most importantly, he will have improved the prospects of someone in John Kasich who seems genuinely decent, and genuinely equipped to be the President of the United States. Whether or not you agree with Republican Party positions, having someone who is decent and prepared be the nominee of a major party is a good thing for the country.

Could this conspiracy theory be true? Probably not. But the notion that you would shut down a major highway to punish a political rival is pretty crazy too. Even Trump would be impressed by such a swindle as this.

Come on, Chris. Give us Bridgegate 2.0 and save your soul.