Thursday, December 24, 2020

Christie Skates



The audience swoons. We get played so easily.

One tweeter: "After seeing this clip, I would have Nicole Wallace's baby."MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace slams Chris Christie to his face for 'trying to clean the Trump stink off' Made my day!"

Another: "Nicole Wallace confronts BS by calling out Chris Christie."

Still another: "Women- getting it ONE!!!!!" with the response "This is how all trump enablers should be treated."

Another believes "Nicole Wallace is a bonafide badass."

If this is being a badass, I'd hate to see a goodass.

At 8:54 of the video (from which the end of Christie's response is cut off, as well as the following question from Wallace), Nicolle Wallace tells the former New Jersey governor

I don't remember you coming out forcefully pushing back against Donald Trump's comments on the Access Hollywood tape. You didn't defend him but you didn't withdraw your support. I didn't hear you after he called African-American nations bleep hole nations. I didn't hear you distance yourself from this President at any point until the target for his ire and lawlessness was the democracy. You haven't ruled out leading in four years. Are yo simply making a political calculation that you can clean the Trump stink off you faster than Marco Rubio or some of your other competitors?

These all are excellent points, Christie responded calmly, notwithstanding being (justifiably) personally ("stink") attacked. He understands what was going on; he has played the game before. He knows that if asked a difficult question, he needs only to avoid directly responding, instead going off in a different direction. Without a follow-up question, he (or she) emerges the winner and thus Christie replied

No, um, not at all, Nicole, and in fact you know at the end of it, um, I made a decision back in 2016 that the choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, um, was one where I was with Donald Trump . Um, I don't regret that choice. I still don't regret that today.

Christie continued for 74 seconds, first appealing to the MSNBC audience by citing occasions when he opposed a Trump action or statement, (allegedly) receiving in return critical phone calls from White House staff. He concluded "I wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton today if that choice were to be made."

Wallace followed up by asking about masks. No, really.

Actually, that wasn't surprising. Wallace got to grandstand, effectively for as far as it went. Christie was given plenty of time to hedge his bets, remaining supportive of the President but only so far in case the Republican Party pulls back its support of Trump. Further, he was able to slam Hillary Clinton, among the GOP's favorite pastimes for at least the last quarter century.

Donald Trump would be pleased that a prominent Republican could needle Hillary Clinton while two critics of Trump- both women- sat idly by. All in all it was a good outing for Chris Christie, who got a pass while one of the network's star liberals and former Democratic senator Claire McCaskill looked on silently, unable or unwilling to question why someone they consider reasonable would vote even today for the most evil man on the planet.


 

 


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