Christie is already laying the groundwork for a 2024 run

Sure, I’m thrilled Joe Biden won the presidency, and yes, I’m overjoyed Trump is exiting stage left, but of all the fallout from the November elections, there is one item above all else that brings a tear of joy to my eye: Chris Christie is back, baby.

Now I know what you’re thinking, whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, person born to a human mother, or Independent, and that is this: “I don’t like Christie and I don’t care for Christie and enough of Christie.”

But where’s the fun in that? Bottom line, the world of national politics - and by extension, New Jersey politics - is a hell of a lot more interesting when Christie is the thick of it.

And this guy is getting back in the thick of it. May not seem like it right now, but clip this column and post it to your refrigerator, because I promise you in three years time when his name is bubbling up as a top-tier 2024 Republican nominee for president, you’re going to be reading deep think pieces in the Washington Post and New York Times about the “resurgence” of Christie, about his “conservative bona fides,” and - for sure - about how he was one of the few Republicans to publicly dismiss Donald Trump after years of being his sounding board/ whipping boy.

To wit: Here’s some highlights from Christie’s comments on “This Week” on ABC this past Sunday: “Well, listen, the legal theory put forward by his legal team and by the president is an absurdity … there’s no evidence. As we have - as I have been saying since election night, show us the evidence. And what’s gotten even worse ... is the attacks by the president on good, hardworking, decent Republican governors. And you have seen his attitude towards these folks change. And let’s think about why. Back in September, he said about Doug Ducey, Doug is tough, Doug is strong, Doug is a good governor, the Arizona governor. He said about Brian Kemp back in the summer that Brian is a capable man, he knows what he’s doing, and he’s done a very good job as governor. Now, after the election is over, and he lost Arizona and Georgia, he says they’re RINOs that are working harder against him. He’s calling them corrupt, and also telling people things that aren’t true.” He wasn’t done. “Republicans now need to say, thank you, Mr. President, for your service. Thank you for the good things you did while you’re in office that we agree with, and we now need to move on to make sure that we’re stating Republican principles that matter to the people in this country … and the fundamental challenge for Republicans

is to move on. Move on.”

Move on, indeed. “This is a guy with nine lives,” said Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “He’s going to constantly reinvent himself and he’s going to constantly look for an opening. Look, he’s very smart, very astute, and if there’s an opening, he’s going to find it. So yes, I’d say he’s definitely looking for his next incarnation, the next road that leads to the top.”

Before we go any further, please know this: There is nothing I want more out of politics than for Christie to remain relevant and run again in 2024. Mostly for entertainment purposes, but also because - and I know I am in the deep minority here - I think he’d make a pretty good president, warts and all. (I know. I probably need to talk to a therapist. Add it to the list.)

OK. So does Rasmussen see a path for Christie? Well, kinda.

“When it all went south for Christie - and it wasn’t Bridgegate - it was when Trump entered the race. He was thought to have a realistic chance for 2016 until Trump supplanted him as the ‘truth teller,’ Rasmussen said. “If Christie could become the truth teller again, and Trump implodes, he might fill that role.”

Well, Christie is back on the truth-telling serum - see his quotes from “This Week” above - and the idea of Trump imploding sounds swell.

But clearly, for any of this to happen - for there to even be a path for Christie - it’s going to take the sound minds of the Republican party to get off the crazy train.

“You have to think once Trump is gone, there is going to be some soul searching for what comes next for the party,” Rasmussen said. “But right now, if you’re an elected Republican, you’re living in mortal fear of being critical of Trump, afraid of that one tweet from him that can blow up your political career.”

I feel like Jim Carrey in “Dumb and Dumber”: So you’re saying there’s a chance???

“He’s clearly not done playing the game,” Rasmussen said. “It’s a long game, but he’s definitely in it.

“You know, I used to count people out, think politicians couldn’t come back from whatever they did, but that’s only if you go away,” Rasmussen continued. “And in politics these days, you only go away for good if you have a sense of shame and humiliation. If you don’t? There’s always the possibility of redemption.”

Put that on a bumper sticker.