Not only is Chris Christie the only Republican who understands he is running against Trump, he’s the only candidate who comes close to matching him as an entertainer.
He's running for a job, just not the job of President.
He knows he will never be elected, so he's betting on what happens after Trump. Eventually a Republican other than Trump will be elected President, us Americans just can't help ourselves, so he's angling for a cabinet position or possibly a VP spot in the future.
By being a headline grabber now, he's going to gain more name recognition and will be a better prospect for whoever the next future not Trump president is.
Christie knows that we know that he knows that he has essentially no chance of winning the '24 GOP nomination. That's not why he's running. As he's (overdramatically but not inaccurately) said himself, he's running to "save his party."
Christie knows that there's tons of money and power in Republican politics that's all still going to be there if-slash-when Trump's influence falls. Those GOP donors with all that money and power know that Trump's chances against Biden in the '24 general are already worse than they were in '20.
The GOP donors with the money, as well as the GOP politicians who know how to spend it to best serve the GOP, they all already see that Trump is a bad investment. While they're stuck waiting for the GOP electorate to catch up with that idea -- while they're waiting for Trump to lose, again, one way or another -- they might as well try to better position themselves to win next time around.
If-slash-when the influence of Trump's extremism finally falls, the GOP could be well served by adopting a more moderate, civil-libertarian, anti-authoritarian, neoliberal (or at least flag-waving necon) image. An image that looks like Asa Hutchinson, maybe.
For now though, Christie looks like exactly the guy they need, to plant the seed of an idea in the American subconscious: that "GOP" does not have to mean the same thing as "MAGA" henceforth and forevermore.
Christie is smart, shrewd, and mean. He knows how politics works and he knows how Trump works. I disagree with Christie's positions on many issues, and I disdain his scandalous behavior while governor, but I agree with him 100% when it comes to favoring a constitutional democratic republic over a fascist-y authoritarian kleptocracy.
I sincerely hope he continues to poll at the percentages he'll need to get on the debate stage.
Nobody's going to forget that he created gridlock traffic to extort people. The ads will be harping on the point that you're not an American to Christie, you're a hostage.
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