Chris Christie, not so much. It appears – appears – as if the God-Emperor Ascendant may not be interested in business as usual.
Chris Christie’s fall from grace is now complete.
Months after Christie, having lost his presidential primary to Donald Trump, had ambitions for becoming Trump’s vice presidential candidate, Christie just suffered another dramatic fall from grace after President-elect Donald Trump shuffled his transition team three days after his surprising victory, and increased the influence of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of Washington’s most vocal critics of illegal immigration, while diluting that of Christie.
According to the WSJ, Chris Christie was removed as Trump campaign transition chairman on Friday, a position that will now be filled by Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the transition team confirmed. Christie will remain on the transition team’s executive committee as a vice chairman, along with Ben Carson, both largely figured positions; they will be also joined by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Mr. Sessions.
The most drastic change on staff was the elevation of Rick Dearborn, the staff chief of Mr. Sessions’ Washington office, into the role of transition director. The move sidelined Rich Bagger, a top ally of Mr. Christie’s who held that role for the last several months. Mr. Bagger couldn’t be reached for comment.
Aside from the now effective elimination of Chris Christie from any positions of power in the Trump team, what is notable is the rapid rise of Jeff Sessions, one of the handful of names tossed as Trump’s candidate for Treasury Secretary.
It’s hardly a fall from grace to remain on the team. Trump isn’t the sort to cast loyalty away lightly, but he’s also not going to let a man with questionable judgment in hiring and team-building remain in charge of his entire Cabinet. He might consider making Christie Secretary of Education; the man has a long history of dealing effectively with teachers.
This underlines something that was already very clear: the God-Emperor is absolutely ruthless when it comes to taking action on underperforming team members. He doesn’t care how it looks, he just shuffles the deck and draws.