Chris Christie polishes his Trump brand as the swamp beckons

It wouldn't come as a shock if by the end of the summer, Gov. Chris Christie is seen strolling down K Street in Washington, draped in a sandwich board sign that reads: "INSIDER FOR HIRE." 

That's effectively what Christie was doing Tuesday during an MSNBC interview with Nicolle Wallace. He was job hunting on national television, reminding the political world that he would be an invaluable fit for a lobbying or law firm hungry for access to the Trump administration. 

In his characteristic humble-brag style, Christie let it be known that he was Donald's friend for 15 years, that he stood at the dawn of history on election night last November, offering to set-up a congratulatory call from President Obama, and that he had even huddled in Trump Tower with Trump the same day that Donald Jr. was taking part in his ill-fated, June 9, 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. 

"That day was a pretty important day at the Four Seasons with major Republican donors,'' the Trump insider related to Wallace. "And then-candidate Trump asked me to come into speak to those donors." 

Christie continued with his on-air resume padding. 

"A lot of those people... had been big donors of mine at the RGA (Republican Governor's Association) when I was RGA chairman,'' he said. Wallace then asked the Trump Insider if Trump was aware of his son's sit down with the Russians. He doubted it — if so, Trump probably would have told him. 

"We've had an open, friendly 15-year relationship and at that time I was a key member of the campaign,'' Christie said of his short-lived role as transition chairman. His good friend fired Christie several days after the election. "He's not the holding back type. So, I'm confident he didn't know about it." 

Christie has gotten a lot of attention recently for his fill-in gigs on WFAN Sports Radio AM in New York, lashing out at perceived "communists" from Jersey's Montclair who criticized him on air, and bantering obsessively about batting averages with obsessive sports fans. In some ways, it's an echo of Jake LaMotta's sad downfall from the top of the 1950s boxing world as one-time middle-weight champion. "The Raging Bull" found a second career as a lounge owner and insult comic.

But as the governor hop-scotches around the region in a state helicopter, which could easily be named Hubris One, Christie also continues to advertise his access — a go-between for those eager Republican donors and the inner-sanctum of the Trump oval office. 

Even if the Trump empire shifts from honeymoon into a horror show — the repeated failure to "repeal and replace" Obamacare, the growing shadows of the Russian collusion investigations, Trump's historic low approval rating for a first-term president — Christie is keeping his options open. 

At times this week, Christie appeared to be joining the growing chorus of Republican critics of Trump when he asserted Monday that "nothing positive" came of Trump Jr.'s infamous meeting. And on Tuesday, he asserted that Junior had the political IQ of a fence post. 

But for the most part, Christie was running damage control: The ex-federal prosecutor who hunted down political misdeeds, now serving as defense lawyer for team Trump.

“Collusion in itself is not a crime,” Christie told Wallace, when asked if Junior's meeting may have been evidence of collusion with the Russians, a possibility that special counsel Robert Mueller III is also examining. 

In many ways, Christie remains a perfect fit for the transactional ethos of Trump World. Trump made millions off The Art of the Deal; Christie burnished that style behind the closed doors of the New Jersey State House. 

Like Trump, Christie is comfortable wining and dining and wheeling his way among the donor class.  These people could not care less about either man's down-in-the-dump public approval ratings. Nor do they care that Christie is greeted with a cascade of boos for snagging a foul ball at the Mets game. 

They want their phone calls returned. They want meetings. They want results.

Christie now appears to be pitching himself as a portal for that level of influence with Big Government and Team Trump, which would make him a potentially useful and valuable asset on K Street. He's seeking a niche in the swamp that Trump has vowed to drain. 

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Even his beach chair fiasco during the state government shutdown was a contribution to his Trump Insider branding.  Christie argued that his private-getaway on the shimmering sands of Island Beach State Park — which was closed to the public — was simply a family first moment. 

But it also had a Trumpian feel to it, a chance to luxuriate in a private estate, sealed off from the unwashed masses. It was if Christie was turning it into his own mini Mar-a-Lago. 

Christie told Wallace that he was unconcerned about the uproar and the potential damage to his image. "I think my reputation is much broader than just what happened two weeks ago,'' he said. 

Christie has accumulated many reputations over the past decade: corruption-busting prosecutor, the unvarnished truth teller, the hard-knuckled bully, Donald Trump rival for the presidency, and now Donald Trump's undying loyalist. 

This is the reputation that matters the most. 

Charles Stile is the political columnist for the North Jersey Media Group where this piece first appeared. You can follow Charles Stile on Twitter: @PoliticalStile

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