Who's Running in 2024? - Updated

In my last post, on November 14 of last year, I included a list from the Washington Post of the "top 10 individuals most likely to be the Republican nominee" for president in 2024. At the time, Ron DeSantis was in the top spot:  

1. Ron DeSantis
2. Donald Trump
3. Mike Pence
4. Glenn Youngkin (Governor of Virginia)
5. Tim Scott
6. Kari Lake (former news anchor running for Governor of Arizona)
7. Ted Cruz
8. Nikki Haley
9. Mike Pompeo
10. Rick Scott

The Post updates their list periodically; here's how the race looks to them now, in a list published yesterday: 

1. Donald Trump
2. Ron DeSantis
3. Tim Scott
4. Mike Pence
5. Nikki Haley
6. Glenn Youngkin
7. Mike Pompeo
8. Chris Sununu
9. Kristi Noem
10. Vivek Ramaswamy

The list is in "order of likeliness to be nominated, which takes into account both how likely they are to run - or that they're already running - and their formidability if they do." Others considered to be worth mentioning are Asa Hutchinson (former governor of Arkansas,) John Bolton (former White House national security adviser,) Liz Cheney (former congresswoman from Wyoming,) Greg Abbott (governor of Texas) and Will Hurd (former congressman from Texas.) Numbers 1, 5, and 10 from the list above are now declared candidates: 

I'm Running (and the date they declared their candidacy)

1. Donald Trump (November 15, 2022)
2. Nikki Haley (February 14, 2023)
3. Vivek Ramaswamy (February 21, 2023) By the way, who is this guy? Politico describes him as a "multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur and self-described intellectual godfather of the anti-woke movement." Okay.  

I'm Not Running (potential candidates who have definitively ruled themselves out, at least for 2024)

1. Senator Tom Cotton
2. Senator Josh Hawley
3. Former Governor Larry Hogan

Things can only heat up from here, stay tuned for more.   

Days until Election Day: 590

Note: The Republican National Convention will take place July 15-18, 2024, in Milwaukee. The three finalist cities for the Democratic convention are Atlanta, Chicago and New York City; the dates have not yet been announced. 

And one more thing: In that November 18 post, I also included an "I'm Thinking About Running" list, which looked like this: 

I'm Thinking About Running: 

1. Governor Greg Abbott, Texas
2. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Texas 
3. Senator Ted Cruz, Texas 
4. Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida
5. Governor Doug Ducey, Arizona
6. Richard Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and former acting director of national intelligence
7. Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor 
8. Senator Josh Hawley, Missouri
9. Governor Larry Hogan, Maryland 
10. Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff and former North Carolina representative 
11. Governor Kristi L. Noem, South Dakota
12. Robert C. O’Brien, national security advisor 
13. Vice President Mike Pence
14. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
15. Senator Mitt Romney, Utah, 2012 Republican nominee for president
16. Senator Marco Rubio, Florida 
17. Senator Ben Sasse, Nebraska 
18. Senator Rick Scott, Florida
19. Senator Tim Scott. South Carolina 
20. Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Pennsylvania
21. Donald Trump

If we tweak this list a bit, i.e., Donald and Nikki Haley are on the I'm Running list, Senator Hawley and Governor Hogan are on the I'm Not Running list, and adding Wapo's "worth mentioning" names (Asa Hutchinson, John Bolton, Liz Cheney and Will Hurd) the I'm Thinking About Running list looks like this: 

1. Governor Greg Abbott, Texas
2. John Bolton, former White House National Security Adviser
3. Liz Cheney, former congresswoman from Wyoming
4. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Texas 
5. Senator Ted Cruz, Texas 
6. Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida
7. Governor Doug Ducey, Arizona
8. Richard Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and former acting director of national intelligence
9. Will Hurdm former congressman from Texas
10. Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas
11. Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff and former North Carolina representative 
12. Governor Kristi L. Noem, South Dakota
13. Robert C. O’Brien, national security advisor 
14. Vice President Mike Pence
15. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
16. Senator Mitt Romney, Utah, 2012 Republican nominee for president
17. Senator Marco Rubio, Florida 
18. Senator Ben Sasse, Nebraska 
19. Senator Rick Scott, Florida
20. Senator Tim Scott. South Carolina 
21. Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Pennsylvania

As people declare themselves to be running or not running I'll update the lists. 

Update on March 27: I never had Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on my "Thinking About Running" list, but apparently he was considering it. A couple of days ago, however, he announced that he won't be running this time around. I've updated the "I'm Not Running" list:

I'm Not Running (potential candidates who have definitively ruled themselves out, at least for 2024)

1. Senator Tom Cotton
2. Senator Josh Hawley
3. Former Governor Larry Hogan
4. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp

Days until Election Day: 589

Update #2 on March 29: I haven't seen Chris Christie's name mentioned as a potential candidate in 2024, but according to the Washington Post he's considering it: 

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie sharply criticized Donald Trump on Monday during his first trip this year to New Hampshire, as he kept the door open to entering the GOP presidential primary against his former ally and signaled he would decide by June.

In a nearly two-hour town hall at St. Anselm College's New Hampshire Institute of Politics, Christie said Trump's name more than 20 times, attacking the former president over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that he lost, mocking his policy acumen and blaming him for Republican losses in the 2022 midterms. Christie also portrayed himself as uniquely well positioned to take on Trump.

"You know, Donald Trump said a couple of weeks ago, 'I am your retribution.' Guess what, everybody? No thanks. No thanks," Christie said to applause from his audience in an early-nominating state. "If I was going to pay somebody to be my retribution, I guarantee this, it wouldn't be him."

Christie, who has been publicly critical of Trump as he weighs a White House bid, continued, "Here's why it wouldn't be him, because he doesn't want to be my retribution. That's baloney. The only person he cares about is him. And if we haven't learned that since Election Day of 2020 to today, then we are not paying attention."

I've updated the "I'm Thinking About Running" list: 

1. Governor Greg Abbott, Texas
2. John Bolton, former White House National Security Adviser
3. Liz Cheney, former congresswoman from Wyoming
4. Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey, was a candidate in 2016
5. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Texas 
6. Senator Ted Cruz, Texas 
7. Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida
8. Governor Doug Ducey, Arizona
9. Richard Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and former acting director of national intelligence
10. Will Hurd, former congressman from Texas
11. Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas
12. Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff and former North Carolina representative 
13. Governor Kristi L. Noem, South Dakota
14. Robert C. O’Brien, national security advisor 
15. Vice President Mike Pence
16. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
17. Senator Mitt Romney, Utah, 2012 Republican nominee for president
18. Senator Marco Rubio, Florida 
19. Senator Ben Sasse, Nebraska 
20. Senator Rick Scott, Florida
21. Senator Tim Scott. South Carolina 
22. Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Pennsylvania

Days until Election Day: 587

2024: Time For A List - Updated

Is it too early for a list of possible Republican candidates for president in 2024? Apparently not:

Interesting the degree to which contenders for the GOP 2024 field are already edging toward the starting line before the bloated orange corpse has been dragged off the field: Pompeo, Cotton, Liz Cheney, Nikki Haley & Romney all seem to be chomping at the bit.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) July 18, 2020

I'm intrigued by the fact that Rothkopf doesn't include the current Vice President. Too damaged by his slobbering, ass-kissing sycophancy towards Donald? Too afraid Donald will boot him off the ticket this year if he appears to be looking ahead? Probably to both, but I'm putting him on my list anyway.

2024 Potential Republican Candidates

1. Liz Cheney (Representative from Wyoming, daughter of former VP Dick Cheney)
2. Tom Cotton (Senator from Arkansas)
3. Nikki Haley (former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and former Governor of South Carolina)
4. Larry Hogan (Governor of Maryland)
5. Mike Pence (Current VP, former Governor of Indiana)
6. Mike Pompeo (Current Sec. of State, former representative from Kansas and former director of the CIA)
7. Mitt Romney (Senator from Utah, former governor of Massachusetts, 2012 Republican nominee for president)

And for a fun blast from the past, can you name all 17 Republicans who were declared candidates in 2016? No? Here's that list:

Declared 2016 GOP Candidates, in order of their official announcement (in 2015):

1. Ted Cruz (March 23)
2. Rand Paul (April 7)
3. Marco Rubio (April 14)
4. Dr. Ben Carson (May 3)
5. Carly Fiorina (May 4)
6. Mike Huckabee (May 5)
7. Rick Santorum (May 27)
8. George Pataki (May 28)
9. Lindsey Graham (June 1)
10. Rick Perry (June 4)
11. Jeb Bush (June 15)
12. Donald Trump (June 16)
13. Bobby Jindal (June 24)
14. Chris Christie (June 30)
15. Scott Walker (July 13)
16. John Kasich (July 21)
17. Jim Gilmore (July 30)

Four of these distinguished statesmen are still in the Senate (Cruz, Paul, Rubio and Graham,) two are cabinet secretaries, current (Carson) and former (Perry,) and the rest are out of government. Except for Donald, of course, but hopefully his destiny changes in 108 days. Of the "also rans," my guess is that Cruz and Rubio are pondering another run.

Update: Maryland governor Larry Hogan is another name I'm seeing mentioned as a possible 2024 candidate. I've added him to the list above.

And one more thing. Two of the 2016 candidates, Carly Fiorina and John Kasich, have announced that they support and will vote for Joe Biden.

Days until the election (from Monday 7/20) 106

Regrets For Donald? - Updated

In an article posted yesterday, Washington Post opinion writer Max Boot voices something I've wondered about lately: does (or will) Donald regret becoming president?

I suspect David Pecker will rue the day that his friend Donald Trump became president — if he does not already. And he is not alone. Paul Manafort had a flourishing business as an international influence-peddler before he became Trump’s campaign chairman. He now faces a long stretch in prison after having been convicted of felony financial charges. Trump’s friend Roger Stone has now been indicted for the first time after a long career as a political dirty trickster. Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, has gone from well-respected general to felon. Michael Cohen had a cushy career as Trump’s personal lawyer before his client became president. Now Cohen, too, is a felon. Numerous other Trump associates and family members are facing, at a minimum, hefty legal bills and, at worst, serious legal exposure.

Every organization Trump has been associated with — the Trump Organization, the Trump Foundation, the Trump campaign, the Trump administration — is being investigated by prosecutors and lawmakers. His name, long his biggest asset, has become so toxic that bookings are down at his hotels. And Trump, a.k.a. Individual 1, faces a serious threat of prosecution once he leaves office. Before it is all over, Trump himself may regret the day he became president. His unexpected and undeserved ascent is delivering long overdue accountability for him and his sleazy associates. We have gone from logrolling to having logs rolled over — and it’s about time. (Read the article here.) 

It frequently appears that Donald didn't understand what being the president of the United States would really be like. He appears not to have understood the complexities, or the investigative scrutiny, that would come with the highest office in the land.

In a privately-held business like the Trump Organization, when you fire someone they, and presumably whatever problems they caused, mostly just go away. It doesn't work like that in the Oval Office:

President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, believed that the “Russia thing” would end as a side effect from the firing of the national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, in the early days of the administration, according to an account in a new memoir by Chris Christie.

The incident recounted in Mr. Christie’s book, “Let Me Finish,” is among the anecdotes describing how the president and Mr. Kushner grappled with a campaign and a presidency that Mr. Christie says neither was prepared for.

... On Feb. 14, 2017, Mr. Christie and his wife, Mary Pat, had lunch scheduled with the president. It happened to be the day after Mr. Flynn — whom Mr. Christie did not back for the national security adviser role — was dismissed for lying to the vice president about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition. Mr. Kushner decided to attend.

As Mr. Kushner tucked into his “typical salad,” Mr. Christie wrote, the president said to him, “This Russia thing is all over now, because I fired Flynn.” Mr. Christie said that he started laughing, and the president asked why.

“‘Sir,’ I said, ‘this Russia thing is far from over,’” Mr. Christie wrote. Mr. Trump responded: “What do you mean? Flynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. It’s over.” Mr. Kushner added, “That’s right, firing Flynn ends the whole Russia thing.”

Mr. Christie, who wrote that it all sounded “naïve,” recalled Mr. Kushner telling him that he was “crazy” when he said they would most likely still be discussing the Russia issue in February 2018. (From the New York Times review of Chris Christie's book Let Me Finish; read it here.)

I keep thinking about something Michelle Obama said in her speech to the 2012 Democratic convention: "Being president reveals who you are." Donald is learning the hard way that she was right.

Update on February 23: Laurence Tribe weighs in on the notion that Donald will regret running for president:

The evidence of Trump’s crooked dealings before and during his presidency will never stop pouring in. Most will go way beyond Mueller’s ambit. Here’s my bet: Trump will soon wish he had never run for office. https://t.co/Bj39Q3wWld

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) February 23, 2019

The Guessing Game - Updated

What will be on the cover of People this week? My guesses:

Michael Jackson: A new documentary claims he abused two young boys
Chelsea Clinton: Expecting her 3rd child
Carrie Underwood: Gave birth to a son
Nathan Chen and/or Alysia Liu: National figure skating champions, he blew the roof off with an incredible program and score, she's the youngest winner ever at age 13
Matthew McConaughey and/or Anne Hathaway: Their new movie, Serenity, is totally weird
Chris Brown: Arrested
Kylie Jenner: Rumors that she got married
Theresa Guidice: Says if her husband is deported, they'll go their separate ways
Kevin Zegers: Talking about alcoholism and addiction
Katlyn Alix: Off-duty St. Louis police officer, killed accidentally by an on-duty officer during a really stupid game of Russian Roulette
Joni Ernst: The Iowa senator says she is the victim of sexual abuse
The Fyre Festival: There are now two competing documentaries about how the debacle came to be
Fatima Ali: A contestant on Top Chef dies of cancer at 29
Melania: Wins an apology and a settlement after British magazine The Telegraph runs a critical story. I wish I could link to it but apparently it's been taken down
Kate Beckinsale: Hospitalized
Prince Philip: Finally apologized for the car accident he caused. See the letter here

Stories that appear on the new cover will be highlighted in green.

Monday morning update: Rent Live. It wasn't "live." Lead actor Brennin Hunt broke his foot on Saturday and Fox opted to air most of the dress rehearsal during the Sunday evening broadcast. It would be easy to snark, but those live musicals on television are extremely complicated to pull off. Kudos to all for having a plan B and going on with the show. (Although, really Fox, maybe next time have a few understudies ready to go, just in case?)
Chris Harrison: The Bachelor host is apparently dating Lauren Zima
Chris Christie and/or Cliff Sims: The Trump advisor (Christie) and the former Trump White House staffer (Sims) both have "tell all" memoirs coming out tomorrow
Howard Schultz: The former Starbucks CEO is pondering running for president as an independant
Tom Brokaw: Let loose with some strange and offensive comments on Meet The Press, followed by an inadequate apology via Twitter:

my twitter acct failed me at the worst time.
i am sorry, truly sorry, my comments were offensive to
many. the great enduring american tradition of diversity is to be celebrated and cherished. yamiche, thank u for your comments.
let’s go forward together.

— Tom Brokaw (@tombrokaw) January 28, 2019

finally, i am sorry - i never intended to disparage any segment of our rich, diverse society which defines who we are.

— Tom Brokaw (@tombrokaw) January 28, 2019

my tweet portal is whack
i hv been trying to say i am sorry i offended
and i so appreciate my colleague

— Tom Brokaw (@tombrokaw) January 28, 2019

This is just part of the thread, see Brokaw's Twitter feed here. 

Update #2 on Tuesday afternoon. Caelynn Miller-Keyes: The Miss USA runner-up is a front runner on the current season of The Bachelor, in last night's episode she said that she had been sexually assaulted while in college.

Update #3 on Wednesday morning. See the new cover, featuring Anne Hathaway, here. 

The Guessing Game - Updated

What will be on the cover of People this week? Not too many guesses:

Prince Philip: A car crash, he was uninjured but two women were hurt; two days later he was photographed driving himself again, not wearing a seatbelt. A controversy appears to be building in England
Paris Jackson: In treatment for mental health issues
R Kelly: Under investigation for sex crimes
John Coughlin: The former pairs skater apparently died by suicide, had been suspended from the skating world for charges that have not been specified yet
Carol Channing: Died at age 97
Chris Christie: His book comes out next week

Stories that appear on the cover will be highlighted in green.

Monday morning update. Chris Pine: Starring in a TV miniseries called I Am The Night
Nathan Phillips and/or Nick Sandmann: A tribal elder and veteran, and a high school student from a Catholic high school, in a confrontation that went viral and now appears to be more nuanced than it first appeared

Update #2: Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron: Are they dating? People.com says it's possible, read it here

Update #3 on Wednesday morning. No green this week, nothing on the list made the cover. The new cover features Kerri Rawson, daughter of the BTK killer. See it here.

I Knew It! - Updated

photo credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP

I've said many times here at Writing The World that Jared Kushner is the reason Chris Christie never got a job in the Trump White House; now apparently Christie's new book confirms it. The Guardian got hold of a pre-publication copy of Let Me Finish; the article about it was so interesting I cut-and-pasted it whole:

Chris Christie, who was ousted as chairman of Donald Trump’s White House transition team in 2016, has written a blistering attack on Jared Kushner, whom he accuses of having carried out a political “hit job” on him as an act of revenge for prosecuting his father, Charles Kushner, a decade ago.

In his soon to be published book, Let Me Finish, Christie unleashes both barrels on Trump’s son-in-law, who remains a senior White House adviser with responsibilities for Middle Eastern peace, sentencing reform and “American Innovation”.

Christie blames this key player in the president’s inner circle for his ignominious dismissal shortly after Trump’s election victory in November 2016. Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, writes that Kushner’s role in his sacking was confirmed to him by Steve Bannon, Trump’s campaign chief, in real time.

As Bannon was carrying out the firing, at Trump Tower in New York, Christie forced him to tell him who was really behind the dismissal by threatening to go to the media and point the finger at Bannon instead.

“Steve Bannon … made clear to me that one person and one person only was responsible for the faceless execution that Steve was now attempting to carry out. Jared Kushner, still apparently seething over events that had occurred a decade ago.”

The political assassination was carried out by Kushner as a personal vendetta, Christie writes, that had its roots in his prosecution, as a then federal attorney, of Charles Kushner in 2005. The real estate tycoon was charged with witness tampering and tax evasion and served more than a year in federal prison.

Even for a White House that has generated an extraordinary cornucopia of hypercritical kiss-and-tell books, Christie’s is exceptional for its excoriating description of events at which he was present. As he points out in Let Me Finish, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian ahead of publication on 29 January, none of the other authors “has known Trump for as long or as well as I have – or was right there in the room when much of this occurred”.

It is also exceptional as a chronicle of the score-settling and animosity that drove key decision-making in Trump’s nascent presidency. As political scientists look for the roots of the mayhem in the current White House, the book provides new clues.

At the heart of it is Christie’s desire to tell the American people that had his transition plan been adopted after Trump’s shock victory on election night in November 2016, the Trump White House would be a much more effective place today. Once he had been tossed overboard, the new transition team led by Vice President-elect Mike Pence had a “thrown-together approach” that led to appalling choices of senior personnel “over and over again”.

But the emotional heart of the book is Christie’s account of the actions of Jared Kushner. In this telling, Christie was ditched by a young man who made it his business to discredit and denounce him because of what he had done to his father.

“The kid’s been taking an ax to your head with the boss ever since I got here,” Bannon confessed at Christie’s dismissal.

Christie was the US attorney in New Jersey when he spearheaded the prosecution of Charles Kushner for witness tampering. The case arose out of a bitter family feud.

The elder Kushner hired a sex worker to seduce his brother-in-law Bill Schulder, then filmed them having sex in a motel and sent the tape to his own sister, Esther. The bizarre plot was an attempt to blackmail the Schulders into keeping their silence about Bill’s knowledge of Charles’s fraudulent activities.

Charles Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 charges and served 14 months in a federal prison in Alabama.

In one of the most visceral passages of the book, Christie recounts for the first time how Jared Kushner badmouthed him to Trump in April 2016, pleading with his father-in-law not to make Christie transition chairman. Remarkably, he did so while Christie was in the room.

“He implied I had acted unethically and inappropriately but didn’t state one fact to back that up,” Christie writes. “Just a lot of feelings – very raw feelings that had been simmering for a dozen years.”

Kushner went on to tell Trump that it wasn’t fair his father spent so long in prison. He insisted the sex tape and blackmailing was a family matter that should have been kept away from federal authorities: “This was a family matter, a matter to be handled by the family or by the rabbis.”

Trump, in an effort to settle the dispute, proposed a dinner between him, Jared and Charles Kushner, and Christie. Much to Christie’s relief, Jared didn’t acquiesce.

In the end, Trump gave Christie the job. But according to Let Me Finish, Kushner had the final say.

Let Me Finish bears all the hallmarks of classic, brash Chris Christie. Its language is blunt, caustic and at times self-satisfied, much like his political reputation.

It has its lighter moments. At his first meeting with Trump in 2002, at a dinner in the Trump International Hotel and Tower, in New York, Trump ordered his food for him. He chose scallops, to which Christie is allergic, and lamb which he has always detested. Christie recalls wondering whether Trump took him to be “one of his chicks”.

At another dinner three years later Trump told the obese Christie he had to lose weight. Addressing him like one of the contestants in Miss Universe, the beauty contest organisation that he owned, Trump said “you gotta look better to be able to win” in politics.

Trump returned to the theme of girth during the 2016 presidential campaign, exhorting Christie to wear a longer tie as it would make him look thinner.

Meanwhile, Kushner is not the only subject of Christie’s wrath. The author is scathing about Michael Flynn, the retired general who was briefly national security adviser before resigning over his dealings with Russia, and who is now cooperating with the special counsel and awaiting sentencing for lying to the FBI.

In one of the book’s more memorable put-downs, Flynn is dubbed “the Russian lackey and future federal felon”. Christie also calls the former general “a train wreck from beginning to end … a slow-motion car crash”.

However, one central character escapes relatively unscathed: Trump himself. The president is utterly fearless and a unique communicator Christie writes – and his main flaw is that he speaks on impulse and surrounds himself with people he should not trust.

Christie gives a detailed account of his effort to be named as Trump’s vice-presidential running mate in the summer of 2016, after his own bid for the Republican nomination for president failed. He detects yet again the hand of Kushner – and that of his wife and Trump’s beloved daughter, Ivanka Trump – working against him. An anonymous “high-ranking Trump staffer” is depicted calling to warn that “the family is very upset that he says it will be you”. A mollifying call from son Eric Trump follows but that is as close as Christie gets. Trump chooses ultra-conservative Indiana politician, Mike Pence, after a mystifying wait. Christie repeatedly says he was not disappointed.

US attorney general, the other role Christie would have accepted, also eluded him. As with most appointments he is scathing about the man who got the job, Jeff Sessions, whom he calls “not-ready-for-prime-time” and whose recusal from the Russia investigation he blames for its ever-growing scale. Trump did apparently offer Christie “special assistant to the president in the White House”, which he turned down, prompting from the president-elect “an expression that said maybe he hadn’t heard me right”.

Christie would have taken chair of the Republican National Committee and seemed poised to get it. But according to Christie, once again Trump’s family worked against him. In a near-comic scene, Reince Priebus, the RNC chair who would become Trump’s first chief of staff, offers him role after role in a frantic attempt to fulfil the directive from Trump to “make Chris happy”. One by one, Christie turns down labor secretary, homeland security secretary and ambassadorships in Rome and the Vatican.

Christie is relatively forgiving of Kushner in the context of the infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between the candidate’s son-in-law, his son Donald Jr, his campaign manager and a group of Russians, some with Kremlin ties, offering “dirt” on his Democratic presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton. Bannon memorably told the author Michael Wolff the meeting was “treasonous” but Christie writes that taking the meeting was merely “dumb” or, in the case of Kushner and Trump Jr, a “sign of profound inexperience”. He faults Trump’s response to Robert Mueller’s investigation into links with Russia, but does not go into detail about the work of the special counsel.

He does, however, contend that Kushner misjudged two Russia-related firings: that of Flynn in February 2017 and most famously that of the FBI director James Comey in May the same year. According to Christie, Kushner thought firing Flynn would end talk of links between the Trump campaign and Russia – it did not – and that firing Comey would not provoke “an enormous shit-storm” in Washington. It did.

“Again,” Christie writes, having detailed conversations with Kushner in which he was acting in an informal capacity, “the president was ill served by poor advice.”

The book officially comes out two weeks from today; this is only the tip of a very juicy iceberg of coverage to come. Ryan Lizza points out that staffing really isn't the problem...

Any book that argues, as this one apparently does, that Trump’s real problem is just a staffing issue isn’t worth reading https://t.co/deJrVXFgzY

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) January 15, 2019

...then acknowledges that yes, staffing is part of the problem:

Ok, maybe there are some minor staffing issues pic.twitter.com/EjpGUoDqbS

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) January 15, 2019

Grab the popcorn and get comfy. This is going to be fun. Click here to read my previous posts about Chris Christie. 

Tuesday afternoon update. Some history from Steve Kornacki:

I saved the NY Post cover from one of the most memorable stories I followed in my NJ days: U.S. Attorney Chris Christie’s 2004 takedown of the Democratic governor’s top donor, Charles Kushner pic.twitter.com/4bT28Ez2sP

— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) January 15, 2019

A little Googling delivered the story below, which was published in the New York Post on July 15, 2004 under the headline "Sex Gal Now Helping Feds -- Hooker Turns On Kushner." I don't think it's the story referenced in Kornacki's tweet, which, if I squint really hard, appears to be dated July 14, but it does provide an overview of what happened and I have to ask. Could the Kushners be any classier? And how cool would it be if Sex Gal, if she's out there somewhere, would come forward and tell her side of the story?

The hooker hired by New Jersey real-estate tycoon Charles Kushner to carry out the steamy videotaped seduction of a key tax-fraud witness against him is cooperating with federal authorities, The Post has learned.

The blond bombshell agreed to testify against Kushner after she was given two options – cooperate or face arrest, according to sources familiar with the case.

Kushner, 50, was arrested Tuesday on charges he set up and taped the compromising motel-room sex romp in a bid to intimidate the witness – his brother-in-law William Schulder, who had worked for Kushner, according to a criminal complaint filed in Newark and prosecutors.

Schulder – who is married to Kushner’s sister, Esther – had been helping the feds investigate tax fraud and campaign-contribution violations allegedly committed by his brother-in-law, said Newark U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie.

Kushner recruited the prostitute – described by sources as a slender high-priced call girl – to lure Schulder to a motel room for secretly videotaped sex after two co-conspirators Kushner had hired failed to find a hooker to do the job.

The seductress Kushner recruited was “a high-end call girl for an elite escort service in Manhattan,” a source familiar with the case told The Post.

She’s “very attractive – really, really pretty,” with “shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair,” said the source.

Kushner paid her from $7,000 to $10,000 to lure Schulder to a motel for sex early last December so a videotape of the torrid tryst could be sent to his wife, according to the complaint.

The call girl delivered – enticing Schulder to a room in the Red Bull Inn in Bridgewater a day after he had “rescued” her outside a nearby diner when she asked for a ride, claiming her car had conked out, the complaint says.

Kushner had a tape of the X-rated encounter mailed to his sister in May – after some of his associates were notified they were targets of the federal probe, the complaint says.

But instead of being intimidated, his sister and her husband were enraged and reported the dirty deed to authorities.

The feds located the call girl – through a phone number she had given Schulder, sources said. She agreed to cooperate, rather than face prosecution, they said.

A bid to use the same scam to videotape a second witness having sex failed when the man targeted by Kushner resisted another call girl’s erotic overtures, the criminal complaint said.

The witness was Kushner’s former chief bookkeeper, Robert Yontef.

Kushner was released on $5 million bond on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to witness tampering, obstruction of justice and promoting interstate prostitution.

A top fund-raiser for New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevy and other Democrats, he became the target of federal investigators after a number of lawsuits were filed against him accusing him of financial mismanagement – including illegally using money from his businesses for political contributions.

Some of the suits were filed by Kushner’s close relatives, including his brother Murray, in a bitter family feud over their financial empire.

The two brothers had inherited the business from their father, Joseph, a Holocaust survivor, and built it up over the years – until Charles told his brother in 1999 they could no longer work together.

Update #2 on Friday afternoon. Politico published an excerpt from the book, with more details about Christie's interactions with Jared:

And Jared began to detail his ancient grievances against me. “He tried to destroy my father,” Jared said.

“There was a dispute inside the family,” Jared reminded Donald, severely underplaying the sordid details of the felony indictment of Charles Kushner and subsequent guilty plea and imprisonment. In Jared’s version, his uncle’s lawyer brought the matter to me, and I collected damaging evidence from members of the family who already hated his father. He implied I had acted unethically and inappropriately but didn’t state one fact to back that up. Just a lot of feelings — very raw feelings that had been simmering for nearly a dozen years. Those feelings were now, finally, coming to a boil in front of the man who had brought all this heat on the Kushner family — me.

“My father made those people rich, and they did nothing,” Jared said. “They just benefited from my father’s hard work. And those are the people who turned him in.”

As Jared spoke, he never raised his voice. But some strong emotions are not dependent on volume. Jared delivered his in a soft quiver. As he continued, his voice began to crack.

“It wasn’t fair,” he said.

He said I had worked with a bookkeeper who’d stolen private information. He said that once I got involved in the case, I said false things about his father and, after the guilty plea, I made his father stay in prison longer than he was supposed to. He had it down to the exact number of additional days. Jared said I did all of that because I was vindictive and ambitious and untrustworthy.

“This was a family matter,” Jared said, “a matter to be handled by the family or by the rabbis” — not by a hard-charging federal prosecutor.

Jared glanced at me, then fixed his gaze on his father-in-law, Donald. “How can he be trusted to handle the transition?”

As Jared plowed through this litany, I didn’t dignify his decade-old rantings with a response of any kind. I just didn’t speak. Not to correct his version of the record. Not to add crucial details. I didn’t say a word. I looked right at him. I kept thinking to myself, What is this? — and shooting perplexed looks at Corey and across the desk at Donald. How long are we going to let this go on?

Finally, Donald spoke up.

“Jared, if you were in Chris’ position, you would have done exactly the same thing. It was a big case against a famous person who had done something wrong, and he did what he had to do. You’re a lawyer. You would have done exactly what Chris did if you would have had that job.”

Trump stopped there for a moment, letting his words sink in. Then he said one more thing that I didn’t expect to hear: “And your other problem was you didn’t know me at the time. Maybe if you would have known me, maybe I could have helped.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what Donald meant by that. But as I sat there and soaked it all in, the thoughts in my head had more to do with Donald than with Jared. (Read the article here.) 

Still Keeping An Eye On Chris Christie - Updated

NEW: President Trump met with Chris Christie on Thursday evening to discuss the chief of staff job https://t.co/23jLozcSeX

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) December 14, 2018

Here's what the Axios article says:

President Trump met with Chris Christie on Thursday evening and considers him a top contender to replace John Kelly as chief of staff, according to a source familiar with the president’s thinking.

“He’s tough; he’s an attorney; he’s politically-savvy, and one of Trump’s early supporters."

Behind the scenes: Trump has met with a couple of others, but the way he’s discussed Christie to confidants make them think he’s serious. His legal background may come in handy next year.

Between the lines: Christie is used to being a principal, and it’s unclear how he’ll handle playing second fiddle. Also, he is not a friend of the Kushners. (As U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Christie sent Jared’s father to prison.)

Christie was not immediately available for comment.

Read my December 7 post about Chris Christie's job prospects here. 

Update: I'll post this with no comment: 

BREAKING: CHRIS CHRISTIE is leading candidate for Trump’s next chief of staff.

Trump met with Christie last night upstairs in the residence after remarks at one of the White House Christmas parties.

I’m told the mtg went very well.

(BUT as always, Trump could change mind.)

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) December 14, 2018

Update #2. It's over. Christie has issued the following statement:

"It's an honor to have the President consider me as he looks to choose a new White House chief-of-staff. However, I've told the President that now is not the right time for me or my family to undertake this serious assignment. As a result, I have asked him to no longer keep me in any of his considerations for this post."

Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey provides some context:

People close to Christie resent that Trump had toyed with him -- removal from transition team, not picking him as AG. This time, POTUS was quite interested in Christie as chief of staff, per several White House advisers, and saw him as a front-runner. And Christie said no.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) December 14, 2018

And one more thing. Apparently Chris Christie has a memoir coming out early next year:

Christie's lucrative memoir, which is expected to settle some scores, will come out in January. It's finished. Being chief of staff would have complicated that...

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) December 14, 2018

Chris Christie settling some scores? Heck yes I'll read that. The cover art is out on Amazon:



...and here's the promo blurb:

From the outspoken former governor, presidential candidate, and chair of the Trump transition, a no-holds-barred account of Christie's rise to power in a world of bare-knuckle politics, his fifteen-year friendship with Donald Trump, and his frank insights and experiences with the president and his inner circle.

The famously candid two-term governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie was the first major official to endorse Trump for president. Christie quickly became one of Trump's most trusted advisers, tapped with running Trump's transition team and nearly being named vice president. Within days of Trump's surprise victory, however, the president-elect booted Christie from the transition team, citing the Bridgegate scandal.

In Let Me Finish, Christie sets the record straight about his tenure as a corruption-fighting prosecutor and a Republican running a Democratic state, as well as what really went down inside Trump Tower. Christie will take readers into the ego-driven power struggles among the top advisers competing for Trump's mercurial attention, figures like Steve Bannon, Corey Lewandowksi, Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway, Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law who never forgot that Christie was the prosecutor who put his wealthy father behind bars.

Packed with news-making revelations and told with an entertaining bluntness that few politicians can match, Christie's memoir will be an essential lesson in Trump-era realpolitik.

Click here to pre-order at Amazon.

Passed Over Again - Updated

Donald just announced that he is nominating William Barr to be the next Attorney General, meaning that once again poor Chris Christie wasn't selected. On November 8, when Christie's name briefly bubbled to the surface as a candidate for the job, I wrote this:

Jared [Kushner] didn't want Christie as the VP nominee and I've also seen reporting that claims Jared was behind Christie's dismissal as head of the transition team, once it became clear that there really was going to be a transition. In spite of the happy talk coming from the White House, insisting that Jared and Chris work well together and get along just fine, I'd bet that Jared still hates Chris Christie with the fury of God's own thunder. (Hat tip: Aaron Sorkin.) I just can't see Chris Christie being welcomed into the Trump White House as long as Jared is still there.

I briefly considered the possibility that Christie had earned Jared's forgiveness for putting Kushner's father in jail...

Is it possible that Christie has sufficiently abased himself to earn Jared's forgiveness? Maybe, but imagine the scene: Big, loud, in-your-face New Jersey tough guy Chris Christie, slobbering all over slender, baby-faced born-on-third-base-thinks-he-hit-a-triple presidential son-in-law Jared... The mind reels.

Even if Christie eventually gets the job, things are still pretty humiliating for him. On top of having to suck up to Jared Kushner, he'll have to live with a narrative that says he only got the job because no one else wanted it. The Politico article referred to above is headlined "Sessions' job is hard to fill. Enter Chris Christie." Yikes.

... but it looks like nothing has changed. No White House gig for Chris Christie. (Read the entire post here.)

Update on Monday morning. Chris Christie for Chief of Staff? The president needs a new one and apparently he's having trouble finding anyone who's willing to work for him. (A chyron on CNN this morning said "Rep Meadows on WH Chief of Staff job: Absolutely not.") The VP's COS was believed to be the top candidate but he turned it down and now some others are too, including Budget Director Mick Mulvaney:

NEW: A source close to Mulvaney tells me he is no longer interested in COS job, Mnuchin and Lighthizer sending out same signals.... list of potential replacements for Kelly shrinking by the hour.

— Nancy Cook (@nancook) December 10, 2018

Is Christie's name on the list? Maybe, although it's possible that at this point even he isn't interested in working for this White House. If he does get the job, he'll still be stuck with the "no one else wants it" narrative:

The bottom line is: There is no clear frontrunner to become the next White House COS -- and no one really seems to want the job, having seen the end result for Reince Priebus and Gen. John Kelly.

— Nancy Cook (@nancook) December 10, 2018

Politico explains why no one in their right mind wants the job:

“This White House is headed into a world of trouble — a Democratic Congress, Mueller closing in, and anybody who comes into this White House has to be thinking about lawyering up. Worst case scenario you could become H.R. Haldeman,” [The Gatekeepers author Chris] Whipple added, referring to the chief-of-staff to President Richard Nixon who ended up serving 18 months behind bars. (Read the story here.)

Update #2 on Tuesday morning. The Washington Post has a long story outlining Donald's difficulties in finding a Chief of Staff and reviewing several possible candidates. The article includes this: 

Although aides said the president is committed to finding a replacement for [outgoing Chief of Staff John] Kelly before the Christmas holiday, they said he has been vacillating — casting about in all corners for potential picks and frustrated by news coverage depicting his White House as a place where talented people do not want to work.

...and this, and remember that the Chief of Staff would, at least on paper, be Jared's boss: 

[Chris] Christie’s allies said they do not expect him to be offered the job as long as Kushner remains a top White House staffer, describing their relationship as largely repaired from its past tensions but still not strong enough to enable Christie to fully enter the Trump orbit. Nevertheless, Christie boosters continue to urge Trump to consider him, citing his governing experience and political acumen. (Read the article here.) 

Chris Christie For Attorney General? - Updated

Chris Christie is at the White House

— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) November 8, 2018

Who in their right mind would join the Trump administration at this point? My belief is that anyone with a brain and a pulse is frantically trying to get out before they're destroyed. (There are rumors that Trump alums are already having difficulty getting jobs post-White House.) Does Chris Christie really want to be Attorney General? It's possible. His name is on some of the lists I've seen. Will he get the job? Maybe. But consider the following.

Back in July, 2016, after Christie was considered for VP but not chosen, I wrote a post titled Unintended Consequences. It included this:

Does Chris Christie regret putting a man named Charles Kushner in jail back in 2005, when he was a U.S. attorney? Possibly. Is that the reason he wasn't chosen to be Donald Trump's running mate? Possibly. In a story dated March 4, 2005, the New York Times explains what happened:

NEWARK, March 4 - Charles Kushner, a multimillionaire real estate executive, philanthropist and one of the top Democratic donors in the country, was sentenced on Friday to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering and making illegal campaign donations.

Mr. Kushner, 50, built a construction business begun by his father into a private real estate empire that owned more than 25,000 apartments, millions of square feet of commercial and industrial space and thousands of acres of developable land.

But Mr. Kushner also became embroiled in a bitter family feud over the business and how proceeds were distributed. That dispute, plus his growing prominence as a political financier, helped lead to his downfall. The intrafamily acrimony was such that Mr. Kushner retaliated against his brother-in-law, who was cooperating with federal authorities, by hiring a prostitute to seduce him. He then arranged to have a secretly recorded videotape of the encounter sent to his sister, the man's wife.

The two-year sentence was the most Mr. Kushner could have received under a plea agreement, reached last September with the United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie, that called for 18 to 24 months in prison. But it was less than the sentence of nearly three years that Mr. Christie had sought in recent weeks after concluding that Mr. Kushner had failed to show "acceptance of responsibility" for his crimes as required by the plea deal. Read the article here. 

What does this have to do with the current Veepstakes? Charles Kushner's son Jared is now married to Ivanka Trump. He's The Donald's son-in-law and word on the street is that Jared Kushner does not want the man who put his father in jail on the ticket. How about that! (Read the entire post here.)

Jared didn't want Christie as the VP nominee and I've also seen reporting that claims Jared was behind Christie's dismissal as head of the transition team, once it became clear that there really was going to be a transition. In spite of the happy talk coming from the White House, insisting that Jared and Chris work well together and get along just fine, I'd bet that Jared still hates Chris Christie with the fury of God's own thunder. (Hat tip: Aaron Sorkin.) I just can't see Chris Christie being welcomed into the Trump White House as long as Jared is still there.

Update. Some thoughts from Josh Marshall about the Acting Attorney General:

Here's the part that I'm most focused on. This [firing Jeff Sessions/installing Whitaker] is clearly a corrupt act as to intention. We should now clearly see the Mueller probe as under direct attack, under immediate threat and likely to be damaged. However, I do not think we should assume this was well-planned or thought out. This isn't meant to be pollyanna-ish. It's really, really bad. But to me the Comey firing was instructive. It was also really, really bad. But it was also clear that it was impulsive, poorly thought out and in many ways counterproductive. It led immediately to the intensification of the investigation and the appointment of Robert Mueller. I think it's possible this move will have unpredicted outcomes which will be damaging to Trump.

Relatedly, Mueller is a career player in US law enforcement. Whitaker appears to be basically a punk. For all the fanfic we see about Mueller from the resistance, he's not a member of the resistance. He's never going to go rogue. He's a man of the Department of Justice. If Whitaker is the lawful AG I think he will follow his guidance and oversight to the degree it is lawful. But Mueller is clearly smarter than Whitaker and much, much more experienced. What I don't expect is that he would be cowed by bureaucratic game-playing. So I suspect we're in a slow motion Saturday Night Massacre but one that is on-going rather than done and in which the particulars of how it plays out are less predictable than we might imagine. (Read the entire post here.)

Update #2. More from TPM, posted at 7.56 a.m. Friday morning:

After the White House was met with rejection from two potential attorney general candidates, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is becoming a likelier possibility, according to a Thursday Politico report. 

President Donald Trump reportedly thinks that Christie deserves the post after patiently enduring the humiliation of being completely passed over during the 2016 transition. 

Christie was spotted at the White House on Thursday for a meeting with Jared Kushner about prison reform. He is reportedly working to mend his relationship with Kushner, one that has been acrimonious since Christie landed Kushner's father in jail. 

Per Politico, Christie could, however, face calls to recuse himself from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe if he got the job due to his role in Trump's 2016 election. A recusal would almost certainly earn Trump's enduring fury, as former attorney general Jeff Sessions knows well.

Interesting. This both reinforces my belief that at this point wise people aren't willing to destroy their futures by working for this president and challenges my belief that there's no way Christie would even be considered as long as Jared is around. Is it possible that Christie has sufficiently abased himself to earn Jared's forgiveness? Maybe, but imagine the scene: Big, loud, in-your-face New Jersey tough guy Chris Christie, slobbering all over slender, baby-faced born-on-third-base-thinks-he-hit-a-triple presidential son-in-law Jared... The mind reels. 

Even if Christie eventually gets the job, things are still pretty humiliating for him. On top of having to suck up to Jared Kushner, he'll have to live with a narrative that says he only got the job because no one else wanted it. The Politico article referred to above is headlined "Sessions' job is hard to fill. Enter Chris Christie." Yikes. (Read it here.) Who are the two smart people who said no? Their names will probably surface eventually; the New York Daily News is running a story that says Kris Kobach, Lindsey Graham, Pam Bondi and Rudy Giuliani are under consideration along with Christie. Read it here.

Update #3. AJ speaks some truth about the Christie situation: "[N]o one on the campaign impregnated him"

Always interesting when Trump reinforces that those who supported him deserve jobs.
Christie did (albeit late in the game) and no one the campaign impregnated him so he’s good to go. https://t.co/i7JkxPUmbu

— A.J. Delgado (@AJDelgado13) November 9, 2018

Update #4 on Monday, November 12. From Politico:

A scandal not nearly as infamous as Bridgegate could have major implications for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie if he's nominated to become the next U.S. Attorney General. 

In 2016, the Christie administration paid a $1.5 million settlement to a former assistant county prosecutor who claimed the administration took over his office and fired him, all with the aim of dismissing the office's 43-count indictment against several of the governor's allies that embarrassed one of Christie's major contributors. 

That whistleblower, Bennett Barlyn, told POLITICO on Monday that he has grave concerns about Christie becoming the nation's top law enforcement official, and his case could take on new relevance, with the next attorney general poised to take over the department that oversees the special counsel's investigation in the 2016 election.

Barlyn said that if Christie is nominated, the Senate should look at this case as just one way the former governor wielded justice, both as governor and U.S. Attorney, for political ends. Barlyn noted that during Christie's time as U.S. Attorney,  some companies entered into deferred prosecution agreements with the office in which, rather than face prosecution, they paid Christie's allies millions of dollars to monitor them. (Read the rest of the story here.)

The Meatloaf Is Fabulous

Photo credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

What's our old friend Chris Christie been up to lately? Well, he and his wife had lunch with the president at the White House Tuesday. What did Christie have for lunch? Meatloaf. Why? Because POTUS told him too:

“This is what it's like to be with Trump," the governor of New Jersey recalled afterward. "He says, 'There's the menu, you guys order whatever you want.' And then he says, 'Chris, you and I are going to have the meatloaf. … I'm telling you, the meatloaf is fabulous.’”

When Christie told that story on a sports talk radio show yesterday, the host was incredulous: “It’s emasculating. Another man tells you what you’re eating and you eat it? Not acceptable! I don’t care who it is.”

“No, it’s not,” Christie replied sheepishly. “It is the president. … And the meatloaf is good.” (From the Daily 202 at the Washington Post. Read it here.)

It really can't be fun being Chris Christie these days. 

Unintended Consequences

Update #2: It's Pence.

I am pleased to announce that I have chosen Governor Mike Pence as my Vice Presidential running mate. News conference tomorrow at 11:00 A.M.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 15, 2016

Lots of fun with this on Twitter:

Newt, Christie reportedly meeting tonight to watch Beaches and eat Ben & Jerry's

— Shoshana Weissmann (@senatorshoshana) July 15, 2016

CNN reporting Trump-Pence announcement tomorrow likely to be tomorrow in New Jersey. To troll Chris Christie? Force him to watch?

— Jessica Taylor (@JessicaTaylor) July 15, 2016

Oh, I hope my dear Newt is Facebooking in a padded room with no sharp objects within reach. https://t.co/Jk8o9LJ783

— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) July 15, 2016

TO RECAP: Trump was all “I’m delaying my announcement due to tragedy in Nice," then got too antsy and was like, "ok fine, it’s Pence."

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) July 15, 2016

Friday morning update: The plot has thickened where the GOP Veepstakes is concerned. Mike Pence was spotted in New York City last night, which would appear to confirm that it's him. Then the attack in Nice happened and The Donald tweeted this:

In light of the horrible attack in Nice, France, I have postponed tomorrow's news conference concerning my Vice Presidential announcement.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2016

He also said, to Fox News I believe, that he hasn't really made up his mind yet. Again, based on the fact that Pence is in NYC, that would appear to be untrue. Trump's probably just trying to gin up suspense for whenever he gets around to making his official announcement. It does, however, put Mike Pence in a bind, as explained by Amber Phillips at The Washington Post:

The next few hours are critical to the Indiana governor's race. If, as expected, Trump picks Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) to be his running mate, Pence will have to drop out of his reelection race because Indiana law doesn't let you run for two offices on one ballot.

The rules say he has to make that decision by noon Friday. Trump was set to make his announcement at 11 a.m. Friday, but he postponed it in light of the terrorist attack in Nice, France. Now, an announcement might not happen until this weekend. That means Pence could be forced to make a tough decision Friday morning between staying on the ballot and forfeiting the vice presidential nomination or taking a risk and getting off the ballot. Yikes. (You can read the article here.)

As interesting as all that is, there's another wrinkle. Apparently the Republicans are having trouble paying for their convention, which takes place next week, and they've sent a letter to benefactor Sheldon Adelson for $6 million in assistance. From Politico.com:

The letter represents the most public acknowledgment to date that Donald Trump has directly cost convention organizers millions of fundraising dollars.

“Over the past couple months, negative publicity around our potential nominee resulted in a considerable number of pledges backing out from their commitments,” the letter says.

It goes on to list the companies and wealthy individuals who have withdrawn their financial commitments. Among those who have canceled their donations, according to the letter, are David Koch ($1 million), FedEx ($500,000), Visa ($100,000), Pepsi ($500,000) and Coca-Cola ($1 million).

The letter says the RNC has raised $58 million — putting the party $6 million below the $64 million that was promised to bring the convention to Cleveland.

They ask the Adelsons to singlehandedly close the RNC’s shortfall.

“We would greatly appreciate if you would consider a $6,000,000 contribution to the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee to help us cross the finish line,” states the letter, which was dated July 12. The convention begins July 18.

“Your support will allow our community to meet its obligation to the RNC, and will ensure our Republican nominee has the best possible platform to lay out his conservative case for our nation,” the letter concludes. “Thank you for your consideration and please let us know if you need any additional information.” (Read the article here.) 

What makes this interesting is that Adelson is a big supporter of, wait for it, Newt Gingrich. When Gingrich ran for president last time around, Adelson donated $5 million to a super PAC supporting the former House speaker. Double yikes. What if Adelson says, "Sure, I'll write you a check but in return I want Newt for VP." What does Trump do then?

I really love the Veepstakes.

Original post:
Does Chris Christie regret putting a man named Charles Kushner in jail back in 2005, when he was a U.S. attorney? Possibly. Is that the reason he wasn't chosen to be Donald Trump's running mate? Possibly. In a story dated March 4, 2005, the New York Times explains what happened:

NEWARK, March 4 - Charles Kushner, a multimillionaire real estate executive, philanthropist and one of the top Democratic donors in the country, was sentenced on Friday to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering and making illegal campaign donations.

Mr. Kushner, 50, built a construction business begun by his father into a private real estate empire that owned more than 25,000 apartments, millions of square feet of commercial and industrial space and thousands of acres of developable land.

But Mr. Kushner also became embroiled in a bitter family feud over the business and how proceeds were distributed. That dispute, plus his growing prominence as a political financier, helped lead to his downfall. The intrafamily acrimony was such that Mr. Kushner retaliated against his brother-in-law, who was cooperating with federal authorities, by hiring a prostitute to seduce him. He then arranged to have a secretly recorded videotape of the encounter sent to his sister, the man's wife.

The two-year sentence was the most Mr. Kushner could have received under a plea agreement, reached last September with the United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie, that called for 18 to 24 months in prison. But it was less than the sentence of nearly three years that Mr. Christie had sought in recent weeks after concluding that Mr. Kushner had failed to show "acceptance of responsibility" for his crimes as required by the plea deal. Read the article here. 

What does this have to do with the current Veepstakes? Charles Kushner's son Jared is now married to Ivanka Trump. He's The Donald's son-in-law and word on the street is that Jared Kushner does not want the man who put his father in jail on the ticket.  How about that!

Note that I'm writing this mid-afternoon on Thursday, when it looks like governor Mike Pence of Indiana is Trump's pick but it's not absolutely official. If Christie does in fact get the nod I'll update this post.

The Fat Guy

Update:  Back in November, 2014, I wrote a few blog posts about Chris Christie's possible run for president in 2016. That didn't work out so well, but since Christie is on Trump's short list for VP, I'm re-posting part of what I wrote back then. Donald Trump may, or may not, care about the following:

...I've been re-reading "Double Down," the how-it-happened book about the 2012 election by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. H and H provide a lot of details about Mitt Romney's process for choosing a VP candidate, including the fact that the campaign took a close look at Christie. What didn't get a lot of attention in late 2013 when the book came out, but may come back to bite him if he runs in 2016, is the fact that Christie didn't pass the Romney campaign's vet.

From the book: "For the past two and a half years, Christie had received skin-blanching exposure from the klieg lights of the national media. But the vetters were stunned by the garish controversies lurking in the shadows of his record."

From a 2010 Dept. of Justice Inspector General's investigation of Christie's spending patterns in his job as a U.S. attorney to the fact that Christie worked as a lobbyist on behalf of the Securities Industry Association at a time when Bernie Madoff was a senior SIA official to Christie's decision to steer hefty government contracts to donors and political allies, there was a whole lot of info that gave the vetters pause. And all of it was in addition to concerns about his weight, his health and his temperament and a couple of years before Bridgegate hit the fan.

One member of the vetting team told his colleagues, If Christie had been in the nomination fight against us, we would have destroyed him - he wouldn't be able to run for governor again. When you look below the surface, he added, it's not pretty. (For the entire story, see Double Down, hard-cover edition, pages 349-356.) Read my entire post here. 

Original post:


Slate.com has a fascinating article about what it was like working with The Donald on The Apprentice. There's lots of good stuff, including an intriguing theory about the dynamic between Trump and Chris Christie:

“There was a fat contestant who was a buffoon and a fuckup,” recalls the midlevel producer. “And he would fuck up week after week, and the producers would figure that he’d screwed up so badly that Trump would have to fire him. But Trump kept deciding to fire someone else. The producers had to scramble because of course Trump can never be seen to make a bad call on the show, so we had to re-engineer the footage to make a different contestant look bad. Later, I heard a producer talk to him, and Trump said, ‘Everybody loves a fat guy. People will watch if you have a funny fat guy around. Trust me, it’s good for ratings.’ I look at Chris Christie now and I swear that’s what’s happening.”

Read the article here. 

And just so it's not "all Trump all the time" here at Writing The World, I'll mention one of my other fave blog topics, Sarah Palin, and I'll start with a question: Do you know what "exacerbates" means? Sarah doesn't, apparently, because she used it recently to refer to the experience of having grandchildren and, well, it kinda came out wrong, at the 57 second mark:

From my Merriam-Webster dictionary: Exacerbate, "to make more violent, bitter, or severe." Presumably not what Sarah meant to say about the grandkids. If you're keeping track, she currently has three (Bristol's son Tripp, Bristol's daughter Sailor, and eldest son Track's daughter Kayla Grace,) with number four rumored to be on the way. Word on the street is that Track's girlfriend (yes, the one he threatened with a gun during the domestic violence incident earlier this year,) is due in October.