New Jersey Governor Chris Christie prompted a massive sigh of relief on Thursday when he insisted that his long, blank stare while lurking behind Donald Trump at the real estate tycoon’s Super Tuesday press conference did not mean The Donald had kidnapped his family, as some had speculated. He also put to rest any — slightly more reasonable — assumptions that the New Jersey governor had realized he made a tremendous mistake by endorsing The Donald.
“No, I wasn’t being held hostage,” Christie told reporters in Trenton. “No, I wasn’t sitting up there thinking, ‘Oh, my God, what have I done?'” Christie merely explained that “it wasn’t the kind of circumstance where I’d be jumping up and down, cheering and smiling,” because Trump “was answering questions from the national press corps and I was listening.”
This is a funny version of listening:
Chris Christie’s face right now pic.twitter.com/hmSzUxvaoZ
— Brian Ries (@moneyries) March 2, 2016
The very fact Christie felt compelled to respond demonstrates just how viral the response has been to his awkward stance at the press conference on Tuesday. Twitter users created the hashtag #FreeChrisChristie, and multiple media outlets were declaring Christie the true loser of the Super Tuesday primaries, even though he was not competing. This was only partly due to the viral sensation of #FreeChrisChristie, however, as six New Jersey newspapers also demanded the governor’s resignation on Tuesday.
See some of the best tweets about the event on the next page.
— Justin Green (@JGreenDC) March 2, 2016
Just saw this and busted out laughing! #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain #FreeChrisChristie pic.twitter.com/k6iigc6BA7
— Kimmie Gibbler (@ladiegladiator) March 3, 2016
Wonder if #Christie knows yet that he slid into a Parallel Universe. #FreeChrisChristie https://t.co/6f5jbifkQb pic.twitter.com/YdOi3F91lZ
— W Smith (@wessmith123) March 3, 2016
“All these armchair psychiatrists should give it a break,” Christie said in Trenton on Thursday. “I was standing up there, supporting the person who I believe is the best person to beat Hillary Clinton of the remaining Republican candidates. It’s why I endorsed him.”
“I wasn’t upset, I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t despondent,” he insisted. “I wasn’t anything other than happy that we had done as well as we had done that night and listening to someone give a press conference in front of the national press corps.” Sure, keep telling yourself that.
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