On a podcast called “All In” hosted by a bunch of people I never heard of, deluded Presidential candidate Chris Christie ( I might not get quite as many votes as he will if I declared my candidacy tomorrow, but it would be close) said, among other things, in discussing Vivek Ramaswamy: “To me, he looks like the guy you wanted to stuff in the locker in the 11th grade.”
Good to know, except that if you’ve been paying attention to Christie’s character as he’s revealed it over his up and now downdowndown career, you probably know it anyway. Nobody who isn’t a toxic, ethics-challenged bully ever wants to stuff anyone into a locker when he is a kid, or would have the thought even enter his mind. Nobody who isn’t still a bully would think that comment is anything but damning—to the speaker. So…
1. Christie is still a bully, and with that line, is trying to appeal to bullies, people who admire bullies, people who haven’t learned yet how bullies think, and people who don’t understand what’s wrong with bullies.
2. The ex-New Jersey governor, who is running primarily to try to get even with Donald Trump, shows that in this way, at least, he is exactly like Trump. Trump would say that. Trump is a bully without functioning ethics alarms too.
3. There is much to criticize about smug political tyro Ramaswamy, beginning with the fact that he has no relevant experience to be President whatsoever and has no business running and wasting our time. What he “looks like,” however, is not one of them. The reason so many Americans stoop to ad hominem attacks when they should be focusing on substance is that the culture keeps teaching them that it is valid and acceptable, in instances like this one.
4. I no longer will defend Chris Christie when a critic mocks his weight. He has officially consented to that form of juvenile discourse, which, of course, is also a specialty of Christie’s bête noire, Trump. One of Althouse’s commenters (Ann found this, Lord know how) wrote in part as a reaction, “You fat fuck. If I saw you doing something like that I’d kick you fat ass and beat your ignoramus head head on the locker door till you apologized for your stupid behavior.” Yes, Chris Christie is a fat fuck.
Ethics Alarms 
I’m no fan of Christie, and I’ll grant that comments about looks are inappropriate at more than one level. But I don’t see his remark as inherently those of a bully, or even of someone who condones bullying. The line between learning from experience and confirmation bias is thin and penetrable.
There were certainly those people I may have fantasied about stuffing into a locker in 11th grade. But I never as much as planned how to do so, and not simply because I was a skinny nerd more likely to be the victim than the perpetrator of such an action. No, however much Kevin or Steve or whoever was a jerk, I wouldn’t have done that even if I could have done so without repercussions, and I would have actively intervened to prevent someone else from engaging in such an action. The id and the ego co-exist, but they are not interchangeable.
Ramaswamy pisses me off, too. This may be about the only thing I’ll ever agree with Chris Christie about. Christie’s colorful expression shouldn’t be taken as an expression of a literal, actionable desire. If those words had been uttered by G.W. Bush, we’d be talking about his folksy style and charming use of colloquialisms.
Just listened to a WSJ podcast where they interview Christie. I don’t recall such such ad hominem attacks but he did have some effective comments about Trump’s administration, namely that Trump got stuff half done (e.g. the Wall) or failed to repeal ObamaCare because he royally pissed off McCain. He did mention Trump’s successes such as Operation Warp Speed and the Abraham Accords.
I am coming around to the idea that given the dismal choice we are likely to face next year, a second Biden term would be much worse for the country than a second Trump term.
One big reason I say that is that there is effectively no one at the top of the government to rein in or restrain the bureaucrats and flunkies from doing ever more extreme actions and regulations. Biden obviously can’t or won’t do so, and it would only get worse for as long as he holds office. Trump may try to do outrageous things, and may succeed with a few, but at every turn he is going to be opposed tooth and nail by those same bureaucrats — as he was in his first term. I don’t believe he has the vision or the steadfastness to change that.
Someone like DeSantis might have that vision and probably has the gumption to try to achieve change with our administrative state. Ramaswamy might have the vision in domestic matters but he seems to me to have disastrous views about foreign affairs. Haley might and she’s been a governor. The rest — I’m not seeing it.
I am glad that I get some insight into what’s happening in the outside world here at Ethics Alarms. Otherwise — well at my doctor’s visit, they asked questions about depression. It’s a good thing they weren’t asking that in relation to the 2024 election, or they’d be calling for the guys in the white coats.
I like the All-In podcast and was kind of meh about listening to this episode as I have a visceral distaste for Christie, but I ended up listening anyway. That comment struck me when I heard it the first time and was rather disgusted with him. It did not change my mind about him because he always seemed like a petty bully to me, which is part of my general dislike of him.