There Was A Reason Christie Was At Trump's Speech

With more than a few Super Tuesday wins in the bag, Republican candidate Donald Trump made his typical appearance on stage at a campaign headquarters. Rather than speak before a crowd of raucous supporters, the billionaire instead opted for a news conference, where reporters had the opportunity to check in on the candidate post-learning at least some of the Super Tuesday results. Standing beside Trump at the podium was former opposing candidate and now buddy New Jersey Chris Christie. So why was Chris Christie at Trump's press conference on Super Tuesday? His awkward facial expressions didn't exactly scream "pleasure to be here."

The New Jersey governor did just announce his personal endorsement of the GOP frontrunner on Friday, and at the same time pledged to travel across the country to campaign for the Republican candidate. So showing up to perform sidekick duty on one of the biggest nights during primary season isn't all that strange, and that's before mentioning the insane opportunism going down on Christie's end. Jersey's governor has only been out of the presidential race for a few weeks, and was criticizing Trump as a potential national leader mere days ago, but Christie appears to be all about the very available vice presidential slot on the Trump ticket.

Christie's also facing some backlash on the home front, the good ol' Garden State. After months of citizens calling out Christie for neglecting his gubernatorial duties in the state, Christie's decision to back Trump was met with a request for the governor's resignation, which was penned by a group of New Jersey newspaper editorial boards. So who wouldn't say yes to yet another chance to steer clear of the angry residents of New Jersey and stand alongside Trump during one of his victory events?

But the joint appearance was — because there's really no other way to say it — odd. Trump may have been oblivious to the awkwardness going on behind him, since he was way too busy basking in the glory of winning in a slew of "major states." But which ones are the minor states, then, Donald? Without doing much of anything, Christie pulled off a series of facial expressions that emoted all but even the slightest hint of joy or happiness.

The reason for Christie's attendance was most probably to offer up his first gesture proving his qualifications to become Trump's attack-dog VP. Instead, viewers watching at home saw someone who would best be likened to a zombie with no knowledge of how he ended up on that stage.