In June of 2016, after Donald Trump had bulldozed the crowded GOP primary field and Republicans were grappling with their ability to support a vulgar charlatan, Chris Christie wasted no time throwing his support behind the future president. The New Jersey governor became a regular at Trump’s public events in the summer of 2016, having “transformed himself into a sort of manservant,” as The New Yorker put it.
To illustrate that description, the magazine’s Ryan Lizza provided a short anecdote that went viral: Christie was, according to an anonymous Republican, once forced to make a McDonald’s run for Trump.
But in a long profile of Christie as he prepares to leave office, Politico’s Josh Dawsey includes a startling admission from ex–Trump aide Sam Nunberg.
Sam Nunberg, a former Trump aide, told me he made up the story to embarrass Christie—and that it spread like wildfire. “The sad reality is that it was believable,” Nunberg said, chuckling.
You might think that this definitive statement settles matters. But Lizza tweeted that Nunberg wasn’t the source of the story about Chris Christie acting as the President’s burger boy.
What is this, Rashomon? It’s probably not worth tracing each thread of this tangled web, but even without this particular story, there are still plenty of dumb things to rag on Christie about.
