Chris Christie Demoted to the Doghouse

Days after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said that the Bridge-gate scandal should not affect his standing in a President-elect Trump administration, Vice President-elect Mike Pence has taken over Christie’s position as head of the transition team.

A source close to Trump has stated the replacement was necessary to utilize Pence’s connections on the Capitol in order to have smooth transition into the White House. Some believe the decision to change hands was because of Christie’s connection to the 2013 scandal involving lane closings in Fort Lee as revenge against the Mayor for not endorsing his re-election.

Christie alone openly believed his swift termination of the aides responsible for the lane closings in Fort Lee relinquished him of any responsibility to the scandal. He also pleaded innocence after a court decision last month found both aides guilty of fraud and corruption. No one else in the Governor’s administration was charged with a crime.

Christie’s name had been further tarnished during the trial when it was revealed during the 2013 governor election that he used gifts and other privileged items to garner support from Democrats, including 9/11 memorabilia. The prosecution’s star witness, assistant to Christie that was given immunity for his cooperation, detailed Christie’s first time hearing about the traffic jams during a 9/11 ceremony held at the World Trade Center memorial.

This was Christie’s last shot at maintaining a position in the Republican Party after he steps down as governor after the 2017 gubernatorial election. The former Justice Department lawyer had fallen out of the grace of the GOP after the infamous photo of him embracing President Obama during Superstorm Sandy and the 2012 election.

Christie’s name had also been floated around as a contender for a cabinet position as are most Trump surrogates as a reward for their good faith during the election. It’s still unclear whether Christie will still be offered a position or have to return to New Jersey after the newly elected president takes over the White House.

Trump's Crusade Against Globalism

Throughout the 2016 presidential election, Republican nominee Donald Trump has shown that he is not a candidate that can be pigeonholed. In a public speech that focused on the economy, the business tycoon went after controversial trade agreements and took to task "a leadership class that worships globalism." It is the most recent attempt to separate himself from the business elite, including those in the GOP.

The rhetoric against globalism and elitism is not entirely new for Trump, nor his disdain towards a polemic topic like international trade agreements with the United States.  He's been stumping across the country against the establishment who have supported these policies. It's especially appealing to the growing libertarian base, most supporting Republicans for the past several decades, before more recent attempts to branch out. It has also been a source of ridicule for the Bernie Sanders campaign, blaming America's faltering middle class on the loss of jobs overseas as a result from trade agreements like NAFTA and the World Trade Organization.

What is perhaps most confounding about his statements against globalism, or neoliberalism for the matter, is that his business ventures have partaken in many of the benefits the New World Order has to offer the elite. Outsourcing jobs to China and Bangladesh in order to manufacture his products, owning stock of companies that rely on tax havens and offshore accounts to protect their enormous profits. Hell he didn’t have to leave the country to exploit tax loopholes, similar to measures other corporate global elitists have pursued by lobbying their friends in Congress.

Trump’s new stance against globalism doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t agree with some of it’s most basic tenets. He is still pushing for tax cut for both the wealthy and large corporations, including a reparation of offshore-investments at a discounted rate of 10%. There is also very little doubt that the self-made millionaire favors the private-sector over public and would encourage the privatization of any service including water or the fire department.

The only thing that comes out of Trump’s mouth besides lies and blatant ignorance is hot air, and he has a lot of it. He is only feeding off a populist anger against trade deals and immigration, somehow believing being anti-globalist separates him from Clinton because she’s an elitist. Trump being Trump doesn’t realize that a majority of the Republican party were more than friendly with the worshippers of globalism, hell, being devout followers themselves. He can continue thinking he’s scoring points with the hardhats of America, just as he continues to destroy the GOP from the outside in.

Republicans Can't Love Lincoln and the Confederate Flag

It was a close one, the Confederate flag was almost banned from being used on federal grounds, but the GOP couldn’t muster the strength to pass the amendment. Their pride for racism and eagerness to honor slave-owners was enough to derail an Interior appropriations bill.

While it’s a bittersweet pleasure to see Republicans floundering in their decorous positions, I couldn’t help but ponder about the Republicans and the Confederate flag. Mostly because it contradicts the history some conservatives try to espouse in their denial of their party affiliates racist past.

If you have frequented any social media platform that is populated by Republican voters, you have most likely come across a revisionist that go out of their way to proclaim that Democrats are the racist party and Republicans are the real saviors of black Americans. Then they will give you a history lesson on Lincoln being a Republican and the amount of Republicans that voted for the Civil Rights act, and believe that’s enough to set the record straight.

Now a person with current knowledge of politics will smile to themselves for being graced with enough critical analysis skills to realize that this person is crazy. No one in their right mind could honestly say that the current gravely conservative Republican party are the same party under President Lincoln. He was a liberal in his time, as there tended to be in less polarization in the past, including during the passage of the Civil Rights Act. It was after that divisive vote that former Democrats (Dixiecrats) like Strom Thurmond ran for the Republican side, followed by Nixon utilizing the Southern Strategy to play off the racist their fears to win the presidency.

None of this matters to the revisionist, as history or facts isn’t necessarily their forte, and they are mightily adamant about those racist Democrats (although I’m sure some do still exist today but that is beside the point). They are the Grand Ol’ Party of Diversity, and we’re just bunch of blind sheep chilling with the KKK. Woe is us.

But hold on a minute…if Republicans aren’t really the racists everyone rightfully claims them to be, then why are they contentiously fighting for the Confederate flag? You can’t be down with Abraham Lincoln and the flag associated with his arch nemesis! That’s like wearing a Batman t-shirt and rooting for Joker to win. And you definitely cannot be the true representative for black Americans if you deny their pain and emotion when they see that flag flown in their time of mourning.

Therefore if ignorant conservative revisionists want to alter the history books, they have to pick which lie they want to spread. Nonracist party that freed the slaves and provided civil rights? Or Sons and Daughters of Southern Confederates, raising their Confederate flag high for their racist heritage? I’m sure it’ll be a tough decision for y’all. Better make it quick or else you’ll get lost in the past.