Christie had already by then fallen out of favor with most conservatives for his embrace of President Barack Obama at the very end of the 2012 presidential election. But at the time, I felt that this betrayal of the Republicanism of his era was far more profound. Trump, after all, had already lost the Iowa caucuses. Yes, he had won in New Hampshire, but he was just too strange. Many conservatives did not believe he could win the nomination and hoped he would not.
With this context in mind, I find Christie's comments on Tuesday about Trump's character to be utterly ridiculous. In fairness to Christie, the payment to Stormy Daniels over the alleged affair didn't occur until several months later. But Christie knew exactly what kind of character Trump had when he endorsed him for president, because Trump's promiscuity was legendary by that point.