How Chris Christie's lofty ambitions became beached after he sold his soul to Donald Trump

There was a time not so long ago, when Chris Christie, the man currently at the centre of a rather sad controversy about 45 minutes he spent on a beach, was soaring pretty high.

As an experienced state governor, with a proven record as a prosecutor, he was among the early favourites in the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls. He had a reputation as a straight-talker, a bruiser who didn’t let any slight against him or his family pass.

And he had the swagger to go with it. In February 2016, during the primary contest in New Hampshire, he still maintained dreams of the Oval Office. “For the people of the UK, they should know they will have a president who cherishes the relationship with that nation, and who looks forwarding to visiting as president of the United States,” he told The Independent, as he claimed he would win.

When that didn’t work out – Christie dropped out the following day after a poor showing – the New Jersey governor quickly threw crucial support behind Donald Trump, a candidate he had once had harsh words for. He started travelling with the New York tycoon, and opening for him at campaign events.

While Trump frequently mocked his sidekick – there were reports Christie was sometimes dispatched to collect Trump’s burgers – by the summer of 2016, his name was said to be on a shortlist of people being considered for vice president. At the very least, Christie may have expected a slot as Attorney General.

It was not to be. After being dropped as the head of Trump’s transition team, Christie was most recently given the tiniest of consolation prizes, when he was asked to advise the White House on how to tackle the nation’s opioid epidemic.

Most powerfully, Christie is now remembered as the man burned by Trump, and who has nothing to show for it other than a beach chair, and a approval rating among the people of New Jersey of just 15 per cent. It is, by some measure, the worst of any of the country’s 50 governors.

Few things sum the Christie’s pitiful fall, wrapped up with a scandal over an incident in which his top aides ordered the closure of a bridge in an attempt to hurt a political rival, than the drama that played out on the beaches of New Jersey this extended holiday weekend.

Confronting a partial government shutdown as he sought to agree a budget bill with his political opponents, Christie said he had been forced to shut down the state’s beaches. The issue may have blown over, had it not been for Andy Mills, an enterprising photographer from the local paper, The Star-Ledger, who hired a Cessna 152 two-seater and took to the skies to see if the beach ban applied to everyone.

It was at that point, that Mills spotted someone he thought looked very much like Christie, sitting on a piece of private beach attached to one of the Governor’s official houses on Island Beach State Park.

“I’m looking, I’m like, 'that’s him,’ there’s no doubt in my mind that’s him,” Mills later recalled.

When the newspaper printed the rather unflattering of images of Christie slumped on a beach chair in a baseball cap, Christie may have risen to the occasion and chuckled. He might have laughed it off, and applauded the newspaper’s ambition.

Instead, he resorted to the sort of scorn, frequently employed by Trump, the man he once sought to serve. “What a great bit of journalism by The Star-Ledger. They actually caught a politician being where he said he was going to be with the people he said he was going to be with, his wife and children and their friends,” he scoffed. “I am sure they will get a Pulitzer for this one.”

Things got even more ridiculous, when his official spokesman claimed Christie didn’t “get any sun” because of the cap he was wearing.

Christie will soon be gone from the Governor’s mansion. An election for his successor is scheduled for November. The Republican candidate, Lt Gov Kim Guadagno, was among those to criticise his antics.

“If I were governor, I sure wouldn’t be sitting on the beach if taxpayers didn’t have access to state beaches,” she said.

If the people of New Jersey will not be sad to see him go, it’s not hard to understand why. As The New York Times pointed out, along with the Bridgegate scandal, residents have also seen their governor using a state helicopter paid for by taxpayers to attend his son’s baseball game, and were then horrified to see him celebrating in 2015 with Jerry Jones, the owner of the rival Dallas Cowboys football team.

All the while, as these dramas were playing out in New Jersey, Christie was chasing around the country as the bag man of Trump. People saw him as someone so desperate for power that he was willing to do anything. That is not a good look.