Not so grown up: Chris Christie's cranky exit

WINDHAM, New Hampshire — Chris Christie tried to be the adult in the room.

The former New Jersey governor launched his second presidential campaign in June with an uncharacteristic mea culpa for enabling Donald Trump’s rise in 2016 and a belief that Republican voters were ready to move on in 2024. It even seemed like he had shed the righteous anger that he rode to national prominence a decade ago.

But as Christie stalled out in New Hampshire, the state in which he was staking his campaign, the cracks in this persona started to show in recent weeks.

He began snapping at town hall attendees for suggesting he should drop out. He slammed the state’s venerated Republican governor, Chris Sununu, as a “liar” for predicting the end was near for his campaign. And, after spending months chastising his rivals for focusing on each other instead of Trump, Christie began to do the same.

It ended on Wednesday with a return to form — Christie caught on a hot microphone minutes before announcing his exit from the race, eviscerating the candidate he was ostensibly stepping aside to aid, Nikki Haley, by saying she was "gonna get smoked.” It was trademark Chris Christie: bluntly dragging a political opponent while pumping himself up.

“Those of us who survived him in New Jersey know what he's really like,” said Pat Colligan, the president of the New Jersey Policemen's Benevolent Association, which feuded with Christie when he was governor. “When I travel the country and I see law enforcement, they say ‘Oh, he's a good guy,’ and I'd say, ‘Not really.’”

Part of what made Christie a star of the right in the Obama era was his willingness to take on public sector unions like the PBA and his gruff demeanor. But the environment around him has