The setup:

#NationalPetDay pic.twitter.com/L8GJMT5XIm

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) April 11, 2016

Via POLITICO:

Gov. Chris Christie hasn’t wanted to talk much about Donald Trump in recent days.

After answering one question about the Republican presidential candidate, he wouldn’t take another.

“You get one Trump question a press conference,” Christie told a reporter at an appearance on April 5. “Can’t hear you. Don’t know. Can’t hear you. Sorry. Loss of hearing.”

When Christie endorsed Trump in February, the Republican presidential frontrunner looked unstoppable. The nod was timed for maximum impact, meant as a signal to mainstream Republicans across the nation that it was safe for them to endorse Trump as well. He was also potentially setting himself up for a cabinet position if Trump won the general election.

The endorsement may have done more to hurt Christie than to help Trump.

There is just so much more great stuff in this article. They mention that Christie’s jackassery in the service of Beelzebub Trump is costing him a heavy price. Like when he cuddled with Trump at a campaign stop and ignored the funeral of a New Jersey state trooper killed in line of duty. They mention that the State NJ GOP is sour on Trump. There is no good polling from NJ, the most recent is from February 15 still had Rubio in the race:

Since then, Trump’s star has been on the wane. If he underperforms by his usual 5 points, he will not win New Jersey.

The signs of backlash came early on. A Farleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll that was in the field as Christie endorsed Trump showed that 33 percent of respondents asked before the endorsement approved of Christie’s job performance. After the endorsement, it dropped to 27 percent.

A few New Jersey Republican lawmakers who face competitive reelection battles in 2017 within days drew their distance from Christie, with a few even saying he should resign if he’s going to spend a substantial amount of time out of state as a surrogate for Trump.

And Christie has not been seen campaigning for Trump, even in New York.

After citing a string of GOP luminaries pronouncing Christie dead in the water and sinking under the weight of Trump-stank, there is this:

Bill Palatucci, a close Christie confidant, said “the governor’s rapport with national Republican leaders remains as strong as ever.”

Mike DuHaime, who was Christie’s chief strategist for his failed presidential campaign, cautioned not to read too much into the Wisconsin results and said that if Trump doesn’t win a majority of delegates, Chrisitie’s role will be all the more important come the convention.

“He’s still the only one with a viable path to the majority of delegates, and if nobody gets to the majority of delegates Christie is going to matter a lot,” said DuHaime, who denied a report that he disagreed with Christie’s decision to back Trump. “He’s the two-term governor of a blue state who’s been head of the RGA [Republican Governors Association] and was a presidential candidate.

Note what is said there? Christie still has close ties to national GOP leaders. He’s head of the RGA. He’ll be influential. Note what they don’t say? That Christie will support Trump at a contested convention. Given the grief that Christie has taken so far, do you think he’s going to double down and support Trump? Possible but doubtful.