J. Maureen Henderson
11/14/2016
Of all those who have stood by President-elect Donald Trump throughout his campaign and are now nursing dreams of appointments commensurate to their loyalty, Chris Christie is perhaps the surrogate most likely to be left out in the cold. Christie hitched his wagon to Trump early on, dropping out of the Republican primary race, pledging his support and becoming the subject of memes and late-night mocking as he lined up with a dyspeptic countenance behind Trump at various rallies.
And, yet, at every point, Christie has been outmaneuvered in his ambitions by others. He wanted to be Trump’s running mate, but that honor went to Mike Pence. The New York Post ran a story saying that Trump had initially offered the role to Christie, but then snatched it back after then campaign chair Paul Manafort faked a problem with Trump’s plane so the billionaire would have to stay longer in Indianapolis, giving Pence more time to persuade Trump he was the better VP pick. Christie was appointed head of Trump’s transition team as what appeared to be a consolation prize, but now that the election is over, he’s been shunted out of that role in favor of Pence, too. He may yet land a spot in the Trump administration, but faces stiff competition for Attorney General — rumored to be the post-VP role he was eyeing — in the form of Rudy Giuliani, among others.
Where did everything go wrong?
It would be easy to blame the so-called Bridgegate. Two of Christie’s associates, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelley, were this month convicted of conspiracy, fraud and other related charges, with both the prosecution and defense alleging that Christie knew about the lane-closing scheme all along, which the governor has long denied and continues to disavow knowledge of. A new report from The New York Post lays the PR groundwork for Christie’s exile, claiming that insider sources say Trump is ‘disgusted’ with Christie for allowing Kelly to take responsibility for Bridgegate and plans to banish the beleaguered governor from his inner circle.
“They want to drain the swamp, and having Christie there is just plugging it up. He was tolerated in the past because he was viewed as a kind of nice Tony Soprano. But now that Trump is the president-elect those days are over,” the Post quotes a source as telling them. At this rate, expect a statement from James Gandolfini’s estate summarily rejecting any comparisons to Christie on behalf of the late Sopranos star.
This is bigger than Bridgegate, though.
Chris Christie’s falling fortunes aren’t just a political footnote in the madness that has been the 2016 presidential election. They’re an object lesson for anyone attempting to sort out their own career strategy. When he abandoned his own campaign and threw in with Trump, Christie gave up the lion’s share of control over his own destiny. If Trump won and was pleased with him, he might net a plum Cabinet post. If Trump lost or if the two had a falling out, Christie would find himself on the outs, as it seems he does now. He took a risk and hasn’t paid off as expected.
The temptation, especially for young employees, is to identify heavily with their jobs and/or their bosses, without understanding that that loyalty doesn’t necessarily run both ways. Bosses get fired or move on. Companies restructure or go through layoffs. There are no guarantees that your devotion won’t be rewarded with a pink slip. Tying your career fortunes too closely to someone else’s limits your own mobility and decision-making power. It renders you myopic and dependent on factors outside your control, which is no way to build a successful path through life. There are times you will want to align with others and/or follow the lead of someone you believe to be a capable leader, but, even in those moments, make the choice consciously and make sure to preserve your own identity and autonomy in the process. Keep your boss close, but your own career closer. It’s a lesson that Chris Christie would have done well to absorb and one the ‘real’ Tony Soprano understood implicitly.
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