First published 2019
Chris Christie opens his political memoir by recounting his stunning decision to endorse Donald Trump in 2016, becoming the first major Republican official to back the future president. The former New Jersey governor had known Trump for fifteen years and quickly became one of his most trusted advisers. Christie led Trump's transition team and nearly became his running mate. But days after Trump's surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, Christie found himself pushed out. He takes readers through his years as a corruption-fighting prosecutor and Republican governor of a Democratic state. Christie exposes the ego battles between Steve Bannon, Corey Lewandowski, Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway, Jeff Sessions, and Paul Manafort as they competed for Trump's attention. He reveals how the destruction of his transition plan left the new administration to self-serving amateurs. Christie addresses Bridgegate and tells the complete story of how he prosecuted Jared Kushner's father as a federal attorney, creating lasting enmity with Trump's son-in-law who later extracted revenge.
Genres: american, political-science, politics, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New Jersey
Period: 2016
432 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing