Hi! Hello! Happy 4th of July weekend! This is Chris Christie, the historically unpopular governor of New Jersey. His hobbies include bridge scandals, standing awkwardly behind Donald Trump, and grimly punching air people right in the kisser.
Christie, seemingly undaunted by being the most unpopular governor in these United States of America, decided it would be a good idea to get into a budget standoff with the state legislature. That would lead to a partial government shutdown. Of parks and beaches. On 4th of July weekend.
And in what most political analysts would define as "poor optics," or what most normal people would define as "ha ha ha are you serious...STFU," Christie and his gubernatorial posse were photographed on one of those beaches closed by his standoff.
Gov. Chris Christie and family soak up sun on state beach he closed to the public. @AndyMills_NJ… https://t.co/vxtTlsnoiI
And of course it didn't take long for Twitter to start cranking out content for #beachgate.
Here it is: @AndyMills_NJ spills the beans and tells us how his amazing pix of the sunning gov came together. https://t.co/COLJjvwW9F
Some people thought it was a pretty shrewd move.
"Dr. No to everyone else who wants to be on the beach."
Dr. No to everyone else who wants to be on the beach. #ChrisChristie
There were references to New Jersey's favorite fictional son, Tony Soprano.
I don't know about you, but the Sopranos reboot looks awful. #ChrisChristie
From Here to Christieternity.
Chris Christie: From Here to Eternity
But honestly, wouldn't it be amazing to have an entire beach to yourself?
Just shut it down.
Chris Christie tropical update:
Of course, speaking of "shut it down," people were reminded of Ye Olde Bridgegate.
Time for some traffic problems! #NewJersey #ChrisChristie
And couldn't get over how petty it seemed.
Like, SUPER petty.
There were unavoidable parallels to Jaws.
Mood #ChrisChristie
And Planet of the Apes.
"You Maniac! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!" #ChrisChristie #ChristiesShutdown
Anybody remember Spaceballs? No?
#ChrisChristie shut the NJ beaches down so he could have more room to hang with the boys.
There were references to other Trump allies sitting inappropriately.
But at least the beach dragging was bipartisan. (He Rangeled up some friends. Don't care. Not sorry.)
Today Chris Christie defended going to the beach saying it was a "bipartisan beach gathering".. #ChrisChristie
Some folks even got jealous when they came to this sad realization.
The memes were baked.
Chris Christie The meme world welcomes you #ChrisChristie
The Costanza was quoted.
"The sea was angry that day, my friends ... like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli" #beachgate… https://t.co/PeF05gJp5a
And last, but not least...
Just gonna leave this here. #ChrisChristie