It was one of the most striking images of Super Tuesday — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie standing awkwardly behind GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump, remaining uncomfortably silent as the polarizing candidate gave a long victory speech.
Christie, who has taken heat from many of his Republican colleagues since endorsing Trump last week, becoming the businessman’s most prominent supporter in the so-called GOP establishment. He introduced Trump on Tuesday night at the opulent Mar-a-Lago Club, then proceeded to deliver what The Washington Post described as a “wordless scream.”
RELATED: Buyer’s remorse for Chris Christie after he endorsed Trump
His apparently troubled, some would say “glazed” expression, led some social media users to create the hashtag #FreeChristie, which quickly began trending. With that, a new 2016 campaign meme was born:
That's me in the corner
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 2, 2016
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion pic.twitter.com/1ZkAMG9KcV
Chris Christie was hilarious! He's gonna have a hangover from being Trump drunk.#FreeChristie #drumpf #Drumpf2016 pic.twitter.com/1LmaIKzjW7
— Nathan Ralph (@thenateralph) March 2, 2016
@poniewozik: "Chris Christie becomes Donald Trump's Smithers" #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain #FreeChristie pic.twitter.com/YjQVrGoBmO
— Russell Thomas (@MrMeritology) March 2, 2016
that explains it pic.twitter.com/YlBKp58qfy
— Mike Tunison (@xmasape) March 2, 2016
Blink twice if you need help. #FreeChristie #ChrisChristie pic.twitter.com/j5E3Jb2VqJ
— Sarah (@kneesocks96) March 2, 2016
“It was nearly impossible to pay attention to Trump’s speech, and not just because he repeated the exact same lines over and over again. Rather, the hostage situation to Trump’s left was far too captivating for us to look away from Chris Christie’s increasingly dead eyes for even a second,” wrote Gawker‘s Ashley Feinberg. “It would seem that the Internet agreed.”
Republican Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan also joked on Twitter that it looked “like a hostage situation.”
Still, despite chuckles at Christie’s expense, there appear to be real consequences looming in the aftermath of his decision to back a candidate who is now being widely credited with splintering the Republican party, perhaps irrevocably.
This week, a half a dozen prominent New Jersey newspapers’ editorial boards came out to demand that Christie should resign, with some even floating another dreaded R-word: “Recall.”








