As candidates largely break into pro- and anti-Trump camps, “there is a thing to being in a unique lane that does in fact endorse some of President Trump’s policies but at the same time doesn’t hesitate to criticize where Christie would disagree with him,” said longtime GOP pollster Adam Geller. He worked on Christie’s two winning New Jersey gubernatorial campaigns as well as Christie’s 2016 presidential bid, followed by Trump’s.

Others aren’t so sure, arguing that Christie aligned himself with Trump until it was no longer politically convenient.

“It’s clearly disingenuous,” said Tim Miller, a former spokesperson for the Republican National Committee and a vocal Trump critic. “Chris Christie enabled Donald Trump maybe more than anyone in the establishment of the Republican Party. And now he wants to get the kudos of saying something that is reality but without any of the reflection about what he did to get us here.”