Remember Chris Christie? He had a moment for a bit there. But then there was the thing with the bridge and some kinda controversy happened during Trump's presidency, maybe... it's hard to recall.
Well, anyway, he's back. Sort of.
It's hard to recall a former politician who was showered with more free media attention than Chris Christie this month as he peddled his new book, "Republican Rescue." Invited to appear on a carousel of shows, Christie was all-present as journalists lined up to interview him. CNN even dedicated an entire primetime hour to him, treating the in-your-face Republican as one of the most important political voices in the country.
Consumers aren't buying it.
A senior publishing source with access to the industry's BookScan tabulations tells me that "Republican Rescue" sold just 2,289 copies during its first week in stores, which constitutes a colossal publishing flop. That figure does not include digital copies of the book, but based on industry sales patterns, given Christie's weak showing in stores he likely sold only a few hundred digital ones. (On Sunday, "Republican Rescue" was ranked 15,545th at Amazon's Kindle Store.)
Yeesh.
I mean that's a train wreck of a book release. Like a jump-off-the-tracks-and-hit-an-oil-refinery kinda wreck. You'd hardly wish that sort of thing on your worst enemy. Matt Walsh just released a book about a walrus for heaven's sake and it sold out in like five minutes and hit #4 on Amazon... and he's just a dude who gets paid to say spicy stuff on the internet.
Ultimately, though... it's Chris Christie. I don't feel happy that his book is a colossal failure, yet I don't feel all that sad either. His time has sort of come and gone and he's neither an enemy or a friend, just kinda a dude.
I wish Christie well and I also don't really have any interest in what he's doing.
