We recently learned that former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie wasn’t thrilled with the way Jared Kushner supposedly “submarined” him in the eyes of the President. Clearly, he had plenty more to get off his chest, some of which is showing up in his new book that will be released shortly. In it, he tosses in some additional poison pills for various people in Trump’s inner circle. In fact, he goes so far as to describe many of them as “riffraff.” (Washington Times)

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed specific members of the Trump administration in his new book “Let Me Finish,” saying that President Trump brought in “riffraff” to help him govern.

“Donald so urgently needed the right people around him and a solid structure in place,” Mr. Christie wrote, according to excerpts obtained and published by Axios. “Far too often, he’s found himself saddled with the riffraff.”

Mr. Christie listed a litany of criticisms of several high-profile members of the administration, all of whom are no longer on the president’s team. The insults included calling Michael Flynn, the former National Security Adviser, a “Russian lackey” and “future federal felon.”

In addition to going after Flynn, Christie also targets former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Sebastian Gorka. These are presumably all examples of the riffraff in question. And of course, he circles back to Kushner, blaming him for intentionally wrecking the transition plan for his own purposes.

How much of this is actual, heartfelt bitterness instead of intentional drama? Well, the guy has books to sell and editors no doubt instruct their prospective authors to spice things up and include some zingers that will attract the media’s attention, presumably selling more books in the process. With that in mind, he might be leaning a little heavily on the bloviation to get his numbers up.

But at the same time, Chris Christie gives me the sense that he’s actually quite frustrated (or at least seriously disappointed) with the President, his family, and his closest advisers. Christie and Trump traded blows during the 2016 GOP primary, but after the dust settled Christie was one of the most loyal workhorses that the President had. He put up with considerable embarrassment acting as a Trump surrogate once he dropped out, but likely considered that the price of admission.

Once Christie was brought in to head up the transition team, he no doubt felt that the door was open to something bigger after the inauguration. He’d made no secret of the fact that he saw himself as a short-list contender for the position of Attorney General and his resume definitely showed he would have been a qualified candidate. Any number of other possible cabinet positions would likely have been acceptable.

But in the end, he was shown the door and left out in the cold. He’s held his tongue for a couple of years now, probably thinking that Trump might come back around and find a spot for him in the administration. Now, however… not so much. I imagine that Chris Christie will still find a way to write another chapter in his political career eventually. (He’s only 56.) But now that this book is hitting the shelves, it probably won’t be as part of the Trump administration.