Critical Analysis on that of, "Chris Christie bridge scandal: a primer," by Matt Smith

A largely popular news scandal that has been circulating the media recently, is that of Chris Christie. From on the web, to news stations, to magazines, Christie has been subpoenaed to tell information about the closing of the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee.  The suspension of access of the bridge took place last September, exactly two months before his reelection. The article, “Chris Christie bridge scandal: a primer,” by Matt Smith of CNN covers the complete story.

Matt Smith centers his article about the ignorance of the governor, making him seem like the bad guy. He accuses Christie of telling his appointees to close the bridge down, somehow getting back at the mayor of Fort Lee who didn’t endorse Christie. In the article, there are many examples of how Christie might have ordered the closing of the Washington Bridge. Private emails closely monitored by the government show the obvious agreement of the traffic “problems” at Fort Lee. Closely after the emails hit the internet, Christie fired those he appointed that exchanged the conversations about the GW bridge.

At first, I was confused. Yes, I have heard of the supposed corruption of Christie, but I didn’t know why he would close the bridge in the first place (if he commanded to).  Matt Smith explains how Christie could have gotten back at the mayor of Fort Lee, by simply closing off the bridge that led to Fort Lee. “That caused days of massive traffic jams in Fort Lee, where the Democratic mayor had declined to endorse Christie.” He hurt more of the people that lived in New Jersey than the mayor himself. This man who has helped millions get out of the “mud” that happened to be Hurricane Sandy, instantly closes one of America’s busiest bridges to get back at a mayor who didn’t endorse him. That was kind of stupid on his part.

Also, by providing a breakdown of the events taken place during the closing of the GW bridge, I could easily understand when and how the bridge was closed, making it easier for me to understand the article. The quotes taken from some of the emails exchanged by Christie’s appointees also help me interpret the whole series of events by myself.

Matt Smith wants to lead his readers in suspecting the corruption of Chris Christie. He provides specific details that make Christie seem corrupted. Matt Smith as said before puts his quotes taken from key people that took place in the closing of the bridge, conveniently right before and after suspicions of corruption. He wanted to include his side of the story without making it seem to obvious. For example he includes, “ ‘If a woman died here, he's in deep, deep trouble,’ said David Gergen,” right after he includes that Christie somehow took part in the closing of the bridge.

Personally I believe that Christie, although he did many amazing things to benefit Sandy victims, took a major part in closing the bridge. I think that there are way too many facts and lots of evidence that all eventually directs to Christie being corrupt by closing the bridge for silly political reasons. I think he should face the fact that he has done something that hurt his own people, instead of lying to cover it up.