Rachel Maddow speculated on Thursday that New Jersey governor Chris Christie's presidential ambitions might be over.
Christie has been under fire since emails revealed that his administration ordered the lane closures that caused a massive traffic jam in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The revelations has observers wondering just how damaging Bridgegate will be.
On Thursday, Maddow suggested that the scandal has been damaging enough to make even Christie re-evaluate his chances at the White House. "I'm not prepared to say definitively tonight that Chris Christie just announced he is not running for president," she said. "But compare what he said with the way he usually talks about this thing, and it kind of seems today like Chris Christie announced he is not going to run for president in 2016."
She was referring to a public appearance where Christie told Hurricane Sandy victims Thursday that voters elected him to run the state "for eight years, not four years" and that New Jersey "is where [he intends] to spend the rest of [his] life."
Maddow compared those statements to older clips of Christie refusing to say whether he would serve out a full term as governor and saying "We'll see what happens" when asked his future plans.
She pointed out that Christie's tone on Thursday seemed dramatically different, noting, “That is not at all the way that Governor Chris Christie has talked recently about his immediate next few years’ plans." Watch Maddow's comparison in the clip above.