In this interview with Jake Tapper last week prior to his landslide re-election, Chris Christie shows us via his nonverbal signs that he will be almost certainly running for President in 2016.
At 5:31 when Tapper asks him, "Are you a tea-partier? Are you a tea party republican?"
Just after he's asked and as he answers this question, the Governor of New Jersey readjusts in his campaign bus seat (5:34 - 5:37). This classic and reliable "Squirming in his Seat" body language signals significant anxiety secondary to this tea party question.
A few moments later at beginning at the 6:15 mark, Governor Christie continues, "...Listen, I, there's a lot of principles about the Tea Party that I agree with, and have governed, um, in New Jersey in a way that's consistent with a lot of that. But, you know some of the stuff that's happened of late in Washington I think, is not even consistent with what, um, a lot of the real folks who started the Tea Party would have been, would agree with."
During the 6:20 - 6:21 segment as he says, "... and have governed, um, in New Jersey in a way that's ..." Christie displays an across-the-chest arm scratch as his right hand reaches across to his left upper arm. We have all done this and many other similar MAPs (Manipulators, Adaptors, Pacifiers) during moments of anxiety. And no doubt we experienced a "real itch". Such itching is very real and not at all imaged. A release of the neurotransmitter known as natriuretic polypeptide b (Nppb) is triggered with the onset of anxiety which in turn creates the real sensation of an itch. And an itch needs to be scratched.
Tapper then responds, "What, I don't know what you're talking about. You mean ..."
[Christie again reaches for and scratches the same shoulder as he struggles for an answer from 6:36 - 6:41] "Well I mean just the idea that that um, ah, you don't try to, well for instance like, on the sequester, we're actually succeeding as a movement in reducing government spending on the domestic side pretty significantly. But there was no, there's no acknowledgement of that by some folks in the Washington establishment. I think we should have been talking more about that. That's a real accomplishment, um, by our party to try and reduce spending that way and we,and what we should do is now is move to the entitlement side, to start to work on that side as well, then we can really look towards tax reform and other things are consistent with ss[some] a lot of folks who call themselves members of the tea party, ah want to see happen in Washington."
Chris Christie's seat squirming and cross-chested shoulder itching is indicating that he is dancing between framing himself as a far right republican (and thus putting him in a better position to win the republican Presidential nomination in 2016) and a centrist republican (so that he can win the general election). He would not be undertaking this balancing act if he were not strongly considering a bid for the Oval Office.
See also:
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2597: Chris Christie's Body Language Tell Regarding Obamacare
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2591: Chris Christie on Romney's Campaign Vetting Leak, Body Language Tells
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2538: Governor Chris Christie's Body Language Tells regarding Shutting Down the Government and Telling us He’s Running for President in 2016
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2523: Hillary Clinton, Body Language and the 2016 Presidency - Rapport Builder vs. Rapport Destroyer
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2564: Hillary Clinton Stumping for Terry McAuliffe ... but Did She Hint at Running in 2016?
Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2363: Hillary Clinton, Body Language and the Political Point - Hand Tension Correlations with Facial Tension
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2534: Bill and Hillary are going to be Grandparents; President Clinton's Body Language is Telling Us that Chelsea is Pregnant
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