Chris Christie and the politics of fat

I have an article in TNR on the question of how Christie’s weight might affect a prospective presidential run.

Something I should have mentioned in the piece is that it doesn’t seem implausible there could be some sort of backlash among women voters in this sort of context, given the intensity of the double standards at play in regard to what counts as an acceptable body for men and women politicians in general, and presidential candidates in particular.