Posted January 13, 2018 at 07:30 AM | Updated January 13, 2018 at 11:08 AM
By Claude Brodesser-Akner | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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The face that launched a thousand GIFs...
Who could have known that the governor's squinting upward glance at NJ Advance Media's photographer's camera lens during the 2017 government shutdown that closed Island Beach State Park would explode into a pop culture cornucopia that went -- and still goes -- of itself.
So here, for the first time ever, as Christie prepares to leave office, we present our definitive ranking of Beachgate memes.
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Simba Christie
This "Lion King" Christie meme is perhaps the most poignant to emerge from the summer of 2017, and the implication is clear: Such high hopes at the beginning; so much tragedy in the end.
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Old Christie screams at New Christie
The irony of Beachgate is that the old, first-term Chris Christie would never have tolerated this sort of behavior from the new Christie.
"Get the hell off the beach!" this meme imagines Old Christie screaming at himself. "You've maximized your tan!"
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Lunar Christie
We all know that just twenty-four U.S. astronauts have traveled to the Moon, and just twelve have walked on its surface, so finding the governor there is patently ridiculous.
Or is it? Perhaps the meme's real message is that the nearly impossible-to-access lunar sands provide just the sort of exclusivity that Christie would find irresistible. After all, they don't call it Tranquility Base for nothing!