“This morning I terminated the employment of Bridget Kelly, effective immediately. I terminated her employment because she lied to me,” stated New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in a press conference on Jan. 10 in response to the release of information that Christie’s administration had closed two lanes of the George Washington Bridge, connecting Fort Lee to New York city.

On Aug. 13, text messages and emails began to fly between staff members of Christie’s administration, including Deputy Chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly, who set the scandal into motion with a text to a senior official to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” The Mayor of Fort Lee, Mark Sokolich, had not endorsed Christie in his 2013 bid for governor and it is widely believed that this triggered the petty act of revenge.

Despite the severe damage to his reputation and approval ratings, Christie will have no trouble maintaining his status as a figurehead of the Republican party and most likely winner of the 2016 nomination for President.

Public opinion in the political world is highly unpredictable except for one aspect: its tendency to change quite rapidly.

Christie found this out firsthand when his stellar approval rating fell 18 percent in a year. Although this sounds like an end to a political career, he had an incredible 73 percent approval rating in Jan. of 2013 according to fdu.edu, meaning he is down to “only” 55 points, something not even the President himself can claim.

The New Jersey Governor also benefits from the public’s fickle opinion when it is taken into consideration the time in which this scandal occurred, seeing as the election is nearly two years off, giving the public more than enough time to forget the scandal almost entirely.

If there is any question as to whether or not Christie can regain his approval ratings in that amount of time, it should be considered that in roughly the same amount of time, George W. Bush saw his numbers move an incredible 30 points (albeit in the wrong direction). This should leave no doubt that the public will have plenty of time to return their faith in Christie.

The Governor has denied all allegations that he had any inkling of what was going on behind the scenes of the lane closures, insisting that he was under the impression that there was a traffic study going on, the alibi that his staff had consistently used. While no evidence has come out, Wildstein and his lawyer have stated that they do have evidence that Christie was aware of what was being done and had lied to the public. As long as there are no direct messages between Christie and those directly involved that include him supporting or ordering the the lane closures, he should have no trouble putting the issue behind him.

The continued support for Christie will be lead by his loyal following in his home state where he made a name for himself as the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. While in this position, he took on crime at all levels from white collar to street crimes.

With his sweep-the-streets attitude, he has fought sex trafficking throughout his political career, highlighted when he took down a brothel that housed teens enslaved as prostitutes. Prior to the recent Super Bowl, he spoke out and condemned the inevitable human trafficking that was likely to increase in the area during the weeks around the event. When he stepped down from the attorney position in 2008, he had “amassed more than 130 corruption convictions, by his count, without a single acquittal,” as reported on nj.com.

A bridge scandal that had little to no long term effect on the nation will likely be a footnote in Christie’s career as the issue eventually blows over and yields a successful candidate for President in 2016. Popular on both sides of the political aisle, we may soon see the era of Chris Christie begin.