The messy, shambolic search for Donald Trump’s next chief of staff has become “sad to watch,” as author Chris Whipple recently remarked. John Kelly, who resigned last weekend without a successor, is eager to end his humiliation as quickly as possible, and has said he will depart by year’s end. The staffer who had been expected to take over, Nick Ayers, bowed out after Trump refused to let him serve on an interim basis. And the usual established Republicans who might otherwise take an interest in the job—once considered among the most prestigious in Washington—have taken their names out of consideration. (Who, after all, would want to be the next Reince Priebus?) “The only thing more broken and dysfunctional than the White House itself,” Whipple told the Associated Press, “seems to be the search for the new White House chief of staff.”

In the absence of more traditional candidates, Trump’s casting call has devolved into the familiar reality-show circus. Nearly a dozen names have been floated in the press, only to be shot down: former deputy Trump campaign manager David Bossie is firmly opposed by Jared and Ivanka, and Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows is widely disliked. Other potential candidates, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, have all reportedly told people they don’t want the job. Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, has said so explicitly. In an undeniable sign of how desperate the search has become, there has even been talk of bringing back Priebus, my colleague Gabriel Sherman reports. (It appears Priebus will be joining the Navy, instead.)

And yet, the chief-of-staff search continues to take more soap-operatic turns. According to the Huffington Post, Jared Kushner has also expressed interest in the job, and on Wednesday met with Trump to discuss it. That’s surprising enough on its own: as Trump scryer Maggie Haberman noted, it would be uncharacteristic of Kushner, who prefers to work behind the scenes, to suddenly pursue a title in the public eye. More baffling is the candidate Trump reportedly met with next: former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who was (briefly) considered a front-runner. “[He’s] tough; he’s an attorney; he’s politically savvy, and one of Trump’s early supporters,” a source familiar with Trump’s thinking told Jonathan Swan of Axios.

Perhaps more important, from the First Family’s perspective, was the fact that Christie, as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, prosecuted Kushner’s father on 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering, and making illegal campaign donations. Charles Kushner ultimately served 14 months at a federal prison camp in Alabama. Later, Kushner reportedly took his revenge by ousting Christie from the Trump transition team, spiking his chances of joining the administration.

On Friday, Christie released a statement explaining that he had taken himself out of the running (whether he was ever offered the job is unclear). “It’s an honor to have the president consider me as he looks to choose a new White House chief-of-staff,” he wrote. “However, I’ve told the president that now is not the right time for me or my family to undertake this serious assignment.” Had Trump simply taunted Christie, once again, with the prospect of a White House job, only to jilt a former rival? Did the president’s resentful son-in-law use his family veto power to block the appointment of the man who humiliated his father? Perhaps it was the opposite: later Friday afternoon, The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey reported that “people close to Christie” were resentful that Trump “had toyed with him” by passing him over for vice president and attorney general, and knocking him off the transition team. Multiple White House aides and advisers had told Dawsey that Christie was a front-runner for the job (“POTUS was quite interested”)—right up until the moment that Christie declined. (There is also the small matter of Christie’s soon-to-be published memoir, which promises “frank appraisals” of Trump associates, including Kushner.) The enduring mystery of the Trump-Christie relationship, not to mention the job search, goes on.

Update: Mick Mulvaney has won the chief-of-staff bake-off, on an interim basis.

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