It was a question that jumped out at me as I read the itinerary for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's trip to Iowa in October 2014.

Why on earth would Christie, who was laying the groundwork for a 2016 presidential campaign as an establishment candidate, headline a fundraiser for Republican Rep. Steve King, an unapologetic extremist who had a knack of grabbing national headlines with his incendiary taunts of minority groups?

It didn't seem like the company that a careful political operative like Christie would keep. After all, Christie's disciplined courtship of Hispanic voters a year earlier contributed to his reelection landslide.

It was a question that gnawed at me enough to take a 4½-hour ride from Des Moines with another New Jersey reporter to the rural Hole in the Wall hunting lodge in the northwestern corner of the state near the South Dakota border.

As the two politicians stepped onto the porch, I asked Christie if he was concerned that all his hard work cultivating Hispanic support back home might be jeopardized by his supporting the inflammatory King. A year earlier, King made headlines with his demeaning depiction of Mexican teens who developed "calves the size of cantaloupes" from hauling heavy loads of marijuana into the country.

King, dressed in boots and camouflage hunting gear, sharply interrupted my questioning by asking me if I had proof or a tape of his comments. I didn't have them with me, but they had been widely reported. King's tactic succeeded in putting me momentarily on my heels. Christie, meanwhile, refused to put any distance between himself and King.

"No, he's a friend. I don't back away from that for an inch, nor should I, nor has he given me any reason to," Christie replied. "I will be a supporter of Steve King for as long as he continues to be in public life."

Christie apparently had a dramatic change of heart Wednesday, joining a growing national chorus of condemnation over King's most recent inflammatory remarks in The New York Times, in which he said: "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?"

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The House overwhelmingly passed a resolution Tuesday condemning King's remarks, a symbolic but rare reprimand. House Republicans also stripped him of his committee assignments, which will leave him little room to wield power in Congress.

Republicans from across the ideological divide — ranging from moderates like Utah Sen. Mitt Romney to New Jersey's conservative state Sen. Joe Pennacchio, R-Morris — have condemned King's remarks this past week. The drumbeat calling on King to resign has intensified, but Christie didn't go that far.

The public outrage from Christie and the rest of the GOP is hypocrisy. King's white nationalist tendencies and race-baiting remarks had been well-documented long before that New York Times interview and certainly known to Christie that day at the hunting lodge.

The GOP was willing to look the other way as long as King was useful. Christie was not the only Republican contender who sought his blessing in the 2016 Iowa caucus. Even Iowa's U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley described him as an "ally" during his reelection race last year.

So why the sudden about-face?

For one thing, the shellacking that Republicans endured in the 2018 midterms has stirred panic in the GOP ranks. Women and moderates in vote-rich suburbs abandoned the party in droves, revolted by President Donald Trump's embrace of white nationalism and harsh, anti-immigrant rhetoric. Even King, who had racked up hefty victory margins since entering Congress in 2003, squeaked by with a 3-point victory over his Democratic challenger last year.

Republicans fear that Trump's brand will permanently become the party's brand. Yet many are in a bind: While they know Trump is the problem, few are willing to publicly confront him. They fear that Trump will retaliate in a nasty Twitter storm, and set his hard-core loyalists against them in a primary.

As a result, King serves as a convenient stand-in, somebody for worried Republicans to criticize without fear of antagonizing Trump — who, by the way, has refused to defend King even though King's early advocacy of a wall on the southern border with Mexico served as an inspiration to Trump.

"This has nothing to do with Steven King,'' said Larry Sabato, the University of Virginia political scientist, referring to the GOP outrage. "They are using King as a vehicle to send a message to Donald Trump."

Christie's relationship with King was fueled by political expediency and loyalty.

The alliance with King began in June 2009, when Christie, a candidate for governor, came under scrutiny for awarding lucrative contracts to private lawyers to oversee court settlements during his seven-year stint as the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.

Some of the work had gone to politically connected allies, including a deal worth as much as $52 million to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Christie's onetime boss at the Justice Department. A House committee investigating these so-called monitor contracts summoned Christie to testify.

King ran interference for Christie when the hearing got testy. He took aim at U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee who was grilling Christie. "Mr. Christie is part of the future leadership in this country, and hopefully this [hearing] will enhance his ability to contribute to American society," King said at one point.

That day on the porch in 2014, Christie repaid the favor, minimizing remarks and describing King as someone like himself, who sometimes gets in trouble for saying controversial things.

"I'm sure there are things I've said over time that Steve hasn't agreed with, and there's things that he's said that I may not agree with the way he said, or the way I said it," Christie said. "One of the things Steve and I share is an absolute commitment to speaking our mind."

Christie is no longer running for public office, but it's clear that he wants to maintain a role as a well-compensated party elder, dispensing wisdom on cable TV and in speeches before Republican audiences. So, perhaps, it was time for him discard his relationship with King.

Christie did not return a call seeking comment. He does have a tell-all book coming out this month. It will be interesting to see if he devotes any discussion to his relationship with his outspoken — and now former — friend from Iowa.