Mike Crispi sure doesn’t lack confidence.

Still on a high after Donald Trump’s win, Crispi is exploring a run for governor.

Crispi is co-chair of the state’s America First Republicans, a MAGA group. Those are pretty good credentials in Trump World, but there’s more.

Crispi, a podcaster on the Salem Podcast Network, was one of the preview speakers at Trump’s Wildwood rally.

And when Trump came on stage, he praised Crispi’s speech. Does it get any better than that for a MAGA devotee?

Before moving along, it must be noted that Crispi’s real life political forays so far have not fared all that well.

Back in 2017, he ran for Morris County freeholder in the Republican primary. He finished last with less than 10 percent of the vote.

Two years ago, he challenged Republican Rep. Chris Smith in CD-4, losing in the primary with about 37 percent of the vote.

So, governor? What gives?

Crispi said in a phone conversation Monday and in his online commentary that he’s unhappy there are no America First candidates among Republicans seeking to replace Phil Murphy.

That’s why he may jump in. If not, he hopes that another America First candidate will enter the race.

GOP candidates Jon Bramnick and Jack Ciattarell are not MAGA candidates.

But how about radio host Bill Spadea?

He certainly seems like an America First candidate. More than once, I have heard Spadea tell gatherings that New Jersey Republicans need to be “pro-Trump, pro-life and pro-gun.”

Not good enough – at least for Crispi.

He suggests that Spadea has become more like a politician than a man committed to the MAGA cause.

There’s also the spectre of George Gilmore, the county chair in very Republican Ocean County, who has endorsed Spadea

Crispi has a number of problems with Gilmore and by extension, Spadea.

Crispi says Gilmore “harassed” his organization’s attempts to find locales in Ocean County for America First campaign events.

More importantly, perhaps, Gilmore endorsed Curtis Bashaw for the U.S. Senate and not the person backed by Trump – Christine Serrano Glassner. We know now that Bashaw won the primary, but lost the general election.

Crispi also brought up a fundraiser Gilmore hosted a few months ago for Jim McGreevey who is running for mayor of Jersey City.

That event was also criticized by McGreevey’s competitors in Jersey City.

Crispi’s overall point here is a good one, and it gets into the “drain the swamp” mantra.

Why is a Republican chair helping a Democrat trying to become mayor of Jersey City?

The answer is they had a relationship when McGreevey was governor. Fine, but the question still is, why does a GOP leader want to help a Democrat today?
Clearly, a lot of Crispi’s unhappiness with Spadea has to do with Gilmore.

The upshot here is that a “genuine” America First candidate – Crispi or someone else – runs the risk of splitting that wing of the Republican Party. That could help Bramnick and Ciattarelli.

At the risk of getting too far ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look at some of Crispi’s recent governor-related social media posts.

He says the next governor should “abolish the income tax.” Just for the record, the income tax, which helps fund public schools, is projected to raise about $19 billion this fiscal year.
Crispi also wants to make the Giants change their name to the New Jersey Giants. This issue generally only pops up when the team is playing well and that ain’t happening this year.

No matter, Crispi says he’s having a lot of fun since talking about his interest in running for governor.

That’s easy to believe.