By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Gov. Chris Sununu said on ABC News Sunday that while he was critical of former President Donald Trump during the primary for the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, he will support him in the general election and noted that Trump just continues to rise in the polls.
Speaking with George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sununu stood by his past claims that Trump contributed to the attack which was a bloody and failed attack of the nation’s Capitol to overturn the 2020 election, but he favors a Republican administration that would come from another four years with Trump at the nation’s helm.
Sununu’s appearance on ABC News’ “This Week,” was roundly criticized in the state by Democrats who watched, like Kent Street Coalition’s co-founder Louise Spencer who wrote on the platform X, formerly Twitter: “Will the media finally understand that this is the true Sununu? He is not now, nor never been a moderate. He clearly lacks the moral courage and integrity to stand up to an insurrectionist, ex-president. He pledges allegiance to party over country.”
A link to the exchange between Stephanopoulos and Sununu, who has decided not to run again for governor, is here on YouTube:
A spokesman for Sununu was not immediately available for comment Monday.
Sununu campaigned for and endorsed former UN Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and had many harsh words for Trump, but Haley dropped out of the race and Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee.
Sununu told ABC if Trump is convicted of a felony it would not stop him from voting for him.
“No one should be surprised by my support,” Sununu said on Sunday. “I think the real discussion is, you know, Americans moving away from (Democratic President Joe) Biden. That’s how bad Biden has become as president. There’s just no doubt about it, right? You can’t ignore inflation. You can’t ignore the border and say that these issues in the courthouse are going to be the one thing that brings Biden back into office.”
Sununu continued to falsely claim that 51 percent of America supports Trump without being corrected.
The New York Times noted that Sununu invoked Americans’ desire for “culture change,” eight times but did not concretely define it and said that outweighed concerns about Trump’s efforts to overturn the election or the four criminal trials he now faces, including one that started Monday.
“So just to sum up, you would support him for president even if he was convicted in classified documents,” Stephanopoulos said. “You support him for president even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection. You support him for president even though you believe he’s lying about the last election. You’d support him for president even if he’s convicted in the Manhattan case. I just want to say, the answer to that is yes, correct?”
Sununu responded: “Yeah, me and 51 percent of America.”
New Hampshire Democrat Kathy Sullivan said it was kind of sad the way Sununu has become a cartoon governor.
“No principles, no core ethics, just “yaba daba Trump!” Yuck,” she wrote.
Heath Mayo wrote on X “This helps nobody” and John Harwood said Sununu is all the more pitiful for the fact that he once pretended to stand for something.