Chris Sununu is the absolute worst

A rant.

On Sunday, New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu was on ABC’s “This Week.” This exchange between Sununu and moderator George Stephanopoulos ended the interview:

Stephanopoulos: So just to sum up, you would support him for president even if he is convicted in classified documents. You would support him for president even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection. You would support him for president even though you believe he's lying about the last election. You would 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: Yes, me and 51 percent of America.

Folks. I mean, FOLKS.

First off, kudos to George for just laying it all out there in a cogent and clear way. That’s harder to do in a live interview than you might think.

Second, the opposite of kudos to Sununu. Like, this is disgraceful — for lots of reasons.

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Before I get into the long history of Sununu attacking Trump and insisting that Trump can’t win, let’s just break down the idiocy of the argument the governor is making here.

Sununu’s explanation for supporting Trump — despite the insurrection, despite the election denialism, despite everything he’s said about him in the past — is, well, a lot of people are doing it.

“Me and 51 percent of America.” (Side note: Trump has not hit 51% in any recent poll I’ve seen.)

Which reminds me of this: When you are a kid and you do something dumb — like, say, jump off a roof into your friend’s pool — and your parents find out, you try to rationalize it by saying something like: “Everyone was doing it!”

To which your parents — or, at least, my parents — would respond: “If everyone was jumping off a bridge, would you?”

Chris Sununu’s answer is that he absolutely would. He would — and is — taking that flying leap.

Like, really? Is that what leadership looks like in the Trump Republican party? You are for him because other people are for him — even if you have repeatedly voiced your deep concerns about his ability to lead your party and the country?

And make no mistake: Sununu worked to make a name for himself over the past two years as the rare Republican elected official who was willing to criticize Trump.

Here’s Sununu almost exactly two years ago:

“He’s fucking crazy! The press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump is crazy. And I’ll say it this way: I don’t think he’s so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain’t getting out!”

(The event was a DC dinner that functions as a roast. But still.)

In the summer of 2023, Sununu said this:

“The math has shown Donald Trump has no chance of winning in November of ’24. He wouldn’t even win Georgia. If you’re a Republican that can’t win Georgia of November ‘24, you have no shot, and he’s proven that.”

Not fair to pick on stuff Sununu said about Trump a while back, you say? How about something he said in January?

“If you go with the Trump path, obviously, it just gets — it's like throwing gasoline on a firework,” Sununu told PBS. “It’s just going to get so much worse.”

Sununu also took shots at Trump’s age and mental capacity during the course of the primary campaign.

He did this, ostensibly, because he endorsed Nikki Haley in advance of the New Hampshire Republican primary and was doing what he could to help her beat Trump. (Trump won the primary by 11 points.)

And because he believed — deep down — that Donald Trump was bad for the Republican party because a) he wasn’t actually conservative and b) he couldn’t win in November.

We now know that was all bullshit — that Sununu was simply doing what would get him lots of media attention (saying bad stuff about Trump) and didn’t mean a word of it.

Because, if he really believed Trump was “crazy” or “has no chance of winning in November” or that “it’s just going to get so much worse” why oh why would he endorse Trump last month?

He wouldn’t.

And if he really believed everything he said about Trump — that he is lying about the 2020 election, that he played a part in an insurrection — how the hell could he say he would still vote for him?

He wouldn’t.

What Sununu wants is to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted all the media attention and interviews that came with being a strident anti-Trump voice. But he also wants to be welcomed back into the Trump fold. He wants to be remembered as a loyal soldier for Trump, someone who did their duty and backed the nominee even though he had qualms about it. So that Trump doesn’t target him and end his political career.

It’s just plain gross. Like, say what you will about the Matt Gaetzs of the world but at least they have been consistent! They have been with Trump since the very start — never wavering even amid his many, many controversies.

Sununu is the opposite of that. He thought Trump was a danger to the country right up until it was clear Trump was going to be the Republican nominee. And then he decided that, actually, he was totally cool with Trump because [checks notes] everyone else was cool with it?

I say again: WHAT??!!?!

This is crazy talk. It’s the opposite of leadership. And we should boo this man.