Sunday political talk shows are supposed to be, I’m told, a place where political affairs are talked about both for and by the smart set. Today, one of the smart set appears to have been confused by a Trump-opposed Republican stating that he will nonetheless vote for Donald Trump if he is the 2024 GOP nominee, rather than vote for Joe Biden.
Watch this incredible exchange between New Hampshire governor and Nikki Haley surrogate Chris Sununu and CBS’s Margaret Brennan on Face The Nation:
BRENNAN: So you said recently that if your candidate doesn't win the nomination, you would still support the party nominee. But back in June, when you said you personally decided not to run for president, you said if Trump wins, Republicans will lose again. He didn't deliver on his promises to drain the swamp, secure the border, instill fiscal responsibility. He has numerous investigations. He’s peddling conspiracy theories. So why do you no longer have such a strong conviction?
SUNUNU: I absolutely do. Look, all that stands today…
BRENNAN: But you would support him if he’s the nominee..
SUNUNU: I would support him, but… Yeah, I never said I wouldn't support him. We never said we wouldn’t support the Republican nominee. But then there’s the way he’s the weakest candidate…
BRENNAN: But you said he would be harmful.
SUNUNU: …to go up against Donald Trump. Yeah, but- I didn't say I wasn't going to support him. Republicans are going to support him. This would be a nail-biter race come November. With Nikki Haley at the top, she wins by ten points. It’s a fundamentally different argument because you get the Senate, you get the House seats, you get the governorships, you get all the way down the ticket. The Republicans win. Donald Trump is simply the weakest candidate. And so, again that’s the opportunity that Nikki brings to table.
BRENNAN: Okay. I'm sorry, you're saying you would still support the weakest candidate even though it would hurt your party in down ballot races just to be…consistent?
SUNUNU: Margaret. We're talking about the general election here.
BRENNAN: Yeah.
SUNUNU: Trump versus Biden. Right? Do you think I'm going to vote for Joe Biden? What- with what he's done to this country, with what he’s done with inflation and crush middle American families? I think Trump’s the weakest nominee and would have a tough time beating Biden for sure- but we're going to support the Republican nominee.
This unbelievable exchange was Brennan’s attempt at playing gotcha with Sununu over his recent past criticism of former President Donald Trump. These past criticisms and ongoing reservations as expressed by Sununu were, in Brennan’s mind, to carry on to the general election. Brennan seemed legitimately confused when Sununu expressed that he would vote for Trump over Biden, misgivings notwithstanding.
Brennan conveyed this confusion over Sununu’s statements via a head tilt, performed TWICE during this exchange, and which I saw most recently performed by my 9-week-old puppy as I voiced my displeasure at his decision to poop on the floor.
But Brennan’s part of the D.C. smart set. Sununu’s statements were easy to understand, and his logic was consistent all the way through. Brennan wasn’t confused. Her appropriation of the canine expression was not intended to convey confusion, but rather displeasure, at Sununu’s expressed choice.
How dare Sununu vote for Trump despite his misgivings instead of pulling the lever for Joe Biden? He might as well have pooped on Brennan’s floor. That brief exchange demonstrates, not just in words but in body language, the contempt that the media have for conservatives.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on CBS Face The Nation on Sunday, January 14th, 2024:
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we turn now to Governor and Nikki Haley supporter Chris Sununu, who joins us from Newfields, New Hampshire. Good to have you back with us.
GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU: You bet.
BRENNAN: So, Governor, Donald Trump won New Hampshire's primary in 2016. It legitimized his campaign, helped launch him to the presidency. He’s leading, again, in the New Hampshire polls. So is this really just about Nikki Haley potentially coming in second place?
SUNUNU: No, no. Not at all. Look, I mean, the media and- has told the world that Donald Trump was gonna win every state and run away with this. It wasn't even going to be a race. It obviously is a race. Nikki Haley is the only candidate surging in Iowa and in New Hampshire. The fact that if Nikki can post a strong second here, that would’ that’s great and we're going to do that. But now there’s even a chance of kind of shattering the presumptions that Donald Trump’s gonna run away with this- and that happens right here in New Hampshire. She can challenge him to beat- to win the state, go into her home state with nearly a month of campaigning there. She knows how to win there. And that, again, just breaks down this assumption by the whole country that it’s Trump’s to be had. So by doing that you kind of hit a reset, if you will, on the entire campaign narrative and put Nikki right at the top of the heap.
BRENNAN: So you said recently that if your candidate doesn't win the nomination, you would still support the party nominee. But back in June, when you said you personally decided not to run for president, you said if Trump wins, Republicans will lose again. He didn't deliver on his promises to drain the swamp, secure the border, instill fiscal responsibility. He has numerous investigations. He’s peddling conspiracy theories. So why do you no longer have such a strong conviction?
SUNUNU: I absolutely do. Look, all that stands today…
BRENNAN: But you would support him if he’s the nominee..
SUNUNU: I would support him, but… Yeah, I never said I wouldn't support him. We never said we wouldn’t support the Republican nominee. But then there’s the way he’s the weakest candidate…
BRENNAN: But you said he would be harmful.
SUNUNU: …to go up against Donald Trump. Yeah, but- I didn't say I wasn't going to support him. Republicans are going to support him. This would be a nail-biter race come November. With Nikki Haley at the top, she wins by ten points. It’s a fundamentally different argument because you get the Senate, you get the House seats, you get the governorships, you get all the way down the ticket. The Republicans win. Donald Trump is simply the weakest candidate. And so, again that’s the opportunity that Nikki brings to table.
BRENNAN: Okay. I'm sorry, you're saying you would still support the weakest candidate even though it would hurt your party in down ballot races just to be…consistent?
SUNUNU: Margaret. We're talking about the general election here.
BRENNAN: Yeah.
SUNUNU: Trump versus Biden. Right? Do you think I'm going to vote for Joe Biden? What- with what he's done to this country, with what he’s done with inflation and crush middle American families? I think Trump’s the weakest nominee and would have a tough time beating Biden for sure- but we're going to support the Republican nominee. But at the end of the day, that’s why Nikki Haley is surging. That’s why so many people are getting behind. That’s why you can sit- again, I tell the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire, you could sit on the couch and wait to see what happens or you can go caucus for Nikki Haley in Iowa. You can make sure you vote in New Hampshire. The higher the voter turnout, the better chance there is of defeating Donald Trump. And that happens- don’t wait for a court case. Don’t wait for external factors that aren’t gonna happen. That’s going to happen at the ballot box. And that’s the opportunity over the next ten days. To turn this entire narrative around that Trump’s just going to run away with this thing. Nikki’s the opportunity for the Republican Party.
BRENNAN: So…2022 was the most dangerous year for overdoses in New Hampshire since 2017, which was the same time Trump called your state a drug-infested den. What do you think- on the serious matter of addiction in this country- what is happening in your state that has had addiction, specifically now with fentanyl, only continue to be a problem through these administrations?
SUNUNU: Well, yeah, again, you're looking at small data. Since 2017, fentanyl-driven deaths in this country have exceeded a 60% increase. We’ve gone down. We’ve actually gone down. And our numbers will be lower than '22 even again this year. So our model is actually breaking the national trends. Our model is one where we provide rural access to care. We're not just pumping more money into old systems. We’ve rebuilt our entire system around it. We used to be one of the number one, number two in terms of drug and fentanyl driven deaths in the country, we're now around 23, 24. So, again, we have a lot of work to do. The entire country does. But understand, the entire country has skyrocketed, where we've actually gone down and broken that mold. I think we have a terrific model here. It’s working, it’s going to take time. Then implement that around mental health services as well. You implement that around all the other services. The majority of services in this country are focused on the inner cities. It’s wrong. It’s not the best way to do it. You have to have that rural access to care. Especially around fentanyl and overdoses and xylazine- all these other new drugs that are kind of coming on to the market. We've been on the forefront of that stuff.
BRENNAN: Governor, we wish you luck with that. Thank you for your time this morning. We’ll be right back.
