We here at Wonkette have said it before and it bears repeating: there are no “good Republicans.” There may have been some once, but that is no more.
For this week’s Sunday Shows post, we will focus on New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu.
Sununu got a lot of mainstream political praise as a “normal” Republican when he turned down running for Senate in 2022. He even tried to have others endorse Nikki Haley, who, in comparison to Trump, also gave off that “normal” Republican vibe.
But that’s all about maintaining Republican power, pure and simple. Sununu’s appearance Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” demonstrated that nicely.
Sununu, despite Stephanopoulos’s repeated questions and incredulity, made it clear that he will support Donald Trump no matter what.
SUNUNU: I mean, this has been going on for over a year, and his poll numbers never seem to go down because of the issue.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, yeah, you're going to politics, though. I'm asking you about right and wrong. You think it's -- you're comfortable with the idea of supporting someone who's convicted of a federal crime as president?
SUNUNU: Oh, no. No -- I don't think any American is comfortable with any of this. They don't like any of this, of course. But, I mean, when it comes to actually, you know, looking at each of these trials, as they, kind of, take place whether it's this year or next year, or as they, kind of, line up, right now this is about an election, right? This is about politics.
Stephanopoulos tried to appeal to a sense of decency or leadership, but Sununu wasn’t taking that bait:
STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m asking whether you’re going to be swayed by it. […] I mean, you're a governor. […] You're an elected official. I’m asking whether you're going to be swayed by it [multiple Trump trials and convictions].
SUNUNU: Yeah. Look, nobody should be shocked that the Republican governor is supporting the Republican president.
Stephanopoulos then tried to appeal to Sununu’s patriotism. Stephanopoulos thought that surely a man who once said, “It is clear that President Trump's rhetoric and actions contributed to the insurrection. The domestic terrorists who attacked the United States Capitol must be held accountable and prosecuted,” would have to reconsider their endorsement:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you stand by that statement?
SUNUNU: A hundred percent, of course. They have to be prosecuted, and they are being prosecuted. That's good.
I think he -- his actions absolutely contributed to that. There's no question about that. I hate the election denialism of 2020. Nobody wants to be talking about that in 2024. I think all of that was absolutely terrible, but what people are going to be voting for, what I -- what -- the reason I’m supporting not just the president, but the Republican administration. That's what this is.
Sununu brought up “culture change,” “cancel culture” and “wokeness” to make clear that the line between him and somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene is so faint it can be blown away like dandelion petals. Stephanopoulos kept asking questions, appealing to Sununu’s decency, but to no avail.
It was like Remy from Ratatouille trying to convince his rat friend Emile not to eat garbage.
Sununu had one more “defense” of his endorsement:
STEPHANOPOULOS: And you believe that someone -- you believe that a president who contributed to an insurrection should be president again?
SUNUNU: As does 51 percent of America, George. I mean, really.
Republicans always make this false claim to create fake legitimacy, but the math doesn’t math.
In the 2020 election, 155.5 million people voted. President Joe Biden won the election with 306 electoral votes and 51.3 percent of the national popular vote, compared to Trump's 232 electoral votes and 46.9 percent.
But, according United States Census website, the US population is around 336.3 million people currently. The total number of people who voted in 2020 isn’t 51 percent of Americans. What percentage of Americans does Trump, and by extension the Republican Party, actually represent?
A meager 21.8 percent, if you’re just counting votes. And of course, it must be pointed out again and again, Donald Trump has never won the popular vote of anything. Let’s see him do that before we start talking about “51 percent.”
That’s it. That’s the tyranny of the minority we deal with. Sununu and the rest know this. They, we assume, have access to Google and calculators to do the same amateur math we did.
It’s why they have always played the long game regarding taking judicial power, both state and federally. It’s why they gerrymander, rig the tax code, uphold the Electoral College and save (with help from willfully ignorant Democratic senators) the filibuster.
This isn’t an opposition party. It’s an authoritarian party trying to enact a hostile takeover. The faster our representatives realize this, the better chance we have to defeat the actual problems we face.
Have a week.
Follow Michael Mora on Bluesky and Threads. (If you are still on Twitter, I’m also HERE)
"Look, nobody should be shocked that the Republican governor is supporting the Republican president."
Nobody is, Chris. Some might argue that's actually a problem.
Sununu demonstrates thoroughly repulsive spineless supplication to THE most heinously corrupt president to ever soil the Oval Office. This breathless devotion to the orange abomination compels nothing but my abject and loathing contempt.