Maddow Blog | GOP's Chris Sununu tries, fails to defend his Trump endorsement

About a month before the Republican Party’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, Nikki Haley picked up an important endorsement: The Granite State’s incumbent four-term governor, Chris Sununu, threw his enthusiastic backing behind the former ambassador. This did not go unnoticed at Mar-a-Lago.

In the weeks and months that followed, Donald Trump repeatedly trashed Sununu. In fact, the condemnations began in earnest before the governor endorsed Haley, after Sununu made clear that he wouldn’t be supporting the former president during the GOP’s nominating process.

Even after Haley exited the stage and Trump became his party’s presumptive nominee, Trump continued to publicly ridicule the New Hampshire governor

It was against this backdrop that Sununu sat down with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” and continued to echo many of his earlier criticisms of his party’s leader. The governor said Trump “absolutely contributed” to an insurrection and took actions that were “absolutely terrible” after the 2020 elections.

But Sununu also said he’s supporting Trump’s 2024 candidacy. It led to a striking half-minute of television.

“Just to sum up,” the ABC host told his guest. “You support Trump for president even if he’s convicted in the classified documents case. 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 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?

“Yeah,” Sununu replied. “Me and 51% of America.”

For a Republican politician who used to at least pretend to care about unshakable core beliefs, it was a pitiful display and a powerful example of post-principle politics. The governor has traditionally encouraged the political world to see him as a serious and credible figure, which made it all the more cringeworthy to see him light his reputation on fire while on national television.

But I was also interested in Sununu’s factual errors.

For one thing, the idea that 51% of Americans support Trump is, at least for now, difficult to take seriously. Donald Trump has twice appeared on the national ballot, and in both instances, he failed to reach 47% of the vote. While in office, his approval rating never reached 51%. In 2024, recent polling puts his support at roughly 46%.

But even more important still was the context of Sununu’s exaggeration. To hear the New Hampshire Republican tell it, he’s supporting Trump, despite serious misgivings, which is justifiable because much of the country is doing the same thing. It was, in effect, an “everybody’s doing it” defense.

Except, everybody isn’t doing it. Much of the former president’s Cabinet, including Trump’s own former vice president, isn’t supporting his 2024 candidacy. Former members of Trump’s national security team and former Republican congressional leaders have come to the same conclusion.

They’ve decided to put country over party. They’ve prioritized principle over partisan convenience. Sununu had a choice, but he’s decided to do the opposite.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com