Sununu and Stephanopoulos spar over Trump

ABC host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday squabbled with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu over Sununu's support for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump despite his past criticism of him.

On "This Week," Stephanopoulos pushed Sununu on his individual views about Trump given his past disapproval of the former president's conduct, with Sununu repeatedly responding by saying "51 percent" of Americans didn't see Trump's multiple indictments or his election denialism or his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, as disqualifying, so he was now comfortable backing Trump for president.

"This trial is not going to have major political ramifications that a lot of people think it may have. When it comes to these issues, people see it more as reality TV at this point," Sununu said of the Trump criminal trial set to begin in New York this week. "They really do."

But the ABC host was not willing to let Sununu, who said it was natural for a Republican governor to endorse the GOP nominee, remove his personal views from the discussion. Sununu had backed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley until she left the Republican presidential race.

What resulted Sunday morning was a discussion where the two seemingly were talking past each other.

Stephanpoulos stated: "I'm asking you about right and wrong. You're comfortable with the idea of supporting someone who's convicted of a federal crime as president?"

"No, I don't think any American is comfortable with any of this," Sununu replied. "They don't like any of this, of course, but I mean, when it comes to actually 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. This is about politics."

Stephanopoulos kept circling back to why Sununu, who had been sharply critical of Trump after Jan. 6 and during the competitive parts of the primary season, was now OK with Trump.

"Wait a second right there," he said. "Your words were very, very clear on January 11, 2021. You said that President Trump's rhetoric and actions contributed to the insurrection. No other president in history has contributed to an insurrection. So, please explain."

Sununu again returned to the big picture: "For me, it's not about him as much as it is having a Republican administration."

This explanation didn't sit well with Stephanopoulos. "That doesn't make any sense to me, governor. I'm sorry. You're saying it's not about Trump. He would be the president, and you’ve said he’s somebody who’s contributed to an insurrection."

The governor said that average Americans saw the election as being more about meat-and-potatoes issues than Trump's ethics.

"I understand it doesn't make sense to you, George, but look at the polls. What you are telling me is you don't understand why 51 percent of this country is supporting Donald Trump," Sununu said, suggesting opposition to Trump was based on "elitism."

The discussion continued along those lines until Stephanopoulos said: "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 replied with enthusiasm: "Yeah, me and 51 percent of America."