Donald Trump is a “four-time loser” who will not necessarily be the Republican presidential nominee despite dominating the primary, the New Hampshire governor said Sunday.
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“Donald Trump is positioning himself as a four-time loser in 2024,” Chris Sununu said. “We need candidates who can win.”
A Republican governor in a Democratic part of the country — and of a key early-vote state — Sununu is seen as a potential candidate in the moderate line, should such a line still exist in a Trump-dominated party.
Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, Sununu faced comments to the same network just two months ago when he said Trump “wasn’t going to be the nominee.”
“We will continue as a party, as a country,” Sununu said in February. He’s not going to be the nominee. That’s just not going to happen. Here’s the good news… Ready? … You are completely wrong. He will not be the nominee.”
Since then, especially since Trump was indicted this month on criminal charges in New York in connection with his hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, the primary paradigm has shifted.
Trump dominates the polls and extends his lead over Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who has not declared a candidate, and other actual or likely candidates.
Trump is also in legal jeopardy for his election undermining and incitement to the January 6 attack on Congress, his dealings with classified material, his business and tax affairs, and a civil rape case that is due for trial in New York next week.
He denies wrongdoing and claims victimization by Democrats. On Sunday, NBC released a poll in which a fraction of less than 70% of Republicans agreed.
Sununu told NBC there was “absolutely [been] a shift,” but insisted, “I still don’t think he will necessarily be the nominee.
“Look, I think your bearing is perfect in all these areas. I actually think that’s a great poll. I hope people listen to it.
‘I’ll say this. Republicans are gathering. They support former President Trump on these charges, right? … Now, does it actually translate into a mood? We’ll see, I mean, most people don’t decide who they’re going to vote for until about three weeks before the election.
“… Not even a single debate has been held. Other candidates enter the race. I just think it’s so far away.
“And in the end we want a winner, right? Republicans want someone who can win in November ’24. Donald Trump is a loser. He didn’t lose just once. He lost us our House seats in 2018. He lost everything in ’20. We should now have 54 US Senators and we don’t because of his message.
“So, Donald Trump is positioning himself to be a four-time loser by 2024. We need candidates who can win.”
Many inside and outside the Republican ranks wonder if DeSantis is such a candidate. Florida’s governor has fallen in polls and faced trouble, including a break from a major donor who said he was turned off by hard-right policies, including a textbook ban and a six-week abortion ban.
Thomas Peterffy, an online trader, didn’t say he wouldn’t support DeSantis at all. But he also gave $1 million to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who has not announced a run.
On Sunday, Rolling Stone quoted a source formerly associated with DeSantis but now “in Trump’s orbit” as saying, “If Ron thinks the past few months have been bumpy, he’s in for a painful ride.”
Just as Florida Republicans in Congress have supported Trump, DeSantis has come under fire for a perceived lack of personal warmth. Rolling Stone described an evolving effort by Trump to destroy his rival both personally and politically.
The unnamed source said: “The nature of the conversations between the people who used to work for Ron is just so often, ‘OK, how can we destroy this man?’ It’s not at all on a level that’s normal for people who hold the usual grudge against terrible bosses, it’s a pure hatred that’s much, much purer than that.
“People who traveled with Ron every day, who worked very closely with him over the years, joke to this day about how it was always an open question whether or not Ron knew their names… And that’s just the beginning.”
Unlike DeSantis, Sununu barely registers in polls. On NBC, he was asked about his time frame to decide whether to go for a run.
Related: Mike Pence is entering the presidential race “well before the end of June” – if at all
“Probably by lunchtime,” he joked.
“I think everyone has to make a decision before July 4… There is a lot of opportunity here… a lot of people want to get on that stage. I think the threshold for the debate will be very low to begin with in terms of polls and donors, so I think we’re going to have a very crowded stage in the beginning.”
That stage may include former Trump vice president Mike Pence. In Iowa on Saturday, at a Faith & Freedom Coalition event that Trump addressed via video, the former Indiana governor flirted with confirming a run.
“I think if we have to make an announcement, it will be well before the end of June,” Pence told CBS’s Face the Nation, adding, “Anyone serious about the Republican nomination should be in this contest by June.” are. .
“If we have to make an announcement, it will be well before then.”
