Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is officially not running for president. He’s probably carefully studied the polls and realizes he’d just embarrass himself. He nobly doesn’t want his one percent polling average to help Donald Trump run away with the nomination.
He wrote in a Washington Post op-ed:
Current polls indicate Trump is the leading Republican candidate in 2024. He did not deliver on his promises to drain the swamp, secure the border and instill fiscal responsibility while in office — and added $8 trillion to our national debt — yet now he wants four more years. He is facing numerous investigations and continues to peddle the conspiracy theory that he won the 2020 election, repelling independents.
If he is the nominee, Republicans will lose again. Just as we did in 2018, 2020 and 2022. This is indisputable, and I am not willing to let it happen without a fight.
“And that is why I am not fighting!” Yeah, this is hardly a St. Crispin’s Day speech, but I appreciate his realism.
Sununu casts deep, chilling shade on the non-Trump Republican candidates currently in the race: “We must not be complacent, and candidates should not get into this race to further a vanity campaign, to sell books or to audition to serve as Donald Trump’s vice president.” Yeah, he’s talking to you, Tim “Racism Doesn’t Exist Unless It’s By Democrats” Scott and Nikki “Pure Evil” Haley.
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GOP NH Gov. Chris Sununu Not Interested In Going To Senate To Do Nothing For Two Years
Mike Pence Thinks He’s Serious Contender For Leader Of People Who Yell ‘Hang Mike Pence’
Of course, Sununu won’t actually commit to voting for Joe Biden, which at this point is the only way we’ll keep Trump from returning to the White House. Republicans who hope Ron DeSantis will do the job are putting all their eggs in one bastard.
However, Sununu has more self-awareness than former vice president and human effigy model Mike Pence, who filed his paperwork Monday to run for president. Politico describes that as an “unprecedented” challenge between a former president and his former VP for the nomination. What’s actually “unprecedented” is that Trump tried to overthrow the government and is still at large (for now). Oh, and he also incited a mob that attacked the Capitol while chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”
Adam Wren at Politico writes that Pence’s “largest task will be attempting to win back Republicans who largely cast him aside following Donald Trump’s presidency.” No, they didn’t “cast him aside” like someone who finally realized gladiator sandals were a bad look. They wanted him dead. It’s very hard to win back the voters who tried to put you in a guillotine.
Pence’s entry into the race comes after a sometimes tumultuous two years in the political wilderness following his actions on Jan. 6 to certify the 2020 election, resisting intense pressure from Trump. He has occasionally faced boos from the MAGA base at GOP confabs in places such as a Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Florida in 2021 and even on his home turf at a National Rifle Association meeting in Indianapolis this year.
Pence was a loser no one much liked even before Trump picked him as vice president. When he was governor of Indiana, his approval rating plunged to 45 percent due in part to backlash against his anti-LGBTQ “religious freedom” law … in Indiana. He was never a rising star like Nikki Haley, whose approval rating during the Trump administration was impressive. She boasted widespread approval among Democrats, independents, young people, and minorities. She since set all that good will on fire, but it at least existed at one point.
Meanwhile, Pence is both well-known among primary voters and not very popular. Unlike other candidates, he has zero growth potential. He’s obviously not auditioning for his former job as vice president. According to Sununu, this means he’s either peddling books or running a pointless vanity campaign. Either way, we’ll enjoy watching him fail.
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