New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu addressed the New England Council breakfast at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on Wednesday. As is often the case, he was asked how he could support former President Donald Trump over Joe Biden in the November election.
His answer, edited for brevity and clarity, is below:
“I’ve always said I’m going to support the Republican nominee. I’ve said that forever. Even during the primary.
“We were going to go after Trump really hard, and I stand by, I think, everything I said.
“I don’t like the man. I don’t care for him. I think he’s cost us elections. I think he’s a terrible brand for the party. I stand by all of it, right?
“But it’s about results, right? My message to George [Stephanopoulos] was, you can say, ‘Oh, I can’t believe Sununu is going to vote for Trump.’ But that’s not a story.
“That’s not a story. You know what the story is right now? Fifty-one percent of Americans are voting for Trump right now. He’s winning. Why are a majority of Latino voters voting for Trump? I don’t know exactly. But that’s real. That’s happening.
“I would challenge George and the rest of the journalists out there: Do your job. The real story is what is happening in America. But they tend to want to stay up here and just talk to elites or elected officials or whatever.
“I don’t care who you vote for. I’m trying to explain to you why most of America wants a change. It’s not about how much they love Trump. Not at all. It’s about how bad Joe Biden is, it just is.
“Inflation is real and it’s crushing families. The border crisis is real. You can’t gaslight America…
“I got into this issue where character doesn’t matter. Of course, character matters. Of course it matters. You can make character your top priority. That’s your choice. I don’t judge you for that. But other families are saying, ‘Yes, character matters, but that’s not my top priority.’
“Look at all the chaos of all these court cases People ask, ‘Governor, what if he’s convicted? Will you still support him? Look, no one knows where all that’s going to go. By the way, it’s not going very well for the prosecution in any of those cases right now. It’s just reality TV.
“Are any of you kept up [at night] by what’s happening with Trump in the courtroom right now? No, no one is. You know what keeps Americans awake at night? Not paying the bills, not paying the rent, not being able to afford to feed their families. That literally keeps families awake.
“America is tired of being gaslighted, of people saying, ‘You’re fine. Bidenomics works, you’re doing better, you’re better off.’ But the average American is literally up at night going, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to pay my bills.’ Believe me, that translates into a vote.
“We want change. So what I’m trying to do is not say, ‘You need to vote for Trump.’ I don’t care who you vote for. You’ve got to vote, by the way. That’s the other [argument] I hate. ‘Governor, we know you don’t like Trump and we know you don’t like Biden, why don’t you just not vote? I’ve never heard anything more un-American.
“A lot of people in this world don’t get to vote for their leadership. And don’t tell me democracy is being eroded or democracy is at risk — and then you don’t participate in democracy. You hypocrites… that drives me crazy.
“You have to vote, and if you want to vote for Biden, go for it. I’m 51-49 for Trump, and that’s where I’m going to vote.”
“I’m not getting out there campaigning for Trump. That’s not the point. I’m trying to get these elites to understand what is truly happening in America, because they don’t want to have that conversation.
