Joining us now, the Republican governor
of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu,
a vocal Trump critic who has endorsed
Nikki Haley for president.
Governor, thanks so much for joining us,
first of all.
Do you condemn what we just heard
from Trump in your own state
that immigrants are, quote,
poisoning the blood of our country,
seemingly echoing
Adolf Hitler and white supremacists?
It's awful.
It's absolutely awful.
But unfortunately, with Donald Trump,
it shouldn't be surprising.
And there's a couple of reason
he's doing it. He's doing it.
He knows that Nikki is gaining on him,
especially here in New Hampshire.
He wants to spur up that that
negative evil rhetoric
to kind of get his extremists of his base
to make sure that they're not leaving him
because a lot of his other voters
are likely to move from him
in the next couple of weeks.
But most importantly,
what he's doing is he wants he wants to
hopefully not let folks
ask him the question of,
hey, why don't you secure the border
like you promised you do?
He's almost acting
like he wasn't president.
Right.
Remember,
he said he was going to build the wall
and make Mexico pay for it
and secure the border and all that.
He didn't do any of it.
And now we have this
crisis coming in to our country,
which most Republicans
and most folks across the country
want that border secure.
So he's going to spur up the rhetoric
because he's not taking questions,
not answering anything,
not getting on the debate stage.
And he wants to make sure
that that base is with him.
It's an awful way to do it.
It speaks more to
him and his character
and the problems you're going to have
if he were elected again
and which is why, Nikki,
that type of stuff is why
Nikki Haley is surging here
in New Hampshire.
I think she's going to be surging
in Iowa.
It's not a 40 point race.
It's a 15 point race.
And I think pretty soon
you're going to see
it's about a two point race
and a real tossup
between Haley and Trump going forward.
We shall see.
You've endorsed Nikki Haley,
who so far, governor, as
you know,
has not denounced Trump's
authoritarian and very hateful rhetoric.
This should be simple to condemn.
So why hasn't she?
Well, look, I mean, I'm
not going to speak for Nikki
other than to say when she's out there.
She talks about the former president.
She talks that
this is the time to move on.
There's no there's no place for that.
But I think she does a good job
of making sure that she's not just saying
elect me for president
because we don't like that guy.
Elect me because of that rhetoric.
She's putting her resume, her
her background, her experience,
and most importantly,
what she's going to bring.
She she's a former governor.
So it's not just about political points
and policy.
It's about actually achieving
something, accountability,
how you manage the government,
how you manage getting things
done, how you work with Congress.
And again,
that type of message
is really resonating with folks.
They don't want to live in the past
here in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire's
always a forward looking state,
which is why she's doing so well.
But don't you think she should
denounce Trump's hateful rhetoric?
Well, look, I think I think
she's been pretty hard on him.
I do.
I again,
I think everybody's
waiting for every candidate
to go nuclear,
kind of like Chris Christie does.
And Chris has done a great job of that.
I think I'm out there doing it.
But, you know,
not everyone's
going to have the exact same style.
Their folks say, well, you're too
too much pro-Trump and, you know,
go hard on him enough.
Other folks say,
oh, you're too anti-Trump
and why can't you like him more?
So she's right
where she needs to be as a candidate,
which is talking about the future.
So, no, I
if I thought she was doing it wrong,
if I thought it wasn't
resonating with folks,
I'd be the first to say it.
But her style, her approach,
her background and likability
is what's really connecting with folks,
as you point out,
Governor, in that CBS poll,
Nikki Haley is surging to second place
in your state of New Hampshire.
What do you think it would take
for her to close that gap?
Well, a couple of things.
I think you're going to see a lot of
I mean, I think Chris Christie and Ron
DeSantis have run good races.
They're great candidates.
But you're going to see
a lot of those folks
start to start moving this way.
New Hampshire wants to make sure
that we're the state
that doesn't live in the past.
You're going to see a lot of those voters
come this way,
whether they get out of the race or not,
that's really up to them.
But their voters are going to move
and even Trump voters,
the number one reason
why Trump voters say
they're going to vote for Trump is, well,
he's going to win anyway,
so I guess we'll just vote for him.
So you folks think it's inevitable?
So when we get out of kind of break
that mindset of it's inevitable
that there is somebody here
that's going to challenge him
that can hit the reset button
on the whole campaign
across the whole country,
that gets people excited.
You have a lot of undeclared voters
coming out, a lot of the hardcore base
coming out
for a new version of the conservative
leadership, a new generation
that gets people excited.
So it's just about working
the process
as folks are making up their minds.
And that's what the next five weeks are.
They're really starting
to make up their minds
whether it's over,
you know, the holidays with family
or interacting with coworkers,
or just coming out to see
Nikki Haley
one on one at one of our town halls.
They've been tremendous.
And it's making waves.
This clearly is a critical moment
in this entire election cycle.
Governor Chris Sununu,
thank you so much for joining us.
You bet.
All right.
Let's get some more on all of this
with our political experts.
And Gloria, let me start with you.
What was your analysis
of what we just heard from governor?
Well, he's a cheerleader.
He's a great cheerleader
for for Nikki Haley.
And I think he made
some some good points,
which is about the inevitability
of Donald Trump.
Lots of voters believe that, well,
maybe I'll vote for him
because he's going to win anyway.
And I think he has the best chance
of beating Joe Biden.
And polls have shown
that may not be the case,
that he's not inevitable,
that Nikki Haley is moving up.
And if they have a good reason
to leave Donald Trump,
maybe they'll do it.
Now, this is the rosy picture
that he paints.
But I think he also made
another interesting point,
which is about Donald Trump's behavior.
Yes.
As you point out,
Nikki Haley is not attacking Donald Trump
the way, for example, he did.
But the point that he made is
that Donald
Trump is acting
like he wasn't president before and that,
you know, problems
at the border
didn't exist when he was president,
that he didn't build the wall.
And those are the things that Nikki
Haley is talking about, about the debt
and how it went up during
the Trump presidency.
Those are things she is talking about.
And so,
you know, she's positioning herself,
particularly in New Hampshire,
where independent voters vote
in the primary as the alternative.
And she's positioning herself
as somebody who can beat Joe Biden.
Alison, tell us why
Trump's extreme
extremist rhetoric is not generating
much more,
you know, much more condemnation
from so many in the Republican Party.
Look,
when you talk privately with Republicans,
they absolutely condemn that.
The conversation,
the dialog,
the divisive rhetoric
and these comments
that he's made recently
with regard
to immigrants
and poisoning the blood of this country,
that's disgusting and despicable.
And they will tell you that
many who are supportive of him
publicly won't
do so forcefully simply
because they don't
want to face the backlash of him
or his supporters.
But I can tell
you, as as Governor Sununu just said,
that kind of rhetoric
basically parroting,
as as
many have said, parroting
the words of Hitler from mein camp.
That is wrong and it should not happen.
And what it does, it really takes away
from the real conversation
that Republicans need
to be having about immigration.
Talking about the Republicans
actually do support legal immigration.
Talking about what
we can do to stop the flow of
of illegal immigrants into this country.
We're seeing record numbers
stop the flow of fentanyl
into this country
as well as human trafficking.
These are serious problems
with immigration.
And we should be talking about
and not these stupid comments.
Well, it's Americans
who are bringing fentanyl
in and higher numbers.
But the point is,
because Republicans
won't denounce these comments,
and that keeps Donald Trump
as the person
controlling the Republican Party.
So this is tolerated.
And I want to point something out
about this poisoning the blood rhetoric.
And it's something
I feel very strongly about.
He's not just talking about immigrants.
I'm biracial.
My you know, parts of my family said
that my parents union
was poisoning the blood of white people,
that that's what I am. I am poison.
So when he says that,
remember that our generation,
the under 30, it's
a very biracial generation.
So he's actually saying to young people,
you're poison.
And I do think
when we get to the general election
and if believing that
it is Trump and Biden,
that is what Joe Biden is talking about
when he talks
about the soul of the country
and that
when we're having that conversation,
that is a very different conversation
than what's happening right now
in the Republican primary,
where there will be somebody
who will speak up and speak out
and say what you said was disgusting
and you're insulting many generations
of American citizens
as well as immigrants.
That's that's
it does hit young people,
more of whom are biracial.
And then the question is,
why is Donald Trump doing so well
with younger voters?
And Joe Biden is losing younger voters?
That's a
that's a job for the campaign, obviously.
But they've got to figure that one out.
You know, it's interesting.
And Nikki is speaking
about young and older.
Nikki Haley
launched a new ad going directly
at Biden's age,
renewing her calls
for term limits
and mental competency tests.
Listen to this.
I'll just say it.
Biden's too old.
And Congress is the most exclusive
nursing home in America.
Washington keeps failing
because politicians from yesterday
can't lead us into tomorrow.
We have to leave behind the chaos
and drama of the past
with a new generation
and a new conservative president.
A very subtle reference
to Donald Trump in there as well.
The chaos and drama.
Yeah, that's
what she instead of saying Trump,
she says chaos and drama.
And, you know, Trump
is only, what, three years,
three years younger than Joe Biden.
And she's saying
Joe Biden is too old
and just hinting at Donald Trump.
Why not come out and say it?
I mean, you know,
there have been questions
raised about Donald Trump's age
lately as well.
But, you know, again,
it goes back to the point
that you were making with Chris Sununu,
which is she'll attack
Trump frontally on some things,
but on other things, she
she uses chaos and drama
because there's a fear of the Trump base.
I mean,
she knows that the way
to get the Republican nomination
open is those folks that are saying
they're open to someone else
and maybe peel off
a few of the Trump voters,
but you can't make them angry
by having such a strong frontal assault.
The argument that she's making about age
and mental competency
tests and chaos and confusion.
Clearly, the campaign has tested that.
She's talked about that
on the debate stage.
She has talked about
that out on the trail
and she has talked about that
in many interviews.
And she understands clearly
this message isn't working.
People want to see someone younger.
People want to see someone
with less drama.
And in our own CNN poll,
people are concerned about
not just President Biden,
but Donald Trump's stamina
to be president yet again.
And that's something
that clearly is resonating.
And when you think about it,
I mean, think about what Joe Biden
has been spending his time doing.
Congress said we want Joe Biden
to get engaged in these talks.
We're having
because when he gets engaged,
we get a deal. Right.
He's been on the phone
helping to get our hot get hostages home.
So with Donald Trump
is that we want having that conversation.
I don't think so.