Former President Donald Trump addressed a MAGA crowd in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania this weekend, where the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said he won all of the 2024 primaries, which is not true. There were no fact-checkers in the raucous crowd, however — or the facts anyway weren’t going to get in the way of the good time. (Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley won two primaries — the District of Columbia (D.C.) and Vermont — before dropping out of the Republican presidential race.)
When Trump said: “Every single primary we won… in the record, numbers that have never been gotten before,” the crowd cheered loudly. Trump specifically mentioned winning Iowa and New Hampshire, which he did, but New Hampshire was hardly a landside: Trump won 54.3% of the votes; Haley won 43.2%.
Trump, who lost multiple primaries to Nikki Haley, claims he won “every single primary” pic.twitter.com/KWCXCsKNWi
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) April 14, 2024
That was when New Hampshire Republican Governor John Sununu was in Haley’s corner, ripping Trump for having “contributed” to the January 6 riots and saying the GOP should move beyond him.
Now Sununu has endorsed Trump, and on Sunday Sununu told ABC News political pundit George Stephanopoulos that none of Trump’s legal troubles are enough to deter Trump voters, him included.
While Sununu retains some reservations and claims to stand behind his past criticism of Trump, the New Hampshire Governor assured Stephanopoulos that he will vote for Trump even if Trump is convicted of a federal crime. “Yeah, me and 51% of Americans,” he added with a smile.
When pressed for an explanation connecting his earlier stinging criticism and his current pledge to vote for Trump, Sununu said: “For me, it’s not about him as much as it is having a Republican administration.”
Watch as what was left of Chris Sununu’s soul leaves his body on live tv.pic.twitter.com/2UwbPWjVXg
— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) April 14, 2024
Sununu’s position clarifies a dilemma Democrats have had trouble navigating: Many Trump supporters don’t care if what he says is 100% true — whether he won all the primaries or if he did so by record margins is irrelevant. Also irrelevant for many would be a finding that Trump committed a crime(s), since his supporters are willing to see Trump’s prosecution as unjust political persecution by the opposition. A conviction, Sununu’s stance contends, would as irrelevant as fudging the facts on the primaries.
Sununu says MAGA followers see Trump’s criminal charges and courtroom trials “as reality TV” and “a lot of folks conflate all four of these different trials that he’s in.”
[Trump faces criminal charges in a Manhattan courtroom on Monday where his former lawyer Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels are scheduled to testify against him. It is one of four current criminal cases against the former President, two that allege he tried to steal the last election and another that alleges he stole valuable classified documents and compromised national security.]
Sununu admits that when not in the courtroom, Trump will go back on the campaign trail and “victimize it. That has worked for him.”
Unlike Sununu, however, there is some evidence that other Haley supporters haven’t been as quick to jump on the MAGA train. Even after she suspended her campaign on March 6, Haley continued to win 14-20 percent of the votes in the GOP primaries including Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, Connecticut, Washington, and New York. Note: The Pennsylvania Republican Primary will take place on April 23.
