New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu didn’t take kindly to the news that his favored candidate Nikki Haley was spurned by the man whom she once appointed to the U.S. Senate just days before his state’s GOP primary.
On Friday, the news broke that Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) would be endorsing former President Donald J. Trump and that he would also be joining him as he campaigns in the state, looking to post another big win as he did in Iowa this week.
The Granite State Republican appeared on Friday’s edition of “The Story” on Fox News where he vented about Scott’s humiliating slap in the face on a bad day for the media darling who needs a win on Tuesday to keep the narrative alive that she is a legitimate threat to Trump.
(Video: Fox News)
“One of the big pieces of news is this endorsement by Tim Scott,” anchor Martha MacCallum said. “It’s our understanding that he is on his way to Florida, will come to New Hampshire, and rally with President Trump tonight. How much of a blow is that to the campaign that you support for Governor Haley?”
“First, Tim Scott wouldn’t have a job without Nikki Haley,” Sununu huffed, adding that Scott had already ended his own campaign. “Nobody cares what Tim Scott thinks. If they did, he actually wouldn’t have been driven out of this race three months ago.”
The governor regurgitated Haley’s remarks that the Senate was just a “privileged nursing home” for “overpaid and underworked” politicians in an insult to Scott.
“They get frustrated because someone’s actually gonna become president that holds them accountable, that holds them to fiscal discipline that actually wants to drain the swamp,” he said. “That’s what Nikki’s trying to do. You shouldn’t be surprised that senators feel threatened by it because they’ve basically made a career out of public service.”
Scott’s nod to Trump is a major blow to Haley who looked like she was about to pass a kidney stone when she first heard the news.
Nikki Haley’s first reaction to a reported Tim Scott endorsement of Donald Trump. cc: @ShaneGoldmacher pic.twitter.com/svgeBo81Ua
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) January 19, 2024
Sununu swooped in to the “surging” candidate’s rescue after another Republican senator, Rand Paul of Kentucky posted a video to social media announcing that he would “never” support the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the UN for president.
“What does Rand Paul mean? Nothing!” Sununu said during an appearance on Newsmax. “I’m sorry, but nobody cares what Rand Paul thinks in this race. This race is in Iowa, it’s in New Hampshire, it’s in South Carolina. She’s the only candidate that’s surging. We’ve made it effectively a one-on-one race at this point between Nikki and Donald Trump.”
“Governor Chris Sununu, the now failing Governor of New Hampshire, where I am beating his endorsed candidate, Nimbra, by big numbers, and DeSanctimonious by even bigger numbers, should spend more time keeping Democrats from voting in the Republican Primary – How ridiculous is that?” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because Nimbra doesn’t have what it takes. She’s weak on China, Russia, Borders, and Crime, but never saw a war she didn’t like. I defeated ISIS, Rebuilt our Military, and brought our soldiers back home. I hope Sununu’s endorsement of Nimbra has more strength than Kim Reynolds’ Iowa endorsement of DeSanctus! How did that work out? MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he added.
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