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Sununu walks back prediction of Nikki Haley ‘landslide’ in New Hampshire

January 22, 2024 | | Print Article

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu seemed to acknowledge that things are not looking good for Nikki Haley in Tuesday’s Republican primary, walking back a previous prediction that she’d win in overwhelming fashion.

The nominal Republican who like Haley is beloved by the media, appeared on NBC’s Sunday morning flagship “Meet the Press” where he pumped up the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the UN and parroted the attack of the weekend against GOP frontrunner Donald J. Trump who has been an unstoppable force and is continuing to pick up steam.

Saying that his state isn’t a “make or break” for his favorite candidate, Sununu told host Kristen Welker that a poor showing won’t necessarily be the end of her presidential hopes.

“When you first came out, you endorsed Nikki Haley, you set the expectations pretty sky-high. I want to play,” Welker said, teeing up a clip of Sununu predicting that Haley would win the state in a landslide.

(Video: Meet The Press)

“If everyone that wants to vote and can vote, gets out and vote, Nikki doesn’t just win. She wins in a landslide. There’s no doubt Nikki Haley’s going to win this thing in – in a landslide here in New Hampshire,” he previously said.

“But you have – you’ve softened, though, those expectations. You’re saying she can win. Does she have to win? Is this make or break for her to stay in this race?” Welker asked.

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“No. No. She doesn’t have to win. I mean, look, nobody goes from single digits in December to ‘you absolutely have to win’ in January. I think that’s a media expectation that’s being set out there,” the governor responded, blaming the media which has hyped Haley nonstop for the heightened expectations.

“The fact that it can happen at all, right? Trump said he was going to run the table and win all 50 states. And everyone said, ‘Yep, it’s a – it’s a done deal.’ It’s not a done deal. She’s challenging him here, and now she, again, gets to go to her home state where she’s won a lot before, she knows how to do it on the ground. And people don’t realize that South Carolina isn’t next week. It’s three or four weeks, you know away, and Nikki’s going to have a lot of time to build on the momentum she’s already created,” added Sununu who functions like he’s Haley’s de facto campaign manager.

The Granite State governor also said that Trump has “lost the fastball” after the former president flubbed his lines and dropped Haley’s name when he actually meant former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It was an honest mistake and the type that befuddled geriatric Joe Biden regularly makes but in a time of desperation for the establishment, it has been completely blown out of proportion by Haley who questioned Trump’s mental fitness in remarks that quickly ended up in an ad for the Biden-Harris campaign, a gift to the Democrats from the desperate candidate.

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And in a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black, Biden himself took to social media to share Haley’s remarks.

For Haley, it’s been a proverbial week from hell that began with getting thumped in the Iowa caucuses, a kick in the gut from her Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) who endorsed Trump despite her tabbing him to fill the Senate seat vacated when Sen. Jim DeMint retired and on Sunday, adding insult to injury, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign, endorsed Trump and slammed her in his announcement.

But the good news for Haley is that she’s now assured of a better finish in New Hampshire than in Iowa and Sununu and the media will have a whole month to spin her election as inevitable.

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Chris Donaldson
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