The future of the Republican Party isn’t Donald Trump, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Thursday.
“It won't be his party forever. Right? It just won't. At some point, Donald Trump won't be here forever,” Sununu said during POLITICO’s Governors Summit.
Sununu added that he remains “very optimistic” about America's future.
“Let me put it a different way: Assholes come and go. But America is here to stay,” he said.
The New Hampshire governor’s comments come as Trump appears to be on a glide path to winning his party’s presidential nomination for a third time. Ahead of the South Carolina primary this Saturday, polls have Trump with a solid lead over Sununu’s preferred candidate, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Sununu endorsed Haley late last year, giving her a boost in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary. Though the GOP field has narrowed, Haley has been unable to defeat Trump in any state primaries so far, and is expected to fall to him again in her home state.
During the interview, Sununu, a moderate and self-described “pro-choice” Republican, also panned an Alabama Supreme Court ruling granting legal personhood to frozen embryos as “scary.” Critics say the ruling could have sweeping implications for fertility treatment in the state. At least one Alabama hospital has already stopped in vitro fertilization treatment.
“You want to make sure those services are accessible,” Sununu said.
He also criticized a failed bipartisan border deal that was blocked by Republicans as a “red herring,” arguing that such a bill is “not needed to secure the border,” and claiming that President Joe Biden could take unilateral actions to ease the influx of migrants crossing the southern border.