Two More Reminders that There are NO Good Republicans
Bill Barr and Gov Chris Sununu profiles in cowardice
It’s time to add two more people to my series of articles titled: “Reminder: There are NO good Republicans.” In the past, I focused on Nikki “I didn’t know slavery was the cause of the Civil War” Haley. That was soon followed by my article on the absolutely awful MAGA Rep. Elise “Jan 6 terrorists are now patriots” Stefanik.
Now two more Republicans are reminding us “There are NO good Republicans.” Both in the past had been vocally critical of Donald Trump and the threat he posed to our nation— but recently these two have jumped on the Trump train. The first is New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu who fashioned himself as a moderate Republican and a counterbalance to the anti-democratic extremism of Trump and MAGA.
Shortly after Jan 6 attack, Sununu stated, “President Trump's rhetoric and actions contributed to the insurrection at the United States Capitol Building." Since then Sununu has not been shy in slamming Trump, saying in 2023 that, “Donald Trump is a loser. He has not just lost once. He lost us…our House seats in 2018. He lost everything in ’20,” adding, “Donald Trump is positioning himself to be a four-time loser in 2024.”
He has called Trump “a crazy a**hole, a coward and the definition of extremism. Sununu worked tirelessly to help Nikki Haley win the 2024 GOP presidential nomination while also calling out Trump’s obvious cognitive decline saying, “If he’s off the teleprompter, he can barely keep a cogent thought.” And in the past, Sununu has argued that Trump should leave the presidential race if convicted of a felony.
But that Sununu is gone. In his place is a Trump endorsing, pathetic Sununu as we saw Sunday when he was a guest on ABC’s "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." The host began by asking, “Will your support for Donald Trump continue even if he's convicted in Manhattan?” Given in the past Sununu made it clear Trump’s indictments were legitimate and he should drop out if convicted, this should have been an easy question for the New Hampshire Governor. Instead, it became a cringe inducing display of back peddling and cowardice.
“This trial is not going to have major political ramifications that a lot of people,” declared Sununu, who added, “when it comes to these issues, people see it more as reality TV at this point.” Stephanopoulos—to his credit—pressed Sununu over and over asking if he personally was okay with supporting Trump if convicted, to which Sununu bizarrely stated to justify his position, Trump “is leading in the polls across America in a lot of these different polls.”
Later Stephanopoulos pressed Sununu on his statement shortly after Jan 6 when he said: “It is clear that President Trump's rhetoric and actions contributed to the insurrection.” At that moment, the old Sununu showed up to say, “I think he -- his actions absolutely contributed to that. There's no question about that. I hate the election denialism of 2020.” But then the new pathetic Sununu returned, with his claim, “Nobody wants to be talking about that in 2024.” After more pressing by the host, Sununu responded, “What you’re telling me is you don't understand why 51 percent of this country is supporting Donald Trump.”
In a jaw dropping summary of the interview, Stephanopoulos put it this way to the New Hampshire governor: “So, just to sum up: you would support [Trump] for president even if he is convicted in the classified documents case. You support him for president even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection. You support him for president even though you believe he’s lying about the last election. You’d support him for president even if he’s convicted in the Manhattan case. I just want to say, the answer to that is yes, correct?” In response, Sununu stated, “Yes, me and 51 percent of America.” (If you watched closely, at that moment you could see Sununu’s spine and soul leave his body.)
Then we get to Trump’s former Attorney General Bill Barr. For starters, Barr is awful. This is a man who misled the nation on the Mueller report and helped Trump weaponize the DOJ to help protect Trump’s friends. But after the 2020 election, Barr did go public to undercut Trump’s election lies on December 1, 2020, stating, he had “not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” At the time, Barr became the highest-ranking Trump official to break from Trump on the issue—which ultimately led to Barr resigning a few weeks later.
As part of the Jan 6 hearings, Barr testified that he told Trump his claims of election fraud were “bullshit,” which made Trump very angry. Barr added that Trump after the 2020 election had become “detached from reality.”
Since then, Barr has publicly defended the DOJ’s prosecution of Trump in the classified documents case, telling CBS in 2023, "This is not a circumstance where he's the victim or this is government overreach. He provoked this whole problem himself.” Barr then went even further, declaring that Trump is “a fundamentally flawed person who engages in reckless conduct that leads to situations, calamitous situations, like this, which are very disruptive and hurt any political cause he's associated with."
Barr even stated on CNN last year about that case, that Trump’s alleged actions as detailed in the indictment were “nauseating” and “despicable.” Barr then really let Trump have it, saying that “someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.” And recently Barr expressed concerns that if Trump won a second term, he would abuse government power.
But…and you knew a but was coming…on Wednesday, Barr appeared on Fox News where he endorsed Trump for a second term. Barr told the host, “I’ve said all along given two bad choices, I think it’s my duty to pick the person I think would do the least harm to the country and in my mind that’s — I will vote the Republican ticket.” The unbearable Barr added, “I think the real danger to the country, the real danger to democracy, as I say, is the progressive agenda.”
Yes, to Barr the greatest threat to our democracy are people who want reproductive freedom and affordable healthcare not the guy who attempted a coup, incited the Jan 6 attack and has since vowed to pardon the MAGA terrorists.
At one time there may have been a few “good” Republicans who put our nation over Trump. Those people were driven out of the GOP or sold their souls for political and financial gain. Now all that remains is the white supremacist, fascist movement known as MAGA.
The Greatest Generation ran towards murderous Nazi bullets and begat a generation that ran away from a pin prick vaccination. "Hard times make strong men, strong men make good times, good times make weak men, weak men make Hard times."
And who is surprised? Agree 0ne hundred percent. What Republicans are--hypocrites, liars; people who seem to have no moral code.