Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Sunday said he believed it was the right call for the House of Representatives to censure and strip Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) of his committee assignments for sharing a violent anime video depicting the congressman killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Additionally, Sununu also expressed disagreement with Republicans threatening to strip 13 House GOP members of their committee assignments for voting in favor of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, saying “of course” it was fine to support the spending package.
The popular governor, who left New Hampshire Republicans disappointed when he recently announced he would not run for Senate in 2022, was asked by CNN anchor Dana Bash about the state of the GOP right now. Specifically, Bash wanted to know how he felt about Republicans in D.C. standing by Gosar while blasting their moderate GOP colleagues for supporting the infrastructure bill.
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“What does that say to you about the GOP? Voting for a bipartisan bill is considered worse by many than encouraging violence,” Bash asked on CNN’s State of the Union.
“I think politics in its entirety on both sides of the aisle in Washington is screwed up,” Sununu responded. “It really is. They got their priorities all wrong, focus on the wrong things, don’t talk about balancing budgets and fixing health care, immigration reform, Social Security and Medicare are going to be broken in about 10 years.”
While grousing that Congress is focused on “nitpicky things,” the governor went on to say that “of course” Gosar should have been censured for his actions. He also stated that Republicans have their “priorities screwed up” if they are talking about “kicking people off of committees because they don’t like one vote or the other.”
After reiterating his stance that Gosar should have been punished and Republicans have the right to support an infrastructure package, Sununu added that the GOP has their “priorities wrong.” In his opinion, the party should be touting its “huge successes” on cutting taxes and “limiting government.”
He would later assert that “there’s room for everybody in the Republican Party” when asked about the intense criticism Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) has received from her own party after her condemnation of former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
“It can’t be about one particular issue,” declared Sununu. “That’s kind of that social media mob mentality that’s built up in this country where we think, we don’t agree with an issue so we’ll attack and vilify one person or one individual. We have to get beyond that.”
Finally, when pressed by Bash on whether he’s considering a 2024 presidential run, Sununu demurred and claimed he was focused on getting re-elected governor next year. At the same time, he said “we’ll see what the future brings.”
“Let the record reflect you did not say no,” Bash noted in conclusion.
