- GOP Gov. Chris Sununu said Trump doesn’t have the energy from past campaigns.
- Trump’s latest speeches have been “droning” and unfocused, Sununu told ABC News.
- Sununu said Trump’s incumbent advantage balances his lack of favor among Republican politicians.
Donald Trump may be leading the GOP polls, but he’s not the same person he was during his last two campaigns.
“This is not the Donald Trump of 2016. Don’t fool yourself,” said New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who says he’s doing everything he can to keep Trump from becoming the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.
On Sunday’s “This Week” on ABC News, Sununu said Trump lacks energy and enthusiasm at some events, like at the GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner in Iowa on Friday. Trump and several other GOP candidates took turns addressing the audience, making a pitch for themselves. The Iowa caucuses, the first in the national succession of GOP presidential caucuses, will take place on January 15, 2024.
“It was the worst speech. It was the worst 10 minutes,” Sununu said on ABC News. “He read from a binder. He didn’t look up. He didn’t smile. It was absolutely dead speech.”
Sununu was considered a GOP presidential contender until he announced in June that he would not to run, saying he wanted to make “sure this is about the Republican Party, not just about the former president,” according to The New York Times.
“He doesn’t have the energy. He doesn’t have the fastball,” Sununu told ABC News on Sunday. “He basically is droning on for 90 minutes on his long-form speeches about his legal battles as opposed to talking about the future of this country, solving the problems of this country, which is what all the other candidates are doing.”
Sununu said Trump brings “a lot of drama to the table,” comparing the former president’s presidential run to a rerun of a soap opera. Just a day before the GOP dinner, additional charges were filed against Trump in the federal government’s classified documents case.
Trump’s support remains a complex question amid his ongoing legal woes. While less than 10% of his former cabinet members have openly supported his re-election run, he still leads by miles in the polls. Sununu said that advantage comes from being the incumbent.
“Of course, he was going to be at the top. He’s got the name ID, the recognition, all of that,” Sununu said. “The fact that the majority of Republicans clear don’t want him, that’s an opportunity.”
