New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), who recently announced that he would not run for Senate next year, on Sunday expressed his dismay over Republican lawmakers wanting to punish colleagues for supporting the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but most voting against censuring Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) after his tweet depicting violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and President Biden.
Appearing on CNN, Sununu was pressed about what it says about the GOP standing by Gosar while wanting their colleagues who voted to support BIF to face retaliation. Shortly after 13 House Republicans voted to pass BIF earlier this month, they were met with backlash from their own colleagues as well as death threats from the public. GOP leadership is also reportedly anticipating that rank-and-file lawmakers will organize an effort to strip committee assignments from members who supported BIF
“I think politics in its entirety on both sides of the aisle in Washington is screwed up,” Sununu said. “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.”
After saying that Congress tends to focus on “nitpicky things,” Sununu said “of course” Gosar should’ve been censured after posting an anime-style video depicting violence against Ocasio-Cortez and the President.
Sununu then argued that Republicans who want to kick their colleagues off of committees after bucking the majority’s vote have “their priorities screwed up.”
Sununu went on to reiterate his stance that Gosar should have been censured and stripped of his committees before making clear that he believes ” it’s OK for Republicans to support anything that is bipartisan.” Sununu added that intraparty attacks against Republicans in Congress means that the party has its “priorities wrong” and that Republicans instead should be touting its legislative wins.
Asked about Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) uncertain political future and intense criticism from her party over her condemnation of former President Trump’s actions on January 6 that led to the deadly Capitol insurrection, Sununu said he believes that “there’s room for everybody” in the GOP.
““It can’t be about one particular issue,” Sununu said. “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.”
Watch Sununu’s remarks below:
