Earlier this month, the New Hampshire Union Leader ended a century of support for Republican presidential candidates by refusing to endorse GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
That move was, in large part, due to the steadfast refusal of former Gov. John Sununu, who also formerly served as White House Chief of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. Sununu, who also was chairman of the New Hampshire GOP, penned an op-ed in January, urging Republicans not to “drink the Trump Kool-Aid” ahead of his state’s first-in-the-nation primary.
“Most of us know ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’ refers to a commitment to an idea without comprehending the implications of that commitment,” he wrote. “We remember that this phrase derives from the horrible tragedy of 1978 where 900 followers of Jim Jones died when he convinced them to drink a mixture of Kool-Aid and cyanide. What is often forgotten is that hundreds of others who did not want to drink the deadly cocktail were murdered by forcibly being given doses of cyanide.
“Today Republicans find themselves in a similar position as many of our primary voters continue to support Donald Trump.”
That’s about as brutal as you can get in describing how much you don’t want someone to win. Sununu later endorsed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for his state’s primary. Trump won New Hampshire in landslide fashion, however, knocking Christie out of the race—and eventually won the Republican nomination with a comfortable delegate lead.
And now, it seems, he’s won over John Sununu.
In a statement released by the Trump campaign Tuesday, the former governor and former Bush chief of staff made a surprisingly enthusiastic endorsement of the new GOP standard bearer. He said:
“Donald Trump is the only candidate in this race who can bring bold change to Washington, D.C. I support the Trump-Pence ticket for their pro-growth agenda and commitment to protecting American interests. Republicans, Independents and smart Democrats need to come together to elect Donald Trump and Mike Pence.”
