Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire and a Republican, sparred with Chuck Todd of NBC News over the issues that people should focus on during this election.
Sununu was questioned about his support for Republican candidate for the Senate Don Bolduc who was dubbed an “election denialist” by Todd.
In response, Sununu attacked Todd as being out of touch for proposing that voters should place a higher priority on the outcome of the 2020 election and purported “threats to democracy” than on heating their homes this winter or putting food on the table.
“Why are you supporting an election denialist, and do you think the inflation issue is enough to sort of rationalize support for somebody who thinks [that way]?” Todd asked.
“I love you, Chuck, but you are in a bubble if you think anybody is talking about what happened in 2020 or talking about Mar-a-Lago and all that,” Sununu replied. “I know the press loves to talk about it, but people are talking about what is happening in their pocketbooks every single day, when they have to buy groceries, or fill up gas.”
“Look I get that Governor,” Todd cut in. “Should they be?”
Let me just interrupt to say that this is one of the dumbest questions that this guy has ever asked. Should people be talking about inflation and how much money they don’t have now? Yes. We’re pretty ticked off about that. You literally make around 8-11% less now per year because of inflation. We’re supposed to pretend like that’s not a big deal? Imagine if you had gotten a raise of that much instead.
“Should they be?” Sununu shot back, visibly taken aback. “Of course! Oh my gosh, Chuck, this is hitting people, they’re having trouble paying their mortgage, they’re having trouble making car payments because of bad policies out of Washington. Should they be?”
“The beauty of the American system is that every voter has the right, and almost the responsibility, to be selfish with their vote, to vote for what is best for themselves and their family,” he continued. “That’s exactly what’s going to happen in a week…because frankly, folks that think the average voter is worried about 2020, it’s a serious issue, of course, but it’s not what people are going to be voting on in the next week.”
Governor Sununu then went on to give the most glaring example of this problem in his home state by pointing out that it’s now getting cold in New Hampshire and the price of heating oil, which is commonly used there is a lost more expensive than it used to be. Inflation is a matter of life and death for some because not everyone has a bunch of extra money lying around. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. One missed paycheck could break them and to think, that a paycheck accounts for 2% of your yearly wages. Now to put that into perspective, with the inflation, you’ve basically lost a month’s salary. Most people can’t go a month without a paycheck. That’s why this hurts.