Newsmax host Eric Bolling and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) clashed on-air Tuesday over the governor’s support of GOP presidential primary candidate Nikki Haley.
In the interview, Bolling asked Sununu if he had changed his mind on his support for the former United Nations ambassador, to which Sununu replied that he hadn’t.
“Look, Nikki Haley’s within single digits of beating Donald Trump and kinda hitting a reset button for the entire process,” Sununu said in the interview, highlighted by Mediaite. “That happens here in New Hampshire. We don’t look backwards; we always go forward. She’s galvanizing support from Trump supporters, from DeSantis supporters, everyone’s getting on board. So the momentum is very, very real here in New Hampshire.”
Bolling responded by saying Haley “got smoked” in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, which she placed third in, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ.
“She never had any expectations of winning the Iowa caucus,” Sununu said. “Everyone knew Trump was gonna run away with that.”
Sununu then tried to highlight the differences between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and Haley’s campaign strategy in New Hampshire. Bolling then brought up the differences between the Republican party before former President Trump’s leadership versus after.
“You old-school, establishment Republicans, [former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie], you, friends of mine, Christie’s a friend of mine, Nikki Haley, your time’s passed,” Bolling said. “You wanna go look forward? Look what Trump is doing; he’s garnering groups that never — Republicans never won before.”
Sununu then responded by noting his party’s election struggles under Trump’s leadership in recent years, saying he is “tired of losers.”
The conversation began to devolve shortly after, as Bolling and Sununu began talking over each other, with Sununu at one point saying the Newsmax anchor sounded “foolish” when talking about Haley’s chances in the race.
“I was around doing politics when you were in grammar school,” Bolling said in his response to the New Hampshire governor.
Haley is currently 9.1 points behind Trump in Decision Desk HQ/The Hill’s New Hampshire Republican primary polling average, 43.1 percent to at 34 percent.