Sununu To GOP Candidates: ‘Call Balls And Strikes’ With Trump, ‘Don’t Make Things Personal’

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said over the weekend that Republican presidential candidates trying to beat former President Donald Trump for the party’s nomination need to simply call “balls and strikes” when it comes to the former president and not launch into making personal attacks against him.

Sununu made the remarks during an NBC News interview with Chuck Todd Sunday Morning on “Meet The Press.”

Todd asked why Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Sununu have been able to criticize the former president and have not paid the price for it politically.

“First off, Governor Kemp is spot on. The guy’s an oak. He’s the oak of Georgia, and he’s got some big shoulders and he handles it just incredibly every time,” Sununu said. “And, you know, you don’t have to make it personal. I’m not saying other candidates do that. I mean, when you’re running for president against the former president it’s – it’s a very odd dynamic to be sure.”

“The key to taking on, not just taking on Trump – you just call the balls and strikes like you see them,” he said. “You don’t make things personal. You do things that are clearly in the best interest of the constituents you serve, regardless of – of party. Now, I’m a staunch fiscal conservative, and I want to support Republican ideals but that doesn’t mean we’re going to bend and break rules because when you do that you set precedent for the other side.”

WATCH:

WATCH: @GovChrisSununu (R-N.H.) applauds Chris Christie going “nuclear” on Trump but calls out the other 2024 GOP candidates.

“They have to be a little tougher on Trump. …What we saw on that debate stage last week, I think there was a little too much kowtow into him.” pic.twitter.com/v60XRBF9qM

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 3, 2023