Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu criticized progressive activists in a Newsmax appearance Thursday, saying their response to political disagreements increasingly involves violence and property damage.
Amid reports of vandalism of Tesla vehicles and protests aimed at the electric car manufacturer and its CEO, Elon Musk, due to his role in the Department of Government Efficiency, former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu condemned what he called a pattern of violence from progressive activists.
Appearing on "Finnerty," Sununu pointed to recent Tesla-related incidents as part of a larger trend he said has been unfolding for years.
"Maybe they do," Sununu said when asked if protesters think they're protecting democracy by damaging Teslas. "Yeah, they probably do. They're probably that deranged that they actually think that this is going to [solve] something."
Sununu connected the recent demonstrations to past events, including the 2020 unrest linked to Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and other left-wing groups.
"It's a symptom of what we've seen over the past four or five years," he said. "I'm going to go all the way back to 2020 with the Antifa riots, right, where these young progressives got out, burned cities with almost no accountability in blue cities because they wanted to defund the police, and they weren't going to hold anybody accountable."
He continued: "You saw what happened on the [college] campuses last year. When these progressives disagree with something, they're going to commit violent acts. They're going to break the law. They're going to do that kind of action to get a political point out."
Sununu said the Tesla-related vandalism represents "taking it even further," calling out what he sees as a refusal to engage in peaceful disagreement.
"Look, you want to protest something, you don't want to buy it, that's fine. Don't buy a Tesla. Who cares?" he said. "But when your entire party consistently resorts to acts of violence because people disagree with you politically … you've got a real party problem."
Sununu also criticized Democrat leaders for what he said was a failure to denounce violence and take responsibility.
"Where's the leadership? I mean, this is the definition of a screwed-up party," he said. "Where's the Democrat leadership standing up, going to their party members and saying, 'Guys, don't do this. This is really bad. This is not what we're all about.'"
According to Sununu, such leadership is noticeably absent. "The best you'll get is I saw you with AOC going, 'Oh, I can't comment on that.' You know, it's like they've got nothing there," he said, referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Sununu closed by addressing what he sees as a double standard in political discourse.
"For years, you hear that Republicans are fascists and Trump is dangerous for democracy, and, you know, he won't let a dissenting view [speak] and all this kind of stuff, which is complete nonsense," he said. "But the actions of the Democrat Party speak for themselves."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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