A New York Occasions profile of Gov. Chris Sununu, the reasonable Republican governor of New Hampshire, positioned him as the suitable Republican presidential candidate for 2024, not like these tradition warriors and Trump “acolytes” like Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley — and naturally Donald Trump himself.

“Calling for Normalcy, Sununu Eyes 2024 Bid” appeared in Tuesday’s version by Matt Flegenheimer and had a web-based headline that was much more contemptuous of Republicans: “Chris Sununu Eyes the G.O.P.’s ‘Regular’ Lane in 2024. Does It Exist?”

The web headline deck celebrated Sununu, the son of former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu: “The New Hampshire governor’s flirtation with a presidential run is a take a look at of abortion politics, Republican media technique and the sturdiness of the MAGA mentality. ‘I’m conservative,” he says. ‘I’m simply not an extremist.’”

Flegenheimer started his 2,100-word profile by conveniently forwarding Sununu’s personal dig at Trump (click on “increase”):

When then-President Donald J. Trump visited New Hampshire in 2018, a typical delegation awaited him: flag-waving superfans, sign-carrying protesters and the sitting Republican governor.

Mr. Trump, true to kind, appeared most within the first group.

“They love me,” he mentioned, admiring the group in Manchester from his govt limousine, in response to the governor, Chris Sununu, who rode with him. Mr. Trump singled out an particularly zealous-looking customer. “You see that man?” he mentioned. “He loves me.”

By no means thoughts that the person’s signal had two phrases, Mr. Sununu recalled: a four-letter profanity and “Trump.”

“You wish to assume in that second, ‘Nicely, possibly he simply didn’t see,’” the governor mentioned. However some individuals, he advised, see what they need to see.

Mover over, Trumpers, was the message from Sununu and The Occasions:

After three consecutive disappointing election cycles for his celebration, Mr. Sununu says the time for indulging Mr. Trump’s delusions has lengthy handed. The midterms, he argues, proved that the nation, together with many Republicans, had little curiosity within the far-right candidates the previous president backed. Even nominating a onetime Trump acolyte from the possible 2024 subject, like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida or the previous United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, is a misinterpret of the second, he says.

(….)

And so, Mr. Sununu — a “Seinfeld”-quoting, Covid booster-boosting son of a governor who supported Mr. Trump’s first two campaigns — is providing himself up as a strolling referendum on the path of his celebration.

Flegenheimer let Sununu brag about his successful “scoreboard”:

Final November, Mr. Sununu received re-election by greater than 15 factors in a state that has awarded Democrats every of its federal workplaces, the form of big-tent displaying he says his celebration would require in 2024. (Another double-digit Republican standouts, together with Mr. DeSantis, scored their midterm landslides in states that tilted broadly crimson.)

The above comparability is deceptive, provided that DeSantis barely squeaked out a victory in Florida in 2018 however received converts for his dealing with of COVID and cultural points and was the rationale Florida “tilted broadly crimson” to the tune of a 19-point reelection win for the previous congressman.

Naturally, The Occasions appreciated the New Hampshire governor’s popular culture patois and “meditations on the “big-government authoritarian” impulses of sure culture-warring counterparts and the fading salience of abortion for a lot of Republicans after Dobbs.”

Flegenheimer eagerly latched on to Sununu’s insults of potential rival DeSantis who’s been “focusing on non-public companies deemed hostile to right-wing values,” including a direct quote from Sununu: “Is authorities going to unravel a cultural subject? No. Good Republicans don’t consider that.”

As evidenced by Sununu’s cooperation with The Occasions, Flegenheimer famous that “Sununu has discovered fault with Mr. DeSantis and different Republicans who shun conventional information organizations or unscripted public encounters.”

Is Sununu angling for the slot of the liberal press’s favourite 2024 Republican, a la John McCain earlier than him?