The outgoing governor, who has criticized Trump on numerous occasions, argued he is “cautiously optimistic” about the incoming Trump presidency due to the increased experience the president-elect has with Congress, as well as “the different team” of Cabinet nominees with which he has surrounded himself. He also noted how Trump has “outsiders” with him this presidency, referring to billionaire Elon Musk, the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency.

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“He won the primary, he won the nomination, and he won the vote handily of the American people. He‘s got to come through, right?” Sununu said on CNN’s State of the Union. “At this point, it‘s about delivering. I think this term will be fundamentally different than the first term for a variety of reasons. He‘s not in his fifth year as president. He‘s kind of in his ninth, if you will, especially as leader of the party and the voice of the party. And all of that centers around being that disruption. People didn‘t vote for him because of his policies, they voted for him because he‘s still seen as an outside influence to disrupt, to break the establishment.”

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When confronted with the possibility that voters supported Trump due to his opposition to illegal immigration, Sununu contended voters were against Vice President Kamala Harris’s stance on the key election topics. He argued immigration and the Defund the Police movement are where “the Democrats have kind of lost it.”

Sununu also insisted that Trump has not permanently changed the Republican Party, suggesting the party still has its “hardcore regular conservativism,” with Trump’s brand being “a different style to it.” He also claimed “there’s no Trump 2.0 coming up” within the party.

The governor did not seek reelection this past November, and will be leaving his position next month. When asked what the future holds for him, Sununu said he would go into the private sector, and advised incoming Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) to “focus on New Hampshire.”

Sununu previously endorsed former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race, with Haley suspending her bid for president in March 2024. Ahead of the general election, the governor predicted Trump could easily win the election against Harris if he stuck to policies. He also criticized Harris for being “risk-averse” in her bid for the presidency.

Ahead of Trump’s inauguration next month, the Washington Examiner’s Byron York assessed that the Democratic Party lacks a proper figure to oppose Trump and his agenda, partially due to how Democrats lost control of both the White House and the Senate in November. He also contended that the party needs to have a proper debate over where the party went wrong in 2024, noting there is some truth to the assessment that Democrats who ran against the party’s brand were the most successful last month.