Trump hasn't permanently changed GOP, Sununu says

What they're saying: "Trump is Trump. There's no Trump-lite. There's no Trump 2.0 coming up. I always say that Trump is who he is, and because he's built up himself in the American psyche for 40 years," Sununu said on CNN's "State of the Union."

• When asked if the president-elect had permanently marked the GOP, the governor said no, but said Republicans are now more "hardcore" conservatives than the traditional conservatism of the past.
• Trump "brings a different style to it, which I have a lot of issues with at times, to be sure," Sununu said.
• "Fundamentally on principle," the GOP hasn't changed from its ideology, he said.

Zoom out: Sununu, who will leave office on January 2 after four terms, supported Nikki Haley in the 2024 GOP primary, said Sunday that the president-elect wasn't "my first choice and not my second or third or fourth choice."

• But "he won the primary. He won the nomination. And he won the vote handily of the American people," he said.
• "He's got to come through, right? At this point, it's about delivering. I think this term will be fundamentally different than the first term for a variety of reasons," Sununu said. "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."