{"id":35763,"date":"2026-07-13T03:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T07:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/mr-president-youre-not-far-behind-god-lindsey-graham-in-his-own-words-republicans\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T03:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T07:44:13","slug":"mr-president-youre-not-far-behind-god-lindsey-graham-in-his-own-words-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/mr-president-youre-not-far-behind-god-lindsey-graham-in-his-own-words-republicans\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mr President, you\u2019re not far behind God\u2019: Lindsey Graham in his own words | Republicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

L<\/span>indsey Graham, the South Carolina senator who died on Saturday night, unexpectedly at the age of 71, was a politician who more than many illustrated the changing face of the Republican party in the age of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

A former House member, Graham sat in the Senate from 2003 as a foreign policy hawk and a close friend and ally of John McCain, the relatively socially liberal Arizona senator who became the party\u2019s presidential nominee in 2008.<\/p>\n

Mounting his own run in 2015, Graham presented himself as an anti-Trump voice, colorfully denouncing his rival as a far-right threat. Graham didn\u2019t vote for Trump (backing independent Evan McMullin instead) but once Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, and even after Trump abused McCain both before and after his death, Graham worked his way into Trump\u2019s inner circle. Another estrangement, over January 6 and Trump\u2019s attempted election subversion, lasted an even shorter time. Back onside and on the golf course with Trump, Graham became a vociferous supporter of Trump\u2019s war with Iran.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a taste of how Graham described his political journey.<\/p>\n

On his childhood in the Sanitary Caf\u00e9, his parents\u2019 bar<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI would strut around the place, sometimes dressed as a cowboy \u2013 hat, vest and plastic six shooters. I might get up on the bar and walk up and down it while talking to folks. When customers went to the restroom, I might steal their beer and chug it. I might smoke their cigarette, too, if they left it burning in the ashtray. Those were antics that earned me the nickname, \u2018Stinkball\u2019, which everyone in the bar except my parents called me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the center of attention at that bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his role in the impeachment of Bill Clinton<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cSome people have said, \u2018I won\u2019t vote for impeachment.\u2019 Some House members have said, \u2018I will not vote for an impeachment.\u2019 Let me tell you, please don\u2019t say that until you understand what you\u2019re voting on.\u201d<\/p>\n

To House Democrats seeking the first impeachment of Trump<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe process you\u2019re engaging in regarding the attempted impeachment of President Trump is out of bounds. It\u2019s inconsistent with due process as we know it. It\u2019s a Star Chamber-type inquiry, and it\u2019s a substantial deviation from what the House has done in the past regarding impeachment of other presidents.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Trump as a presidential candidate<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn\u2019t represent my party.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he has a clue about anything. He\u2019s just trying to get his numbers up and get the biggest reaction he can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s never served. Going to a military high school, Donald, is really not military service. You\u2019ve never worn the uniform. You\u2019ve never been on a forward operating base.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just generally a loser as a person and a candidate. You can\u2019t nominate a nutjob and lose, and expect it doesn\u2019t have consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I see is a demagogue, somebody that has solutions that will never work, that is playing on people\u2019s prejudices and the dark side of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed \u2026 and we will deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a great sense of humor. He\u2019s from New York. He obviously can take a punch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to support our nominee, I just can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Trump as president<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI went from, \u2018OK, he\u2019s president\u2019 to \u2018How can I get to be in his orbit?\u2019\u2009to \u2018How can I have a say in what\u2019s going to happen today, tomorrow and next week?\u2019\u2009<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally like him. We play golf. He\u2019s very nice to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never been called this much by a president in my life. It\u2019s weird, and it\u2019s flattering, and it creates some opportunity. It also creates some pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Trump and January 6<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cTrump and I, we\u2019ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he\u2019s been a consequential president. All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no. I\u2019ve determined we can\u2019t grow without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n

On having Trump\u2019s endorsement<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cMr President, you\u2019re not far behind God.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>Donald Trump and Lindsey Graham in January 2023. <\/span> Photograph: Alex Brandon\/AP<\/p>\n

On John McCain<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cHe had a romantic view of our nation to his last breath. Literally almost the last thing he said to me was \u2018I love you. I have not been cheated.\u2019 He was not cheated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I miss was the collaboration. It was a political marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt bothers me greatly when the president says things about John McCain. It pisses me off to no end, and I\u2019ll let the president know it. The way he\u2019s handled the passing of John just was disturbing. We finally got it right. I am not going to give up on the idea of working with this president. The best way I can honor John McCain is help my country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not living my life going forward around John McCain.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his friendship with Joe Biden and investigations of Hunter Biden<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t admire Joe Biden as a person, you\u2019ve got a problem. He\u2019s the nicest person I\u2019ve ever met in politics. As good a man as God ever created.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friendship with Joe Biden, if it can\u2019t withstand me doing my job, then it\u2019s not the friendship I thought we had.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThis guy is a wrecking ball. He had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey, and to expect me to ignore it, I feel used and abused \u2026 The MBS figure is to me toxic. He can never be a world leader on the world stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have come to know the Crown Prince over the last five years, and remain impressed by his vision for his country and the region \u2026 The Crown Prince\u2019s vision is not only great for South Carolina, it\u2019s great for the United States and the civilized world. For this to be a reality, the region cannot be controlled by the forces of darkness who seek an oppressive future for their own populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Brett Kavanaugh and the <\/strong>supreme <\/strong>court<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIf you wanted a FBI investigation, you could have come to us. What you want to do is destroy this guy\u2019s life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020. You\u2019ve said that, not me. You\u2019ve got nothing to apologize for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see Sotomayor and Kagan, tell them that Lindsey said hello because I voted for them. I would never do to them what you\u2019ve done to this guy. This is the most unethical sham since I\u2019ve been in politics. And if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn\u2019t have done what you\u2019ve done to this guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re supposed to be Bill Cosby when you\u2019re a junior and senior in high school. And all of a sudden, you got over it. It\u2019s been my understanding that if you drug women and rape them for two years in high school, you probably don\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Iran, and his support for Israel<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe simple question is, do we have a president who understands who the Iranians are?\u201d he said about the Iran arms deal. \u201cObama is dangerously naive about the Mideast. This decision is the biggest mistake any president of the United States could make. The Iranians are not wanting to become one of the family of nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Palestinians in Gaza are the most radicalised population on the planet who are taught to hate Jews from birth. It will take years to fix this problem,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the radical cleric in Iran had a nuclear weapon, he would use it just as certainly as Hitler were to use it. He would kill all the Jews, and we\u2019re next,\u201d Graham said Monday. \u201cI\u2019ll put my efforts to make sure the military has what they need to win the wars we\u2019re in, ahead of anybody in the United States Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Iran contests control of the Strait of Hormuz by the United States, we will obliterate them. So, to all the people listening, if this diplomatic effort fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator who died on Saturday night, unexpectedly at the age of 71, was a politician who more than many illustrated the changing face of the Republican party in the age of Donald Trump. A former House member, Graham sat in the Senate from 2003 as a foreign policy hawk and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10666],"tags":[1184,5516,3511,2283,3485,4862,5923],"class_list":["post-35763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reparations","tag-god","tag-graham","tag-lindsey","tag-president","tag-republicans","tag-words","tag-youre"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0390feead0e1fbed05254b7e8b0a1f66",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/fea5e8698c9d225e513a5c51d14d02f4acc02de7\/456_0_4560_3648\/master\/4560.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40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NEWS<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator who died on Saturday night, unexpectedly at the age of 71, was a politician who more than many illustrated the changing face of the Republican party in the age of Donald Trump. 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