“You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to Hell. He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for. He's the ISIL man of the year.”
“What Mr. Trump is doing -- and I don't think he has a clue about anything. He's just just trying to get his numbers up and get the biggest reaction he can. He is helping the enemy of this nation. He is empowering radical Islam. And if he knew anything about the world at all, you would know that most Muslims reject this ideology.”
Graham said that what the U.S. needs to do is embrace the “99%” of Muslims who reject radical, violent extremism and have died “by the thousands” trying to fight it, and it needs to invest in the Middle East and giving people and women opportunity there.
“That's how you win the war. A hopeful life versus a glorious death. And what Mr. Trump is doing is undercutting everything we stand for. Going to a military high school, Donald, is not military service. You've never worn the uniform. So knock it off. You're putting people at risk.”
“I'd rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with him. I wish he would leave the party. I don't care if he runs as an independent. If we lose the 2016 election, so be it. I want to be in a category of 1% who said B.S., this is not who we are at a party, this is not who we are as a nation. And I'm calling on Ted Cruz, you're trying to have it both ways here.”
“He's trying to get all the Trump people when Trump falls. He's trying to get all the Carson people when they fall. What I'm trying to do is be a president worthy of a great nation and a great party. So this doesn't cut it for me. This is not a policy debate, Ted. This is about you and us and our character as a party. Up your game. Condemn it, because it needs to be condemned.”
December 8, 2015
https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/08/politics/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-go-to-hell-ted-cruz/index.html
“He took our problems in 2012 with Hispanics and made them far worse by espousing forced deportation. Looking back, we should have basically kicked him out of the party.”
“The more you know about Donald Trump, the less likely you are to vote for him. The more you know about his business enterprises, the less successful he looks. The more you know about his political giving, the less Republican he looks. We should have done this months ago.”
“This is not about who we nominate anymore as Republicans as much as it’s who we are. This is a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. What is conservatism? If it’s Donald Trump carrying the conservative banner I think not only do we lose the election, but we’ll be unable in the future to grow the conservative cause.”
“How many of these guys when there were 17 of us basically hid in a corner? They didn’t wanna, you know, poke the guy. They didn’t wanna get people mad. Ted Cruz was running as his best friend. Any time you leave a bad idea or a dangerous idea alone, any time you ignore what could become an evil force, you wind up regretting it.”
March 7, 2016
https://www.politico.com/blogs/2016...lindsey-graham-donald-trump-kicked-out-220402
“He’s not, in my view, a racist by any stretch of the imagination. I have never heard him make a single racist statement. Not even close.”
August 11, 2018
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...7211a6-9ce6-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html
Anyone?