WATCH: Lindsey Graham Booed at MAGA Rally in His Home State of South Carolina, Trump Tries to Help
On Saturday, at a Trump campaign rally in the early primary state of South Carolina, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was booed and heckled as he left the stage, notably in the state he represents. As soon as Graham was announced, the crowd erupted in jeers, and the Senator struggled to gain control and favor from the crowd in Pickens County, where he was born.
He begins addressing the crowd, obviously trying to cajole them:
Well, you wanna find something in common?
The Senator continues in an effort to find common ground and salvage the situation, saying:
Welcome to Pickens County. A little bit about this county- just calm down for a second, I think you’ll like this- Pickens County has more Medal of Honor winners per capita than any place in the nation. I was born in Pickens County, I live fifteen miles down the road.
Graham moves on from the geographical appeals and turns to highlight the common support of the former President that he shares with the audience. He asks them:
How many of you believe that Donald Trump was a great president?
Graham continues with complementary remarks about Trump, saying:
Let me tell you why I want to help President Trump. I was on the front row of his presidency. And I’ve never seen anybody this tough for America. How many of you have heard the phrase, “We like Trump policies, but we want somebody new,” have you heard that? Well, let me tell you this: Without Donald Trump there are no Trump policies! He did something nobody else could do. He’s the most pro-life president of my lifetime. Do you know why he secured the border? Mexico was afraid of Donald Trump; we need him back in the White House right now!
Through persistent but quieter booing, Graham focuses on a forward-looking strategy, saying:
Let me tell you how you win an election, folks. You get people together that don’t agree all of the time to agree on the most important things. My hope is we can bring this party together ’cause he’s gonna be our nominee.
He will be the nominee of the Republican Party, and let me tell you what’s at stake. If they win in 2024, they’re gonna pack the Supreme Court. So we need to get off our butts and make sure Donald Trump wins. If they win in 2024… Puerto Rico and D.C. will be states. Four Democrats for the rest of our lifetime. They’ll abolish the electoral college, they will turn this nation upside down.
Graham closes with a rallying cry for the primary race and journey to the White House, saying:
So, there’s one person running for president as a Republican that has the ability to change this county. It is Donald J. Trump. He did it once, he can do it again. And I’m gonna help him all over this country. And folks, I am from South Carolina; he is gonna win South Carolina. This is the path to the presidency. God bless you all. God bless President Trump. God bless America.
Following his remarks, Graham swiftly exited the stage, and the crowd erupted with booing and thumbs-down gestures, again. Sentiments against Senator Graham from rank-and-file MAGA supporters include criticism that he was a “traitor” to the president, which was a chant that broke out near the beginning of his speech. Other criticism includes his support for the war in Ukraine and visiting with President Zelensky in Kyiv.
Trump takes the stage a short while later and tries to smooth things over with the crowd. When Trump mentions Graham during his speech, the crowd erupts in opposition, again.
Trump says:
You know, you can make mistakes on occasion, Even Lindsey down here, Senator Lindsey Graham. We love Senator Graham.
We’re gonna love him. We’re gonna love him. I know, it’s half and half, but when I need some of those liberal votes he’s always there to help me get ’em, okay? We’ve got some pretty liberal people, but he’s good. He’s good. We know the good ones, we know the bad ones, too. We’ve got some real bad ones. But even he makes mistakes on occasion.
South Carolina is an important primary state, and consequential battleground between the top two GOP candidates, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. The state party of South Carolina voted last month to push back their primary date, until after Nevada’s, as RedState previously reported:
The South Carolina Republican Party unanimously voted on Saturday to move back their 2024 GOP presidential primary, holding it on February 24 next year. This decision would extend the campaigning period in the crucial Palmetto State, setting a different sequence in the Republican nominating calendar by placing South Carolina after Nevada for the first time. The potential shift would allow candidates more than two additional weeks to focus on South Carolina, as opposed to the previous cycle when the state’s primary occurred before Nevada’s caucuses.
If approved, the proposed date for the South Carolina GOP primary would mark a shift in the nominating calendar, placing the state behind Nevada for the first time since 2008.
In his speech, Trump commented, “I’m gonna have to work on these people,” and also offered to campaign for Graham when he is up for re-election in the Senate. Graham’s term ends in January of 2027.
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