We don’t know what happened along the way, but we like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. 2.0 a lot better than the first version, when he was a clone buddy of the late and often not-so-great RINO John McCain.
Once again during an appearance with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday, Graham was a voice of reason when it came to the subject of whether the Republican Party can — or should — move on from former President Donald Trump and his ‘America First’ agenda.
As Graham has said in the past, the answer is a resounding no.
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Graham’s comments come as the party does seem ready to move on from Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming who is more interesting in perpetuating the existence of the anachronistic RINO class from when Graham has been reborn.
“I would just say to my Republican colleagues, can we more forward without President Trump? The answer is no,” he said.
“I’ve always liked Liz Cheney, but she’s made a determination that the Republican Party can’t grow with President Trump. I’ve determined we can’t grow without him,” Graham said unequivocally.
Graham went on to point out that GOP candidates, and especially new Republican candidates of color, are attracted to the “Trump Republican Party” and the “economic populism” policies that appeal to working-class Americans under the rubric of the “America First” agenda.
“If you don’t get that, you’re making the biggest mistake in the history of the Republican Party,” Graham stated, noting that the former president is solidly on the side of keeping Americans free and independent, not dependent on government largess than can (and would eventually be) taken away.
It wasn’t the first time Graham declared that the GOP cannot feasibly move forward without the 45th president as at least a spiritual guide.
“He could make the Republican Party something that nobody else I know can make it. He can make it bigger. He can make it stronger. He can make it more diverse. And he also could destroy it,” Graham told Axios earlier this year.
Republican lawmakers who line up behind the former president increasingly do so because they know his is a winning message. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., reflected that in a memo to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., earlier this spring in which he argued on behalf of Trump’s economic ‘America First’ priorities, as well as his adherence to constitutional governance.
“President Trump has taught us a lot about appealing to working-class voters, he made our party the working-class party again,” the lawmaker also noted in late February at the Conservative Political Action Conference, according to Fox News.
“We do have a few voices in the Republican Party that want to erase Donald Trump and the voters he represents in our party,” Banks said. “If we do that we’re destined to lose elections in 2022, there’s no way we’ll win the White House in 2024.”
h/t: Trending Politics