For many, teaming up with Donald Trump has proven to be a Faustian bargain. Time and again he’s used people only to turn on them when he no longer needs them (or, worse, when they dare question his authority). In the last seven years Lindsey Graham has gone from harsh Trump critic to accomplice back to critic again (after Jan. 6) and back to accomplice once more (a couple moths later). Graham is firmly in the Trump camp for his 2024 campaign, but it doesn’t seem like the MAGA crowd wants him there.
As per Greenville News, on Saturday Trump held a rally in Pickens, South Carolina. Also present was the state’s most famous senator, who expected to get cheers when he took the stage to talk about the former president’s third campaign. Instead he got jeers.
Lindsey Graham is getting relentlessly booed here in Pickens, South Carolina.
Six minutes of boos and counting…Graham is stammering through this.
“We like Trump!” Graham says, to which a man yells, “But not you!” pic.twitter.com/TrzyWkGPMS
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) July 1, 2023
HAPPENING NOW: Lindsey Graham getting booed viciously at the Trump Rally in his home state pic.twitter.com/rNKWUA1fSd
— Randy the Savage (@reannadilley) July 1, 2023
Brutal day for Lindsey Graham:
"They booed him when he arrived and they booed him when he left. At no point did they cheer for him. At one point they even started chanting 'Traitor.' They believe he has sold them out. The people of South Carolina really did not like him." pic.twitter.com/LjjqpGu6x1
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 1, 2023
“They booed him when he arrived and they booed him when he left,” reported a commentator at Right Side Broadcasting Network. “At no point did they cheer for him. At one point they even started chanting ‘Traitor.’ They believe he has sold them out. The people of South Carolina really did not like him.”
Why did they turn on Graham? Some seemed sick of him.
“I voted for him years ago, I voted for him last year, but we need to vote him out,” one person told Greenville News. Another described him as a mere grifter, saying Graham “doesn’t need to use Trump to get where he needs to go again.”
Another claimed Graham sides with Democrats when he needs to, making him an unreliable lawmaker.
Luckily Graham had someone there to defend him — sort of, not really.
Trump: You can make mistakes on occasion. Even Lindsey down here, Senator Lindsey Graham.
Crowd: boo
Trump: I know it's half and half. But when I need some of those liberal votes, he’s always there to help me. pic.twitter.com/yloBbhSOMo
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 1, 2023
“You can make mistakes on occasion — even Lindsey down there, Senator Lindsey Graham” Trump told the crowd, then pointed to (presumably) Graham. “We’re going to love him. He’s half and half. When we need those liberal votes, we need him. We know the good ones. We know the bad ones too.”
In other words, Trump agrees that Graham is using him but he also admitted he’s using him, too. Too bad because Graham has really embarrassed himself defending the big guy over all his indictments.
(Via Greenville News)