Sen. Lindsey Graham called Donald Trump a “loser” and a “nut job” Thursday, and predicted a Titanic-like doomsday scenario for the Republican Party and the country by extension if he wins the GOP nomination.
The South Carolina Republican who punched out of the presidential race early and backed Jeb Bush before he dropped out said Hillary Clinton would win if Trump is the nominee, and warned the consequences of losing would be “monumental.”
Unless there is a quick consolidation of the party faithful and voters around another candidate other than the billionaire businessman, Graham said Trump has a straight shot at the Republican nomination.
If that happens and Trump is the GOP pick for president, he said the Republican party is “likely to lose the last best chance in a long time to win the White House.”
“Your country is in a world of hurt …,” he told reporters in a long-winded diatribe against Trump Thursday afternoon. “We’re going to continue a foreign policy that needs to be changed, Obamacare will be left intact, the Keystone pipeline will not be built, Planned Parenthood will continue to be funded. And to say that you’re going to lose the White House, and prevent all those things from happening is the height of dishonesty.”
“You can’t nominate a nut job and lose and expect it not to have consequences,” he added.
Asked why Trump would lose, Graham didn’t hesitate: “He’s just generally a loser as a person.”
He also said Trump’s “ill-suited for the job” and cited a Washington Post-Univision News poll released earlier Thursday showing Trump with the worst favorability in the GOP presidential field among Hispanics. The survey found that more than 80 percent reported an unfavorable view of him and just 17 percent had a favorable view.
“What Hispanic person would vote for the Republican party when the leader of the party has just called illegal immigrants as a group mostly rapists and drug deals and [wants to] go deport 11 million people, including American-born children?” he fumed.
He likened the situation the Republican party faces with Trump to the deathtrap the Titanic faced when it was headed full steam toward an enormous iceberg. This time, he said, the GOP bought a ticket on the Titanic even though they had already seen how the movie ends.
“I got a ticket on the Titanic,” he said. “I’m on the team that bought a ticket on the Titanic after we saw the movie. This is what happens if you nominate Trump.”
“I’m telling people if you think you can win with Trump, I think you’re wrong,” he said. “I hope I’m wrong. I hope I’m standing here telling you I had no idea what I was talking about.”
“I think he’s going to lose, he’s going to lose badly, and I think all the things we care about are going to be locked in place and [Clinton is] going to get to pick Supreme Court nominees,” he said.
Graham also said any other Republican would have a great shot at beating Clinton and winning the White House later this year.
“I think we could win with your tape recorder,” he said to one reporter. “I think we could win with almost anybody except this guy.”
Graham’s voice was straining by the end of the anti-Trump broadside but he promised more to come at the congressional dinner later Thursday evening. Graham is one of two speakers at the dinner, sponsored by the Washington Press Club Foundation. The other speaker is retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
