MSNBC host Joe Scarborough attacked Sen. Lindsey Graham Tuesday, saying that he “sold his political soul” for more votes.
Scarborough went after the South Carolina Republican over his support for President Trump. He said that the only reason Graham has been such a staunch defender of the president is in order stay in elected office.
Scarborough is a frequent critic of congressional Republicans over what he calls cowering to Trump, but his spat with Graham is particularly notable. Both were elected to the House in 1994, the year of the “Republican Revolution” in which the GOP won a House majority for the first time in 40 years. Graham served in the House for eight years before winning election to the Senate in 2002.
The congressional tenure of Scarborough, who represented a Florida Panhandle district, was much shorter. He quit Congress in 2001, citing the need to spend more time with his children after his first divorce, and went into TV.
“Lindsey Graham has a Republican primary in 2020, he was having trouble in the state of South Carolina and recent polls show that among Republican senators he has one of the better approval ratings with the rank-and-file in the Republican Party in the state of South Carolina,” Scarborough said.
“He basically sold his soul — political soul — sold his political soul for, you know, 20 percentage points inside his own Republican Party,” Scarborough said. “I guess unlike John McCain, Lindsey Graham didn’t have the confidence and the assurance in his voters that he could speak truth to power and still get re-elected in his state.”
Graham hit back at Scarborough after the remarks in an interview with Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade.
“The one thing I’m not going to worry about is pleasing Joe Scarborough – that’s not on my list,” the senator said.
“I don’t feel like I need to defend myself against a cable talk show host on MSNBC. I’m a United States senator representing the people of South Carolina who overwhelming support President Trump,” he added.
Scarborough announced in 2017 that he was leaving the GOP over its support for Trump. Trump has criticized Scarborough, labeling him “psycho Joe.”
