South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has shifted his focus from censuring fellow Republican candidate Donald Trump to blasting the head of the Republican Party.
The hawkish senator appeared on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” Tuesday to defend his plan to deploy U.S. ground-combat forces to Iraq and Syria if elected president and to discuss China’s economic woes.
But when the conversation shifted to Trump, the senior senator was quick to reject the GOP front-runner’s plan to deport children born to illegal-immigrant parents and had some choice words for Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus who recently called Trump a “net positive” for the Republican Party.
“Donald Trump’s plan on immigration is stupid — it’s illegal,” Graham told the trio of hosts. “I’m not that good of a lawyer, but if you try to take two American children who were born here — who are citizens — and deport them because their parents are illegal, you’ll get creamed in court.”
The South Carolina senator added that Trump’s multifaceted approach to reform the country’s current immigration system is “constitutionally flawed.”
“It’s not practical. And when our party chairman says he’s a net positive for our party, I think that’s dumb too,” Graham said.
During an interview in Milwaukee, Wis. over the weekend, Priebus said Trump’s presence in the presidential race “brings a lot of interest [to] the Republican field.”
“I think it’s a net positive for everybody and I think it’s an indicator that there’s a lot of folks out there who are sick and tired of Washington and Trump has tapped into that,” the Party leader said, as previously reported by the Washington Examiner.
According to several reports, Priebus called Trump in early July to request that he tone down his rhetoric on immigration so as not to estrange Hispanic voters. The real estate magnate has since pushed back on those reports, calling the phone call “congratulatory.”
Trump leads in the national and early state polls. Graham is getting 0.3 percent in the RealClearPolitics average and has received 0 percent of the vote in two recent national polls.
