Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.-S.C., had trouble absolving Donald Trump’s supporters of racism when he was asked to explain the real estate mogul’s success in the Republican primary season.
Graham denounced Trump for race-baiting during an appearance on “The Daily Show,” but the comedy host turned the question around on him. “If you say Donald Trump is not a Republican, why does it seem like the Republican base fits him like a glove?” Trevor Noah asked Wednesday night. “Have you maybe given them an impression that this is a party that supports xenophobia and bigotry, all of those things you listed? Is that possible?”
The audience cheered as Graham shrugged. “Thirty-five percent of my party believes that Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya; [Trump] has locked that crowd down,” he replied. “Now, sixty-five percent of us just think he’s a bad president.”
Graham made clear that he has endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz out of the necessity of beating Trump. “He was my 15th choice,” the South Carolina senator joked.
His comments about Trump supporters differ from the tack taken by other prominent anti-Trump actors, such as Our Principles PAC, an outside group dedicated to stopping Trump. “What exit polling in the Republican primaries has shown, even with Trump voters, is that he is scoring very low with voters on ‘shares your values,’ hitting a low mark in the South Carolina primary where only a quarter of the Trump voters felt he shared their values,” GOP pollster Ed Goeas wrote in a recent polling memo. “Their focus was much more on ‘telling it like it is.'”
