Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday that his foreign policy plan for the Middle East is his biggest asset in the 2016 presidential race, and will ultimately help him beat Donald Trump for the GOP nomination, even though Trump currently has a huge lead, even in Graham’s home state of South Carolina.
“National polls really mean zero right now,” Graham said, noting that both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are behind Trump in their home state of Florida. “As the world continues to fall apart, as Syria goes into further chaos, and Iran develops their missile technology, as [the Islamic State] rises, people are going to be looking for experience to replace commander in chief Barack Obama.”
“I had 9,800 troops in Afghanistan because that’s what the commanders recommend,” he added. “So I think experience of foreign policy is going to matter as we get closer to voting … if it doesn’t, God help us all.”
Graham said the United States should step up its support of Israel, and that the Palestinians think “they can get away with whatever they want” due to the weakness of American foreign policy. As chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee on appropriations deals with Palestinians, he that he would threaten to cut off the Palestinians aid from the United States if the Palestinian-fueled conflict in Israel were to continue.
“This is what happens when you have a vacuum of leadership,” Graham said Friday morning, joining MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” from the campaign trail in Manchester New Hampshire. “The Palestinians think they can challenge Israel, stab people and go to the U.N. to get status and the international community isn’t going to do much about it.”
