South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham hit back against the far right wing of his party a day after the CNN Republican debate in Las Vegas, saying Barack Obama “is my President” and calling the anger against him “unhealthy.”
“To those people who think Obama’s a Muslim who was born in Kenya, I lost you a long time ago,” Graham said Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day.” “There’s a dislike of Obama in my party that’s unhealthy, there was a dislike for President (George W.) Bush in the Democratic party that was unhealthy. He is my President.”
Graham said Obama called him Tuesday to talk about working with Iraq’s new prime minister, but the South Carolina senator was also candid about Obama’s handling of ISIS.
“I think he has screwed this up 10 ways to Sunday, but Bush made his fair share of mistakes too,” Graham said.
Graham accepted some credit for his one-liners and strong performance during Tuesday’s undercard debate, saying “I am hilarious.”
Throughout the night he attacked Donald Trump’s proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country and warned against pushing more Muslims into the arms of ISIS.
Graham has consistently been a standout performer on the undercard stage, but he has yet to earn enough support in the polls to force his way onto the main stage.