Senator Lindsey Graham (r.) took the stage at a Donald Trump rally in his home state of South Carolina on Saturday to violent boos from the crowd.
Graham tried to get over the taunts that partially drowned out his comments in support of the former president’s bid for a second term.
Some called Graham a traitor a CNN reporter at the crime scene.
Trump later half-heartedly defended the senator.
“You know, one can sometimes make mistakes. Even Lindsey down here, Senator Lindsey Graham. “We love Senator Graham,” Trump said, sparking a new round of boos.
“I know it’s half and half,” Trump told the crowd. “But when I need some of those liberal voices, he’s always there to help me get them, okay? We have some pretty liberal people, but he’s good.”
Back in April, Trump mocked Graham as a “progressive” at a fundraiser in New Hampshire, which also drew boos from the crowd there.
Graham has been a staunch Trump ally for most of his presidency, however didn’t parrot Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent prompted Trump to deny it a statement in 2021, he said that Graham should be “ashamed.” Graham too outraged Trump supporters while speaking sharply about Trump’s role in mobilizing the angry mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Participants in the rally on Saturday said The Greenville Newsa South Carolina newspaper that they were fed up with Graham.
William Billew, 74, told the newspaper he thought the senator was unreliable and didn’t like his “wimpyness”.
Over the course of his two decades representing South Carolina in Washington, Graham has built a reputation as… a moody ally of his fellow Republicans.