Appearing on Face the Nation , Lindsey Graham suggested that Donald Trump “is going backward on immigration” and will take the party with him, Newsmax is reporting. The South Carolina senator and presidential candidate has strongly criticized Trump in the past, and now says Trump’s views on immigration are bad for the Republican Party.
“Our leading Republican is embracing self-deportation, that all of the 11 million have to walk back where they came from and maybe we’ll let some of them come back,” Graham said of Trump, adding “I hope we don’t go down that road as a party.”
Graham has expressed fairly lenient views on immigration and has supported giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, which some have called “amnesty.” Trump has expressed views opposing that, including strong views against illegal immigration and for securing the border.
Graham suggest that Trump supporting “self-deportation” of 11 million illegal immigrants is bad for the party, and called Trump the “leading contender” for the GOP nomination, the Hill reported today.
“So the leading contender Mr. Trump is going backward on immigration and I think he will take us all with him if we don’t watch it,” Graham said.
Trump rhetoric is hurting the GOP, according to Graham, the Washington Examiner is reporting. Graham is nearly at the bottom of the polls in the GOP contest, including getting zero percent support in the latest Fox News poll .
“It’s pretty hard for me to understand where this thing is going with the Donald,” Graham said about Trump.
Graham is known as a more moderate Republican in the Senate, and has disagreed with Trump, who has taken conservative-sounding positions on some issues, including immigration. Graham was first elected to the Senate in 2002 before being reelected in 2008 and 2014. He had previously served in Congress for four terms. While he is known as a moderate Republican, he calls himself a “Reagan-style Republican.”
In the previous feud with Trump, who had given out his cell phone number, Graham destroyed his cell phone, the Inquisitr reported . Graham had called Trump a “jacka**” and Trump had given out Graham’s cell phone number. Graham received so many calls, his voice mail on that phone got overloaded.
Will Graham’s criticism of Trump have any effect on the campaign? If the current polls are any indication, perhaps few are listening to Lindsey Graham. It remains to be seen how long Graham will remain a candidate in the 2016 campaign for president if remains in the single digits in the polls.
[Photo of Lindsey Graham by Getty Images]