More old video jewels are emerging that show what a weak-kneed, bold-faced liar Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham really is. During the 2016 election year, before he became the opportunistic, whimpering, whining, Trump-turncoat he is today, Graham sometimes acted like a decent lawmaker. In one video during that election year, Graham told the truth by calling Trump a lying, race-baiting xenophobic danger to our troops.
Later in the year, after Trump illegitimately won the presidential election, Graham teamed up with the late John McCain to attack Russia and Vladimir Putin for election interference. Graham told Trump, on video, to punish Russia. During the Graham-McCain anti-Putin crusade, McCain, a former tortured prisoner of war, was one of the first to call out Putin out for the barbaric crimes he’s committed. In 2016, McCain wrote:
“With the U.S. presidential transition underway, Vladimir Putin has said in recent days that he wants to improve relations with the United States. We should place as much faith in such statements as any other made by a former KGB agent who has plunged his country into tyranny, murdered his political opponents, invaded his neighbors, threatened America’s allies, and attempted to undermine America’s elections.”
McCain stayed the course to the end. Graham became the speck of a man he had appeared to be with McCain.
Backing up, this was during a time when most Democrats in Congress were walking on eggs—afraid to say that the 2016 presidential election might have been compromised. They had just castigated Trump for saying he would claim the election was rigged if he lost to Hillary Clinton (who had a stunning lead over Trump in every reputable poll). So after Democrats called Trump out, how could they walk backward on their outrage? So most Democrats swallowed their objections, with the exception of a few. History will show Democratic lawmakers such as House Rep. Ted Lieu, Sen. Eric Swalwell, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have never held back in their condemnation of Trump and his Russian ties.
Trump could have avoided at least half of his current troubles had he listened to Lindsey Graham before he was sworn in. Before the inauguration, Graham urged the president-elect to punish the Russians for their 2016 election interference. You can watch Graham’s request below in the video below from an NBC interview on Meet The Press. Graham actually tries to do the right thing in encouraging Trump to do the same. He’s on point with much of what he says, but I need to warn you that a good portion of the video is creepy, and it’s bullshit.
Graham starts off saying he doesn’t know of any Democrat who believes Trump won the 2016 election illegitimately. He also states, twice, that the Russian interference did not affect the outcome of the election—something he couldn’t possibly know. How much the outcome was affected is something many of us will never know. What Graham does know is that admitting that Putin’s tampering did affect the 2016 outcome would compromise the sweet deal all Republicans received in that election when they supposedly won the House, Senate and Oval Office. Don’t want to mess with that prize, do you, Lindsey Graham?
Here’s the video followed by the transcript.
You know, here’s the deal for me. I think [Trump is] worried that inquiring into what Russia did in the election is going to undermine his credibility and his legitimacy. Quite frankly, I haven’t heard any Democrat at all, of prominence, uh, say that we doubt Donald Trump won. Putin is not the reason that Clinton lost and Trump won. I don’t think anybody’s saying that.
Okay, so that first part is a fabrication. Moving on ...
So, Mr. President Elect, that’s not what we’re trying to do. What we’re trying to do is find out what the Russians did in our elections and make sure other people, including the Russians, won’t do it next time.
No doubt in my mind that Russians interfered and John Podesta’s emails were hacked by the Russians, not by some 14-year-old kid or 300-pound guy, and that the DNC was compromised by the Russians. And it seems pretty clear to me that WikiLeaks got it from the Russians.
That’s true, but here comes more BS.
It didn’t affect the outcome, but they tried to interfere with our elections, so what I ... he’s going to be the defender of the free world. In a couple weeks Donald Trump will be the defender of the free world and democracy.
With the exception of reiterating that tampering “didn’t affect the outcome,” Graham is once again on point.
You should let everyone know in America, Republicans and Democrats, that you’re going to make Russia pay a price for trying to interfere, even though it didn’t affect the outcome.
They tried to interfere and they need to pay a price, and I don’t care what their motives were.
Did you notice how Graham’s demeanor has changed from damning Trump in one video, urging Trump in another, to how he is now? Graham must be cringing—wishing this video and others like it would just go away; but they’re here to stay and will hopefully remain in the memory of Graham, Trump, and the American people. We need to unseat Lindsey Graham in the 2020 elections. We need to unseat every lying, sniveling, Trump-supporting corrupt Republican in office. Yes, that would pretty much mean all of them. Let’s start with Graham.
Related:
Lindsey Graham can't run fast enough from yet another one of his vintage Trump-bashing videos (2019)
Lawrence O'Donnell encourages reporters to troll Senator Lindsey Graham—this old video explains why (2018)
Pelosi blasts Trump for easing Russian sanctions—calls Putin agents 'thugs' & challenges FBI (2017)
John McCain blasts Putin as barbaric KGB who plunged Russia into tyranny, murdered opponents... (2016)