Lindsey Graham: If Trump Is Nominee, 'That's The End Of The Republican Party'

[DonViejo]

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) said during an interview with CNN on Tuesday that if real estate mogul Donald Trump wins the party's nomination, it will be the end of the GOP.

"If Donald Trump is the nominee, that’s the end of the Republican Party," Graham said.

Graham was defending his dismal numbers in his home state of South Carolina, where the latest poll showed him earning 4 percent of likely Republican primary voters to Trump's 30 percent. Graham continued his attack, criticizing Trump's lack of military and foreign policy experience.

"He's shallow. He’s ill-prepared to be commander in chief," the retired Air Force colonel told CNN. "He's a complete idiot when it comes to Mideast policy." Graham said "common sense" will win out, but until then, "Our soldiers deserve better."

Graham said that Trump's views on immigrants and women do not reflect the modern Republican party.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-end-republican-party

[GusBob]

1. In our states closed primary I am most definately voting for him

lolz

[Iliyah]

2. K & R

Well howdy doody! I'm game!

[onehandle]

3. Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! nt

[closeupready]

9. +1000, lol - was just going to post that.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Nothing could be sweeter... nt

[Eleanors38]

5. Heh. Goddam GOP'S trying to move left. Hh-h-h-heh-heh. You said Left.

[Xipe Totec]

33. There is nothing left to move. nt

[Recursion]

6. I'm not a Graham fan but he's a decent political analyst

And I have to agree with him here.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

7. Time to register as a pug

and vote for trump

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. May Lindsey's powers of a Great Seer prove correct.

[oberliner]

10. You don't want to see what would replace the Republican party

If you think everyone would just become a Democrat or a progressive then I think you are in for an unpleasant surprise.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. I don't vote for labels.

I've never voted for a Republican and probably never will no matter what they call themselves.

[oberliner]

13. No Labels: Stop Fighting. Start Fixing.

Have you heard of this group:

http://www.nolabels.org

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Sounds good.

People should vote for what they believe in and forget the advertising and deal making.

[PJMcK]

15. The GOP would splinter

You're exactly right, oberliner. Should the Republican party divide into pieces, many of the resulting blocs will be very extreme. This could result in small groups acting out, perhaps violently, to express their views which won't be represented by a majority.

One advantage of having a two-party system is that the monolithic parties tend to homogenize the various points of view. This results in marginalizing the extreme wings of both parties. Should one or both major parties break up, I would expect our electoral system to experience some wild fluctuations.

[sub.theory]

12. Total Panic

I've never seen the GOP establishment in such total panic before. They are terrified of Trump and desperately trying to understand what has happened. Frankly, they've lost control of the crazy. For decades they've stoked the fires of rabid hatred and now the fire has spread out of control. I agree with Graham that these may be the twilight hours of the GOP.

[robertpaulsen]

16. Unless they can prove Trump had sex with a minor, he's not going away.

There is a noticeable fear among the GOP establishment regarding Trump that just wasn't there when Herman Cain was on top of the polls in 2011. I've wondered after the fact if it wasn't because they knew he had skeletons (mistresses) in his closet and that at the appropriate time, all would be revealed and the billionaire teabagger favorite with no prior government experience would have to suspend his campaign.

That there is such flustering within the GOP makes me wonder if they either don't have anything on Trump that could derail his campaign, or if they do and are afraid that such exposure might carry a risk of blowback if Trump fights back.

[eissa]

19. Fucking a minor would probably win him the nomination

This is the same party of Josh Duggar and Ted Nugent, after all.

[npk]

30. yuck! Though probably slightly true. n/t

[Jamastiene]

28. They know Trump is so full of himself that he would not

care if they told everyone that he had mistresses. Everyone pretty much knows he has had mistresses. So, their "go to" morality police scandal tactic has been rendered powerless. He has them by the short hairs.

[world wide wally]

17. The Republican party died years ago!

[fredamae]

18. The end of the GOP already occurred

when SCOTUS appointed the bushco, imo.

Graham, if he truly believes that GOP destruction is Forthcoming and not an issue already a matter of history, are in the deepest state of denial, imo.
With zero support for his POTUS bid...why does anyone gara what he and his ilk have to say anyway?

It's about the longer term big picture, not a few small and immediate events or about the people currently considered the Stars in the main stream corporate media.
The same thought process leads, also, to the self destruction (corporatization) of the many Dems in leadership over the past 3 or so decades......
Wake up and stop allowing MSM to steer the conversation. They don't represent anyone/any issue But wall street/Wealthiest of the wealthy and those certain "reps in congress" they've hired and we elected. MSM has Always played a Major role in "getting us" to Continue to Vote against our Best interests thru bias, omission of information and out right lies-that we are very reliably going to believe-Every. Damned. Time......we are, in a way...also, bought and paid for via our gullibility's.
All just mvho, of course.

[cyberswede]

20. Make it so!

[0rganism]

21. disagree - the GOP can survive a Trump candidacy

they can go 2 ways: reject the nationalist racist populism of Trump and in doing so alienate much of their base, or embrace his viewpoints and go for the moon shot: a Reagan revival with Trump as their figurehead.

of the 2, the first is a clear loser, at least short-term: Trump's damage has been done already, he's pushed the GOP into truly unconscionable positions on immigrants and minorities generally. they won't be getting those votes back in time for the general election, probably not even the next one.

the second path is far more insidious and might even win them the presidency. by engaging with his faux-populism, the GOP can ride a wave of blue-collar racism across the midwest, seriously cutting into the Democratic advantage among union workers, and enabling the GOP to maintain its senate majority.

should Trump emerge from his candidacy victorious, i predict the end of the GOP, as it will die off along with the rest of the country.

the Republican party can survive a Trump candidacy, but not a Trump presidency.

[SummerSnow]

22. so so true...

[RussBLib]

23. the "i" word!

IDIOT!

Gotta love it.

Uh, sorry Miss Lindsay, but Trump's views on immigrants and women do indeed reflect a large portion of the modern Republican party. And you guys have no one to blame but yourselves for fomenting it and allowing it to happen.

[AngryAmish]

24. So vote Trump?

[pamela]

25. He's wrong about one thing...

Graham said that Trump's views on immigrants and women do not reflect the modern Republican party.

Trump's views exactly match the Republican party's views on women and immigrants. Your party has been courting racist, sexist bigots for decades, and now, that's pretty much all you've got. That's your base. Racists. Sexists. Bigots. The only difference between Trump and the rest of you is he's not dog whistling, he's shouting it from the roof tops and the base is loving it. The uglier and more hateful he gets, the more they lap it up.

You're reaping what you have sown, Lindsay. This IS your modern Republican Party.

[Warpy]

26. It's the end of his Republican party

where the thin veneer of southern gentility has long obscured a rotten core that espouses every single hateful thing Trump has said--and worse.

Graham never did have more than a snowball's chance in hell of decent numbers outside his home state. He was in it for the Super PAC money laundering, like most of them.

Trump's tirades have had one positive effect besides driving men like Graham out of the race sooner rather than later, it's shown the fence sitters just what the Republicans are all about.

I sincerely hope that's enough to defeat him. Otherwise, he's the perfect candidate for the GOP: loud, not too bright, supremely self confident, and with a little charisma conferred by his place as a TV star.

[Jamastiene]

27. If Trump wins the presidency,

that is the end of America. It will be the United States of The Donald. Or Trump States or some other self serving, conceited, arrogant nonsense like that.

[Different Drummer]

29. Graham said "common sense" will win out

He *does* know he's talking about the modern GOP, I assume. I don't like common sense's chances.

[Vogon_Glory]

31. Would that that would come true! n/t

[gratuitous]

32. Lindsay Graham said that?

Lindsay Graham, who was one of the House Managers who brought the articles of impeachment against President Clinton over to the Senate for trial? Lindsay Graham, who didn't get even a majority vote on any of those articles, yet brought them anyway? That Lindsay Graham? And now he's all fretful that the Republican Party might be ending?

Does he have any regret for his mighty efforts expended in aiding the demise of his political party? Does he even acknowledge that he has been one of the prime movers behind the determined effort of the Republican party to self-destruct thanks to a "win at all costs" attitude and practice?

Cry me a river, Sen. Graham. You brought this on yourself, while millions of Americans tried to tell you that you were making big, yuuuuge, colossal mistakes. Mistakes like no political party had ever made before. Mistakes that were so big, they should have killed your party off years ago.