Trump has ‘some damage to repair’ if he runs in 2024 says Lindsey Graham in ‘understatement of year’
Lindsey Graham says that if Donald Trump wants to run for president again in 2024 he is “going to have some damage to repair” beforehand.
The South Carolina Republican senator was appearing on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News on Monday night when he made the statement.
It was described by some on Twitter as either the understatement of the year or the century, given Mr Trump’s fractious relationship with some party members and his record as president.
Others also alluded to the senator’s own shifting opinion of Mr Trump over the years.
During the 2016 primaries, Mr Graham was a fierce critic of the New York property developer and reality TV star — but for the senator, Mr Trump went from being a harbinger of doom to being his golfing partner while president.
Mr Graham, who later denounced Mr Trump after the Capitol riot, now believes that the former president could win a Republican primary as well as possibly the general election.
Both Mr Graham and Hannity criticised the “establishment Republican Party” of traditional conservatives, with the senator saying that he believed that the former president’s America First agenda was the way forward for the GOP.
He added that those who do not believe that, do not understand the Republican Party in 2021.
“It should be an America First agenda and if President Trump runs, he’s going to have some damage to repair, but I think he’s in great shape to win the primary and could get re-elected,” he said.
“And my question is, if he’s the nominee would you support him? I would like to hear a lot of people answer that question,” the senator added.
Focusing on the former president’s damage to repair in just his party, Mr Trump has maintained the fealty of most elected members, but a solid group of “Never-Trumpers” remains, though its membership has shifted since the last primary fight.
They have been joined by the group of traditional conservative Republicans and supporters of ousted party leader Liz Cheney in their opposition to Mr Trump and keenness to move on from his time in office. It is unclear how these party factions might be brought back together if that were even possible.
Mr Graham’s flip-flops on Mr Trump are well-known.
In 2016, the senator had a slightly different take on the party’s future with Mr Trump. He famously said: “If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed — and we will deserve it.”
Maintaining a close relationship with Mr Trump while in office, after the 6 January assault on the US Capitol by pro-Trump rioters, Mr Graham said of the then-president: “Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view he’s been a consequential president.”
He continued: “But today, first thing you’ll see. All I can say, is count me out, enough is enough.”
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