Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says that if former President Donald Trump get his party's nomination in 2024, he may face trouble if the race becomes a "personality contest."
Speaking to reporter Steve Sedgwick on CNBC Saturday, the Trump ally had praise for the former president, saying he "could be" the best Republican presidential candidate, calling Trump a "consequential president." Trump, so far, has not announced his candidacy.
"I think a strong American president, unpredictable, is a good thing as long as you keep it within the boundaries. His problem is personal, his policies have stood the test of time but has he worn the American people out in terms of his personality? Time will tell. But I'll say this, after the Biden presidency, if there's a policy debate in 2024, I like his chances. If it's a personality contest, he'll be in trouble," Graham said.
During the interview, Graham also addressed comments he made earlier this week on Fox News, predicting "riots in the streets" should Trump be prosecuted over the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago by FBI agents following a raid. Graham said he was merely trying to "state the obvious," invoking then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server.
"Here's what I said, The raid on [former] President Trump's home, the likely nominee for 2024, better bear some fruit here," Graham said. "If it's just about mishandling classified information, we've had a standard set when it came to Hillary Clinton.
"Our country, the people on our side, believe that when it comes to the justice system, there are no rules regarding Trump, [it's a case of] 'get him, it doesn't matter how you get him,' so I said that if it's similar to what happened to Clinton and he gets prosecuted, it'll be one of the most disruptive events in America," he continued.
While Graham has publicly disagreed with Trump's handling of the January 6, 2021 riots-and again condemned Trump's idea of pardoning rioters in Saturday's interview-he has also repeatedly backed the reelection of Trump in 2024. Graham told Trump that if he is able to win the 2024 election, it would be the "greatest comeback in American history," according to Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
Last December, Graham told Fox News host Pete Hegseth that "2024 is President Trump's election to lose, quite frankly."
"What he should do, in my humble opinion, is remind people how he secured the border, how he took the fight to ISIS, destroyed the caliphate, how we were so much better off internationally-the Iran deal is a nightmare in the making for Israel-regained energy independence," Graham said at the time.
In July, Graham was subpoenaed by a Georgia grand jury investigating Trump's alleged attempts to overturn the state's election results. Graham is accused of suggesting that Georgia's secretary of state throw out legal ballots during the election. In Saturday's interview, he says that while he Trump "genuinely believes" he was "cheated" in the 2020 election, Graham stands by President Joe Biden's legitimacy.
"Mr. President, I'm not trying to tell you to change your beliefs. I'm trying to tell you that you have no chance of winning in 2020 but you have a pretty good chance of winning in 2024 if you want to," Graham said he told Trump.
Newsweek reached out to the office of the former president for comment.
Related Articles
Start your unlimited Newsweek trial