SSenator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina gave advice to former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on NBC. Meet the press Sunday morning. He suggested that Trump should focus on policy rather than personal attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Politics is the key to the White House,” he told moderator Kristen Welker.
Welker first showed Graham a clip of former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley – a former opponent of Trump in the Republican primaries – explaining her stance on Fox News on Tuesday.
“The campaign is not going to win by talking about crowd size. It is not going to win by talking about what race Kamala Harris is. It is not going to win by talking about whether she is stupid. You can’t win with those things,” said the former UN ambassador. “I think the campaign needs to focus, that’s the main thing. This election is winnable, but you need to focus.”
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Graham said Haley and other Republican politicians should join him in campaigning for Trump rather than just offering advice, but ultimately repeated Haley’s comments.
“Yeah. I don’t think – I don’t think Vice President Kamala Harris is crazy,” Graham said. “I think she’s the most liberal person nominated for president in the history of the United States.”
After a brief argument about Harris’ stance on fracking, Welker asked Graham bluntly, “Do you think former President Trump should stop talking about Vice President Harris’ race and intelligence?”
Graham stressed that he gave his answer in an advisory capacity: “President Trump can win this election. His policies are good for America and if there is a political debate about the president, he wins. Donald Trump, the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election.”
Graham added that he was convinced that Trump would win if he focused on his policies in the 80 days leading up to the election and determined how he would “fix broken borders” and “reduce inflation.”
Graham and Trump have had a rocky relationship over the years. Graham was a major critic of Trump during his rise to the presidency in 2016, but Graham later became a Trump ally. The two continue to have disagreements, however, including earlier this year when Graham “respectfully” disagreed with Trump that abortion is a “states’ rights issue.”
