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Former president Donald Trump and U.S. senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina exchanged barbs after Trump announced his support of states crafting their own abortion legislation earlier this week.
While Trump repeatedly bragged about how he was “able to kill Roe v. Wade” throughout his Republican partisan primary campaign, the former president announced his support of state level abortion regulation (as opposed to a federal abortion ban). In doing so, Trump disappointed both hardline conservatives who favor a federal abortion ban as well as Democratic operatives hoping bog his presidential bid down with the race’s most divisive issue.
In many ways Trump and Graham’s dust-up is a continuation of a battle between Graham – who controversially introduced legislation proposing a federal fifteen week abortion ban prior to the 2022 midterms – and conservatives who argued his efforts to protect the lives of those still in the womb were politically counterproductive.
Chris Mottola, a GOP strategist, told NBC News prior to the 2022 midterms that Graham’s bill “rips open a political sore.”
“The political environment was moving back to economic issues,” Mottola said. “It further nationalizes an issue that works against Republicans generically.”
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Mottola’s assessment of the extent to which the issue would motivate Democratic voters proved prescient, as the issue was the driving factor in the “red wave that wasn’t” two years ago.
Trump’s present triangulation indicates an ardent desire to avoid another abortion-driven electoral disaster for the GOP. Yet Graham stuck to his guns, defending a continued push for federal abortion legislation.
“I respectfully disagree with President Trump’s statement that abortion is a states’ rights issue” Graham said in a press statement, adding he stands by his bill as “a national minimum standard limiting abortion at fifteen weeks.”
Notably, though, Graham has not reintroduced this legislation in the current legislative session.
No stranger to disagreements with Graham, Trump quickly returned fire on his Truth Social account, expressing concern Graham and his acolytes might cost Republicans another election.
“Many Good Republicans lost elections because of this Issue, and people like Lindsey Graham, that are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency,” Trump wrote.
According to Trump, Graham should “study the 10th Amendment and States’ Rights” adding that once he does “he should proudly get on with helping Republicans to WIN ELECTIONS, rather than making it impossible for them to do so!”
Trump also took the credit (and the blame) for Graham’s re-election …
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While Trump and Graham are ostensibly political allies, the two have had a rocky past. In 2015, Graham – while campaigning for the White House – told a CNN audience “there’s only one way to make America great again, tell Donald Trump to go to hell.” He proceeded to refer to Trump as a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.”
As the 2016 Republican primary approached, Graham told Republicans if we “nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it.”
At the time Trump replied in kind telling a South Carolina audience “I think Lindsey Graham is a disgrace, and I think you have one of the worst representatives of any representative in the United States, and I don’t think he should run … other than that, I think he’s wonderful.”
As Trump ascended to power, though, Graham’s (public) outlook shifted – and the two became more politically aligned. However, the underlying tension between the pair has never been far from the surface. In fact, Graham was recently booed by Trump supporters as he took the stage following Trump’s South Carolina primary election victory.
(Click to View)
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It’s too early to say whether Trump’s stance will prove electorally advantageous, but the abortion issue promises to continue arousing the passions of Americans at points all along the political spectrum as we approach the general election.
Count on FITSNews to provide continued coverage of the 2024 presidential election, as well as Palmetto State politician’s latest triangulations and Machiavellian machinations.
Want to join the conversation? Cast your vote in our survey and post your thoughts in our always-engaging comments section below …
Who is right on the abortion issue: Donald Trump or Lindsey Graham?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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3 comments
I’d say Lindsey is biting the hand that feeds but I don’t think he’s allowed to schmooze off of Trump at Mar-a-Lago anymore.
One thing I always, always stress when talking about the aboslute losers given power in DC is just how cheaply these guys are bought. For Graham it’s a few invites to fancy dinners that were going on anyways; he sips a few drinks and eats a few crappy hors d’oeuvres, toss a few thousand to his campaign or a super PAC, and you’ve got yourself quite the lapdog. For Clarence Thomas, just give him a nice RV, bring him along a few trips like the family pet, make sure some of his property gets purchased, and you can fundamentally alter the laws of the nation for the betterment of less than a single percentage of Americans.
Setting fire to Rome is a lot cheaper than it should be.
Eclipse day was bad for Evangelical Christians everywhere. Once again God did not rapture them away and their earthly leader admitted his stance on abortion was a political calculation that he can readily change if it gets him more votes. As he said, he is ok with states that impose the death penalty on women who have an abortion after conception or make abortion available up to the time of birth. Whatever each state wants. In other words, I don’t care about abortion, this is all about votes.
Of course, all Republicans support freedom of choice on post-birth abortion, ie school shootings, letting children die from malnutrition, letting children drown in the Rio Grande, letting murderous dictators murder children in hospitals, shelters, schools, there beds, etc. etc.
Donald Trump flip-flopped on abortion faster than an anti-tik tok politician after a Chinese contribution. Oh, that was Trump too.