Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said this weekend that he hopes former president Donald Trump runs again in 2024, according to the Detroit News.
Just a few days after Trump slammed Graham for reportedly telling other Republicans that he believed Trump’s complaints about the 2020 presidential election amounted to grade school whining, Graham told the Michigan GOP leadership that he would support another Trump campaign.
“I don’t think Trump is listening. He might be,” Graham said at the Republican conference. “I hope President Trump runs again.”
Graham’s comment drew applause from the other Republican politicians and activists attending the conference, the Detroit News reported.
He cited several policies passed by the Trump administration that made the U.S. better, including Trump’s immigration policies, the development of the COVID-19 vaccines, and his appointment of conservative justices.
Trump can be a “handful,” Graham said, but “I believe there’s magic there,” he added.
Trump and Graham have maintained a close relationship since the former president left office, but Trump recently rebuked the senator for breaking with him on claims of election fraud.
According to the new book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Graham and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, were “unpersuaded” by Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him and accused the president of whining.
In a statement through his Save America PAC, Trump said Graham and Lee “should be ashamed of themselves for not putting up the fight necessary to win.”
Graham did not respond to Trump’s comments about him during his address at the Michigan GOP conference, but he did say he and Trump were still on good terms.
“People ask me, ‘What happened with you and Trump?'” Graham reportedly told the crowd. “I say we found common ground. I’ve come to like him, and he likes him.”
