We should have kicked them out.
Posted on 03/08/2016 12:32:28 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Republicans should have expelled Donald Trump from the Republican Party, Lindsey Graham said Monday.
The former presidential candidate told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the New York billionaire's rhetoric toward immigrants has exacerbated the problem the GOP had with Hispanics in 2012.
"He took our problems in 2012 with Hispanics and made them far worse by espousing forced deportation," Graham said. "Looking back, we should have basically kicked him out of the party."
Asked how that would be done, the South Carolina senator suggested Republicans could have united against him like many are doing now.
"The more you know about Donald Trump, the less likely you are to vote for him. The more you know about his business enterprises, the less successful he looks. The more you know about his political giving, the less Republican he looks," Graham said. "We should have done this months ago."
Graham added that the Trump train is leaking oil. "I think this whole assault on his credentials of being a successful businessman and being a true Republican conservative is beginning to work," he said.
Trump has dominated the Republican primary thus far, including in South Carolina last month, besting his nearest competitor by 10 percentage points. Graham acknowledged that Trump's message is resonating with angry voters but insisted he would rather the party lose without Trump than try to win with him.
"This is not about who we nominate anymore as Republicans as much as it's who we are. This is a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party," Graham said. "What is conservatism? If it's Donald Trump carrying the conservative banner I think not only do we lose the election, but we'll be unable in the future to grow the conservative cause."
Graham refused to say what he would do if Trump won the Republican nomination and faced Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the general election but advocated for anybody but Trump, a list that includes Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. "As much as I disagree with Ted Cruz, if it came down to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, I would be firmly in Ted's camp because I think he really is a conservative," he said.
Graham attributed Trump's dominance to the crowded GOP field's reluctance to attack him early but maintained voters are now starting to see the real-estate mogul differently after rival candidates have begun exposing his flaws.
"How many of these guys when there were 17 of us basically hid in a corner?" Graham asked. "They didn't wanna, you know, poke the guy. They didn't wanna get people mad. Ted Cruz was running as his best friend."
"Any time you leave a bad idea or a dangerous idea alone," he warned, "any time you ignore what could become an evil force, you wind up regretting it."
He isn’t in the party. They should kick Graham out.
He could always specialize in homosexual divorce, immigration, adoption and estate planning in private practice.
hispanics problems with America are hispanics problems, not Americ's problems or political opportunities, you Linda jackass.
Trump sure draws the weasels out into the open.
“Limbaugh eats dinner with lots of people. It doesn’t mean they influenced him. He is also a billionaire.”
Stop saying that. Limbaugh is a millionaire, nowhere near a billionaire. Geez, look it up. Stop lying.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Sit down Linda and shut up.
Miles and miles of rope this guy just keeps on spooling off. He says things which articulate the real mindset of the gope e inner circles. It’s really stupid and scary to think they have spent decades being so duplicitous and treasonous to get to this fork in the road.
You’re going by the wildly unreliable “Celebrity Net Worth” website I assume?
Lindsey Graham hates a big tent.
Mitt has had his shot at the job - and muffed it up badly, by never explaining why Americans would be one whit better off had he replaced the Current Occupant in 2012. It was an achievable objective, but Mitt never seemed to have much incentive or initiative to close the deal.
And now The Donald is the bad guy for showing us he has that incentive and initiative to actually BE President?
Faint heart never won fair lady, or something equally succinct and pithy.
Who is this “We,” Linda?
Too bad Linda quit the race. I’d like to hear Trump’s counterattack.
You’re saying he would be willing to serve under him?
We should have kicked them out.
Maybe they’ll end up like Madame Mao’s Gang of Four
The more I see who trump has as enemies the more I want to vote for him.
Trump sure as out those traitors and back stabbers.
Establishment states they will vote for Clinton while helping Cruz to take down Trump
The media and talk radio for the most part got their talking points.
In other words, there is no such thing as “We the people.....”. It’s We, the Party.....
That was a very swift response!
When did the US start allowing illegals to vote anyway? Lindsey’s a$$ nears to be kicked out of the party. Why is it called a party anyway? If someone invited me to a “party” and one of the rules is I had to badmouth the other quests I don’t think I would go.
In actuality no one knows for sure how much Limbaugh is worth. It ranges from about 400 million up to 1 billion. He has lots of investments and some side businesses, like his product sales on his Paul Revere website, and his children’s books sales. But he’s no multi-billionaire like Trump is, nowhere near.
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