Graham: Trump at ‘the beginning of the end’

Sen. Lindsey Graham isn’t backing down from his feud with Donald Trump, saying his GOP rival has reached “the beginning of the end” of his presidential campaign.

“I think he’s sort of a political car wreck where people slow down and watch,” Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “When he crossed the line with John McCain and other veterans, that was the beginning of the end.”

{mosads}Graham was referencing Trump’s comments that McCain was not a war hero simply because he was captured, which drew wide condemnation, including from most of the GOP presidential field.

Graham and Trump have shared headlines this week after Trump publicly gave out the senator’s cell phone number as retribution for him calling Trump a “jackass” on television.

The senator took to Twitter to joke about his number going public and recorded a video with the IJ Review where he found inventive ways to destroy a cell phone.

But Graham lamented the over-reliance on Trump in the news that he believes is distracting from key issues, including the minimum wage and the Iran nuclear deal.

He added that recent Quinnipiac University polling shows that Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is vulnerable in swing states and that the GOP can’t be distracted from its ultimate goal.

“Look at the polling in these swing states with Hillary — she’s eminently beatable. The only way we will lose this election is continuing to say things like Donald Trump is saying,” he said.

“I hope we move on because if we don’t, we’ll blow the last best chance we’ll ever have at winning the White House.”