Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he will trounce Donald Trump if the two presidential candidates face off in South Carolina’s primary, calling the businessman a “complete idiot.”
“Come to South Carolina, and I’ll beat his brains out,” Graham — who barely registers on a litany of polls dominated by Trump — said in an interview on CNN Tuesday.
{mosads}Graham repeatedly characterized Trump supporters as a frustrated group that believes President Obama is a Muslim who was born in Kenya.
“There’s 30 percent of my primary electorate that believes that Obama’s a Muslim, that he’s born in Kenya, and that would deport everybody,” Graham said after being shown a poll of South Carolina voters, 30 percent of whom support Trump in the Republican presidential primary.
“So there’s a dark side of politics that Mr. Trump’s appealing to,” he added.
Graham also described the real estate tycoon’s rhetoric on immigration as demagoguery.
“Demagoguing immigrants — he’s not the first guy to do this, and he won’t be the last, and there’s always a market for it, but it’s not sustainable,” Graham said.
The senior senator from South Carolina also said that Republicans will “get killed” in a general election if Trump is the presidential nominee.
“His approach to describing immigrants are hurting us with Hispanics,” Graham said. “The way he attacks women is going to a deathblow to the future of our party.”
Trump taunted Graham Tuesday morning on Twitter, pointing to his 26-point primary lead in the longtime senator’s home state.
Graham has previously called Trump a “jackass” and a “political car wreck.”