Billy Graham’s son: ‘I have no hope’ in either party’s candidates

The son of minister Billy Graham on Wednesday said he sees no White House hopeful worth endorsing in either party.

“I have no hope in the Republican Party and I don’t have any hope in the Democratic Party,” Rev. Franklin Graham said on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.”

{mosads}“I’m not supporting any candidates,” he told host Stuart Varney. “I’m staying out of the race. The politicians have messed this country up big time.

“I’m unaffiliated [and] I’m independent. I’m just fed up with the politicians. I think the only hope for this country is God.”

Graham said national resentment is building against establishment politicians in both parties because they are out of touch with voters.

“I travel across this country and I see and hear people frustrated with Washington,” he said. “I’m frustrated. We elect politicians to go and represent us and fight for us and when they don’t, [Americans] just get fed up.”

Some have expressed surprise that the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, has been winning strong support from evangelical voters despite competing with other candidates who speak more frequently about their faith. 

“I don’t want to say [I’m] shocked, but no question I’m surprised,” Graham said. “Evangelicals are wanting a strong leader. They want someone who holds Biblical values, no question, [but] when it comes to politics, it’s hard to find those.

“I think people are just looking for strong leadership and they are possibly seeing that, I think, with Donald Trump. No question, Donald Trump has tapped into that frustration.”

Graham quit the Republican Party late last December, arguing it had capitulated too easily on the $1.1 trillion federal government-spending measure passed earlier that month.

Billy and Franklin Graham endorsed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012 after the former Massachusetts governor asked for their prayers in Asheville, N.C.

After the endorsement, the Billy Graham Evangelical Association removed information from its website describing Mormonism as “a cult.” Romney is a Mormon.