Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday he agrees with former 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley that former President Trump should focus more on policy, but he encouraged her to join him on the campaign trail, rather than give Trump advice on national television.
In an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Graham said he agrees with Haley, his former governor, when she said in a recent Fox News interview that the Trump campaign “can’t win” by “talking about what race Kamala Harris is” and “whether she’s dumb,” adding, “This is a winnable election, but you need to focus.”
“Yeah, I don’t look at Vice President Harris as a lunatic. I look at her as the most liberal person to ever be nominated for president in the history of the United States. She’s going to the Soviet Union playbook,” Graham said when asked whether he agrees with Haley’s recent assessment.
“So I would make it about policy. A nightmare for Harris is to defend her policy choices,” Graham said. “Every day we’re not talking about her policy choices as vice president, and what she would do as president, is a good day for her and a bad day for us.”
Graham said he agrees with Haley that Trump should stop talking about Harris’s race and intelligence when pressed about that specifically in the interview, but he pivoted to inviting Haley to join him on the campaign trail.
“Yeah, I think my view is that me and Nikki need to go to Georgia. We’re giving advice on TV to President Trump. He’s got a lot of critics. He’s got a lot of advisers, but to Nikki Haley and [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis and [Virginia Gov. Glenn] Youngkin and all these great people we have: Let’s get together and actually campaign for the guy, rather than just give advice,” Graham said.
“But in the advice-giving column, here’s what I would say,” Graham continued. “Donald Trump, President Trump, can win this election. His policies are good for America. And if you have a policy debate for president, he wins. Donald Trump, the provocateur, the showman may not win this election.”
Graham said he wants Trump to “show up in the last 80 days” to outline his plan to address issues like inflation, the southern border and high prices.
“That’s what I would focus on. Policy. Policy is the key to the White House,” Graham said.