South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was criticized for posting a groveling birthday message for former President Donald Trump on X, formerly Twitter.
On June 14, the day Trump turned 78, Graham published the following post in which he oddly praised Trump's "golf game" for being "stronger":
"Happy Birthday to President [Donald Trump]! Your golf game has never been stronger, and America needs you now more than ever."
"Your best present will come in November when the American people elect you as our next President and Commander in Chief."
You can see his post below.
Later, the account @patriottakes—which regularly calls out far-right extremism—noted that Graham had edited his original post to add the word "President," perhaps in an attempt to appease the notoriously thin-skinned Trump.
The account added:
"Got to keep the boss happy."
You can see the post and Graham's edited comments below.
@LindseyGrahamSC/X
Quite the about-face from a man who said in 2016 that if Republicans "nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.
Graham was swiftly called out for his sycophantic post.
The two-faced Graham once made headlines last year for attempting to raise money for Trump's 2024 campaign just hours after Trump was indicted by a New York grand jury after being linked to a hush-money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels on Trump's behalf just before the 2016 election.
Last month, Trump became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes. A New York jury last month found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to Daniels to illegally influence the 2016 election. His sentencing is set for July 11.
At the time of his remarks, Graham called the indictment "legal voodoo" and "political persecution." He claimed Democrats are "trying to destroy Donald Trump because they fear him at the ballot box." He also said that if conservatives "believe Donald Trump is being treated poorly and wrongly, stand up and help him and pray for our country, pray for him."
However, the New York Times reported in 2022 that Graham said President Joe Biden was the “best person to have” leading the country after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the United States Capitol on the false premise that the 2020 general election was stolen.
A separate audiotape played by CNN shows that Graham said Trump "misjudged the passion" of his supporters, saying that his actions had radicalized them ahead of the attack.
@LeeMerrittesq/X
@bob_moss/X
@jelanijones/Bluesky
@Aurkayne/X
@sadcommunistdog; @froglok/Bluesky