Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is one of President Donald Trump's most devout supporters. He's defended Trump for impeachable actions in his Ukraine foreign policy, to his tweets telling four American congresswomen of color to go back from where they came.
Graham is inarguably one of Trump's most vocal allies in the Senate, but it wasn't always this way.
When Trump was still a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2016 election, the once-moderate Graham warned that the Republican party would lose all moral credibility to oversee the country if it put forth Donald Trump as the nominee.
These days, Graham defends the ideological shift by saying he's willing to work with any duly elected President, but a new ad from Republicans Voting Against Trump hasn't forgotten his unequivocal stances.
The political action group is dredging up Graham's old warnings of Trump—as well as his words praising Trump's 2020 opponent: former Vice President Joe Biden.
Watch below.
AD: Lindsey Graham Loves Joe Bidenwww.youtube.com
In the ad, Graham says of Trump:
"He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot."
"You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell."
Conversely, a tearful Graham says of Biden:
"If you can't admire Joe Biden as a person, you've got a problem. You need to do some self-evaluation, cause what's not to like? He is as good a man as God's ever created. He's said some of the most incredibly heartfelt things that anybody could ever say to me. He's the nicest person I think I've ever met in politics."
The ad concludes with a greater warning from the Lindsey Graham of election cycles past:
"This is a defining moment in the future of the Republican party. We have to reject this demagoguery and if we don't reject Donald Trump, we've lost the moral authority in my view to govern this great nation."
The video of Graham praising Biden was used against him during the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, in which Graham defended Trump's pressuring of the Ukrainian President to investigate Biden based on unfounded accusations of misusing his office.
The video made it clear just how far Graham has strayed from opinions he once held with such conviction.
Right? What the heck happened? I actually liked the dude! Disagreed with him politically, but liked him. He was honest and decent. No clue who this spineless noodle is.
— ADJD🙏🏾😇 (@DjalloDjiwo) June 13, 2020
What happened to Mr. Graham? Was the promise of power too much to pass up? He's sold his soul to America's Devil for a chance to get re-elected. Sir, you have now burned up the equity and good will you built with the American public. You have enabled a monster @realDonaldTrump
— KB (@longhairchickas) June 12, 2020
People praised the ad's effectiveness.
of all the brilliant ads from @RVAT2020 this may be my favorite
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) June 15, 2020
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼to everyone involved in creating this one.
— Nick Jandl (@NickJandl) June 12, 2020
This is excellent. That clip with Graham talking about Biden needs to be shown over and over and over in ads.
— Georgia Blue (@TGalore2) June 12, 2020
This is FANTASTIC.
— #OneTermThom (@GrandSuSu) June 12, 2020
The ad now has over one million views on YouTube.