Posted on 07/11/2015 2:24:00 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Donald Trump’s statements on immigrants are going to kill the Republican Party, fellow candidate Lindsey Graham says.
“Well, I think he said something that has brought people who are frustrated about our immigration system to light, but he also said it in a way that’s going to kill my party,” Graham said in an interview with CNN on Friday. “I would prefer that Donald Trump bring his economic genius and his talents to the table in a more constructive way,” he added, noting the billionaire’s charity efforts with military veterans and their families.
Trump’s comments, Graham said, reinforce a narrative between the GOP and Hispanics that will “destroy” any chance the party has of winning the 2016 presidential election.
“I think he should do better, because I think he’s a better man than that,” he said.
Graham is not the only candidate in the crowded Republican field to condemn Trump’s comments that many immigrants from Mexico are “rapists” and “criminals.” A number of other candidates, especially those ranking low in the national polls, have turned to Trump-bashing as they seek to boost their poll numbers ahead of the first debate on Aug. 6 in Cleveland.
If the first GOP debate were held today, Graham would not be on the stage, and two people who have never held elected office—Trump and Ben Carson—would be in.
And Graham has a beef about that, making sure to tell the network televising the first event just how he felt during an interview on Fox News on Friday, calling the top 10 format “a dumb way” to pare down the crowded GOP field.
It’s all about money and celebrity he said, blasting the use of national polling averages to determine the 10 candidates who will appear on the debate stage.
Recent polling has Graham in the low single digits; his Real Clear Politics polling average sits at 1.3 percent. Trump’s average is 6.5 percent, though he polled better in recent polls from CNN/ORC (12 percent) and Fox News (11 percent).
Brad Pitt would have a better chance getting in the debate at this point, Graham said.
“Anybody with any celebrity would be in the debate. I think this is a dumb way to weed out the field. I don’t mind weeding out the field over time, but a national poll tests celebrity, big states have an advantage versus small states,” the South Carolina senator and presidential candidate said. “People who have run before have an advantage over those who haven’t.”
“It’s July, for god sakes. So a national poll is a lousy way, in my view, to determine who should be on the stage, and I quite frankly resent it,” he said.
Graham placed the blame on the Republican National Committee and Fox News for the format, declining to name any other names.
“I would find a way for everybody who’s filed and has got a viable campaign to be on the stage, and after a couple of debates, you could start weeding people out. It’s not about me. It’s about destroying the early primary process of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’re rewarding money and celebrity over the hard work in the early states.”
Graham said he would decide later whether he would participate in the earlier afternoon forum of candidates who don’t make the cut.
If I had a choice of one-hour of listening to Lindsey Graham or watching a full-hour of Gunsmoke.....I’d pick Gunsmoke.
We are witnessing the end of the GOP. No strong leadership. No compass. Constant infighting. It’s 1854 all over again.
Trump will make it to the debate...and Lindsey won’t. Ha! Suck on that!
At the debate, Trump will have the opportunity to talk directly to the American people - without the filter of the MSM or uniparty.
They’re a flash in the pan. Apart from their creation and Reagan they’re nothing.
He can sit at the “kiddie table” if he wants to:
Bush, Walker, Trump, Carson are in. Here’s who’s out of 1st debate.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/3309037/posts
Carson is way over his head and Bush is not credible.
We have never elected a president without government experience of some kind in our entire history.
> “Well, I think he said something that has brought people
> who are frustrated about our immigration system to light
Unbelievable!
Its the VIOLATION of our immigration system that we are angry about you JERK!
But you already knew that and want to paint us all as “xenophobes”.
Pig.
News Flash Lindsey: You all killed your own party by choosing to support obama and the Democrats over the very people who swept you losers into office last November. You betray us at every turn at the cost of losing our country.
Somewhere President James Buchanan is laughing uproariously.
Almost, but his Avatar is the one where the horn has been taken for use as a Chinese gay potency powder.
What you said. Maybe killing the Republican Party is a good thing!
After the way Boehner and McConnell have betrayed us, I say, kill it!
It is you, Lindsey, and the other GOP noodle-wristed career politicians who have killed the GOP.
Graham is very much a modern James Buchanan, including being a fastidiously “eligible bachelor”.
Don't get my hope up.
Obama?
Lindsey needs to put on his makeup, grab a gun, and go personally support the Al-Qeada terrorists in Syria he is so worried over and leave politics to the adults.
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