MTP Mar.10.24 [Graham: There's a liberal jihad against everything Trump / best way to judge President Trump's second term -by what he did in his first / Russia didn't invade on President Trump's watch. Hamas didn't try to destroy Israel]

NBC Meet The Press ^ | March 10, 2024

[Milagros]

Sen. Graham says Israel-Hamas war ‘will not be over’ if hostages are released: Full interview

KRISTEN WELKER:

Joining me now is Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Senator Graham, welcome back to Meet the Press –

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Thank you. Thank you very much.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Thanks for being here. We are –

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yes, ma'am.

KRISTEN WELKER:

– going to get to Ukraine. I want to start –

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Good.

KRISTEN WELKER:

– with Israel. I want to get your response to how President Biden reacted to MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart about that hot mic moment where he was overheard saying he's going to have a come-to-Jesus moment with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Here's what he said.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Okay.

[START TAPE]

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN:

He’s hurting – in my view, he's hurting Israel more than helping Israel by making the rest of the world –it's contrary to what Israel stands for and I think it's a big mistake.

[END TAPE]

KRISTEN WELKER:

Senator, do you agree that Prime Minister Netanyahu is hurting Israel by not doing more to address the humanitarian crisis?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

No, I really don't. I'd like to help the humanitarian crisis but when the president of the United States talks about Bibi and not Hamas, we're missing the boat here. When you talk about red lines against Israel, we should be talking about red lines against Iran. Israel's not killing American soldiers. Iran is, through their proxies. So, I would urge President Biden to hold the great Satan, Iran, accountable for killing soldiers in Jordan and attacking shipping. So, yeah, I think he's got it backwards. We should be all-in in helping Israel. We should try to help the humanitarian crisis. But don't say or do anything that would empower our enemy.

KRISTEN WELKER:

And President Biden does spend plenty of time talking about Hamas. The issue here is, is there not more that Israel can do to help the humanitarian crisis--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

There –

KRISTEN WELKER:

– open up a crossing –

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Right.

KRISTEN WELKER:

– offer their own port –

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

There will be.

KRISTEN WELKER:

–in the area–

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Just stay tuned in that area. I think Israel will be coming up with some sea corridor relief ideas. But the line that struck me the most in the State of the Union: He told Hamas, "If you release the hostages, the war will be over." I literally about fell out of my seat. Is the president saying that if the hostages are released by Hamas, they can stay in power? That ends the conflict? I want to be very clear about this: President Trump believes it's non negotiable when it comes to Hamas. They have to be destroyed militarily. They can't be in charge. So, I'm challenging the Biden administration today to clear this up. You cannot allow Hamas to stay in power. You can't allow them to have six brigades to do October the 7th again. So, the hostage issue is important. But we have to have a nonnegotiable policy when it comes to destroying the military capability of Hamas.

KRISTEN WELKER:

And President Biden said that he does stand firmly behind that objective –

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Well, he shouldn't have said, “The war is over if you release the hostages." It will not be over.

KRISTEN WELKER:

And that hostage negotiation, that potential temporary ceasefire, those talks have currently stalled.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yes.

[...]

KRISTEN WELKER:

Uh-huh. Let me move to the border now, another area where Former President Trump has had an influence. There was a deal that came together--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Right.

KRISTEN WELKER:

--in the Senate, never got an actual vote. You were very supportive of it initially. Here's--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yeah.

KRISTEN WELKER:

–what you said about it in January.

[START TAPE]

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

This is the best chance I've seen since I've been up here to have true border security reform. To those who think that if President Trump wins, which I hope he does, that we can get a better deal, you won't.

[END TAPE]

KRISTEN WELKER:

In his State of the Union address, President Biden accused Trump of effectively –

SEN.LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yeah.

KRISTEN WELKER:

--playing politics and derailing this deal. Is he right, Senator? You really supported this and then turned against it.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Well, there was no real parole reform. The man who killed Laken Riley was paroled in the United States. He came from Venezuela. So, President Biden is apologizing for calling him an illegal immigrant, the alleged murderer. President Trump went to Georgia to meet with the family of Miss Riley to apologize for a country that allowed the killer to get in. So, I voted against the bill because it was insufficient on parole. But there will be border security attached to the loan idea.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Yeah, couple of things. I mean, President Biden said that the term that is now used--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yeah.

KRISTEN WELKER:

--is undocumented. But let me just get back to this--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Which really pisses me off.

KRISTEN WELKER:

But, Senator, let me just get back to this deal, though, because--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yeah.

KRISTEN WELKER:

--the border security union endorsed this bill. Isn't something better--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

But they--

KRISTEN WELKER:

--than nothing given the crisis that you are talking about?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Good, good, good question. They also endorsed my idea: You know, have a break glass moment at 5,000. When you get to 5,000 a day, you shut down the border. The Border Patrol union said 1,000 a day is a crisis. Five thousand is a disaster. So, the bill can be made better. There will be a bill. Remain in Mexico is the key. The Border Patrol told me that if you go back to Remain in Mexico, 70% of it goes away. I think the House will pass the Remain in Mexico bill.

Recommended

TRANSCRIPTS Meet the Press - March 3, 2024 KRISTEN WELKER:

But you know better than I do, Remain in Mexico is dead on arrival in the Senate.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

No, it's not. No, it's not.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well that – at this current point in time--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

We'll see.

KRISTEN WELKER:

--it doesn't seem to have the votes--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

We'll see.

KRISTEN WELKER:

--in the Senate.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

We'll see.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let's move on to something that happened this weekend, at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. Donald Trump met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yes.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Just for our viewers, to remind them, Orbán believes that liberal democracy doesn't work. He's packed Hungary's courts with loyalists. He seized control of the media outlets. He's friends with Putin. He's friends with Xi. This is what Trump said about Orbán on Friday.

[START TAPE]

FMR. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

There's nobody that's better, smarter, or a better leader than Viktor Orbán. He's fantastic. As you know, he's the Prime Minister of Hungary and does a great job. He's a non-controversial figure because he said, "This is the way it's going to be, and that's the end of it," right? He's the boss.

[END TAPE]

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you think Viktor Orbán's leadership is something that Trump aspires to in a second term?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

I think the best way to judge President Trump's second term is by what he did in his first term. You know, Russia didn't invade on President Trump's watch. Hamas didn't try to destroy Israel on his watch. The Afghanistan – the Taliban weren't in charge on his watch. So, here's what I would say: If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're right. If you think Joe Biden's policies lack a deterrence and he's weak in the eyes of our enemies, you're right. So, if you want to get the world back in order, you'd better vote for Trump.

KRISTEN WELKER:

But you know that former President Trump has talked about being a dictator on day one. He said, "It's nice to have a strong man running our country." He's talked about retribution in a second term, Senator.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yeah, you know what he said? Retribution would be success. Did a – you know, who knocked Trump off the ballot in Colorado? Who knocked Trump off the ballot in Maine--

KRISTEN WELKER:

But--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

There's a liberal jihad against everything Trump. I'm not worried about Trump--

KRISTEN WELKER:

But those were Republicans, though.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

--destroying democracy.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Those were the, those were –

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

I'm worried Joe Biden is destroying the world.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Those were Republicans, and the Supreme Court--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Yeah, but--

KRISTEN WELKER:

-- has now put him back on the ballot, as you know.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

But the point you're trying to ask me: Is Trump bad for this country?

KRISTEN WELKER:

No.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

I would say that--

KRISTEN WELKER:

I'm asking you--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

--Joe Biden's policies are bad for America--

KRISTEN WELKER:

But--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

--and have got the world on fire.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Senator, just to be very clear, though. He is aligning himself with Viktor Orbán. He is--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Who is a member of NATO – who just voted to –

KRISTEN WELKER:

Who has--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

– let Sweden in.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Reluctantly, though. But he has--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Orbán is not on the ballot.

KRISTEN WELKER:

--killed that democratic norm--

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

Let's have a debate. Okay--

KRISTEN WELKER:

He has rolled back democratic norms in Hungary.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM:

--Orbán is not on the ballot. You've got to vote between Trump and Biden. Biden has screwed the world up every way you can: broken borders, the world's on fire. If he really is back, if he's with it, if he's energetic, get in a room with Donald Trump and debate. Take questions from people like yourself, rather than reading a teleprompter. If there's ever an election in the history of America that deserves debate between the two candidates, it's this election. Trump just told me, the campaign just told me, "Anytime, anywhere. Let's debate."

[BenLurkin]

“Why do liberals hate the fact that Trump gave us 4 years of peace, energy independence, affordable groceries, and a safer America?” - Beowulf9

[God luvs America]

Liberal Jihad-i like that term

[Milagros]

Yea, it caught my eye/ear.

[gibsonguy]

“Senator, do you agree that Prime Minister Netanyahu is hurting Israel by not doing more to address the humanitarian crisis?”

Right from the MSM leftist delusion bubble. The question is an indictment

[Milagros]

What he is basically saying is:

mean tweets (or words) vs bad actions.

[Milagros]

Of course NBC is VERY biased. Regarding the Sunday morning shows, CBS Margaret Brennan is probably the worst and most pro-Islamist terrorists.

[DesertRhino]

Typical. The hell with America, the most important thing to Lindsey Graham’s is how the Trump presidency affected Ukraine

[Milagros]

I specifically disregarded the Ukraine part in text.

[ChuckHam]

Light in the loafers stuck his finger up in the air and noticed which way the wind was blowing.

[BubbaJunebug]

I see Leslie Graham is wiping his ass with his right hand this week

[Daveinyork]

When Trump was President, oil was cheap, and Russia and Iran couldn’t afford their foreign adventures.