Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) weighed in on Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant remarks on Sunday after the former president declared that people are coming to the U.S. and “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Graham reacted to the remarks on “Meet the Press” after a spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign criticized Trump for having “parroted Hitler” in a New Hampshire rally speech over the weekend.
Trump’s “poisoning the blood” phrase is similar to one used by the Nazi leader in “Mein Kampf,” according to MeidasTouch Network, a left-leaning news network.
“Are the president’s comments representative of how you and other Republicans feel?” asked moderator Kristen Welker.
Graham claimed a majority of Americans are concerned that the “border is broken” before Welker chimed back in ― on two occasions ― to press him on the former president’s rhetoric.
“Senator, just on the language. Just on the language, though. I want to get your re ― you have endorsed former President Trump. Are you comfortable with him using words like that?” Welker asked.
“You know, we’re talking about language? I could care less what language people use as long as we get it right,” Graham said.
The language from the former president ― who has pledged to “root out ... vermin” political foes and said he’d be a dictator on “day one” of a new administration ― has been compared to that of dictators such as Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Trump used similar rhetoric earlier this year in an interview with The National Pulse where he said immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” adding that people are coming to the U.S. with disease and “every possible thing that you could have.”
Graham, on Sunday, stated that he has no animosity toward people trying to come to the U.S., instead, his animosity is directed toward “terrorists” and “drug dealers.”
“If you think you’re going to win the debate on illegal immigration by picking a line out of the Trump speech, most Americans understand the game has to change, that we’re under threat, that we’re going to get attacked, that our border has completely been obliterated,” he said.
“So, if you’re talking about the language Trump uses rather than trying to fix it, that’s a losing strategy for the Biden administration.”
H/T: Mediaite