- Sen. Lindsey Graham was booed on Saturday at a rally that featured former President Donald Trump.
- Some of the conservative attendees in the crowd called the South Carolina lawmaker a "traitor."
Sen. Lindsey Graham on Saturday tried earnestly to rev up the crowd at a South Carolina rally featuring former President Donald Trump.
But the conservative crowd simply wasn't having it, given the chorus of boos and the shouts of "traitor" that came from many attendees even as Graham — who's backing Trump's 2024 campaign — sought to introduce the ex-president.
Before Graham even reached the podium, the sounds of disapproval roared among the attendees in his home state, with the senator thanking the crowd for their attendance.
"Welcome to Pickens. Thank y'all for coming. Thank you very much. Thank you," he said amid the boos.
"Thank y'all," he added, with seemingly nervous laughter.
—The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) July 1, 2023
Graham ran against then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries and was a fierce critic of the longtime businessman during that campaign, but the South Carolina lawmaker later became one of the former president's staunchest allies.
During Trump's White House tenure, Graham backed the then-president's agenda, which included the advancement of conservative jurists.
As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham played a major role in battling against Democrats during Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings and, as chairman, he successfully shepherded Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the high court shortly before the 2020 presidential election.
But Graham's relationship with Trump appeared to have unraveled in the immediate aftermath of the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, when the senator in a speech on the Senate floor reflected on his relationship with the then-president in the past tense.
"Trump and I, we've had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my god, I hate it. But my point of view is he's been a consequential president," he said at the time.
"All I can say is 'Count me out.' Enough is enough," he added.
—POLITICO (@politico) January 7, 2021
But Graham didn't actually end his alliance with Trump.
The senator in February 2021 voted against impeaching Trump for "incitement of insurrection" for the former president's role on January 6. Graham would go on to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in South Florida that February, extending an olive branch to a man whom he once deemed as unfit to hold the presidency.
During the rally yesterday, Trump tried to boost Graham, telling the crowd that the senator could help him secure "liberal" votes.
"You know, you can make mistakes on occasion. Even Lindsey down here, Senator Lindsey Graham. We love Senator Graham," Trump said.
"I know, it's half-and-half," he continued. "But when I need some of those liberal votes, he's always there to help me get them, okay. We got some pretty liberal people, but he's good."
In March, Trump chided Graham while speaking at Mar-a-Lago, describing the senator as a "progressive."
"We have our progressive senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. He's a progressive, but he's our progressive," the former president said.