This weekend, Donald Trump held a campaign rally in South Carolina, the home state of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R)… and at both the outset and closing of the Senator’s rally remarks, the crowd booed and jeered at him.
Evidently, there’s not much in terms of political benefits to effectively selling your rhetorical soul for Donald, especially considering how quickly he and his core base of supporters will turn on you!
It was funnily outrageous. When Graham was first introduced, the crowd went absolutely wild with boos, and some shouted that he was a “traitor.” The Senator looked flustered and kept repeating awkward thanks to the shouting crowd in a slowly successful attempt to get attendees to quiet down. And when he was done, guess what else happened? The crowd went haywire with boos again as he yelled “God bless America!” and made a beeline offstage, clearly frustrated with the reception he received in what again is his own state! It makes you think he’s in the Senate just because he was the guy on the general election ballot last time with an “R” next to his name, because these crowd members were definitely not happy.
It’s not even super clear why the crowd so disliked Graham, although he has a history of sometimes going back and forth on issues related to Trump and his campaign. A couple of prominent right-wing accounts on Twitter claimed the booing was because of Graham’s support for the U.S. military assistance that’s been provided to the Ukrainian government amid its ongoing defense against Putin’s attacks. Most leading members of the House and Senate tend to be in favor of that support, which has been largely though not entirely in the form of various weapons systems. Actual U.S. soldiers don’t participate. See Graham’s crowd reaction below:
Lindsey Graham is introduced at the Trump rally and is loudly booed, with the crowd chanting, ‘Traitor!’ at him. pic.twitter.com/BtzgGAoGQT
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 1, 2023
Lindsey Graham cuts it short and runs off stage to a chorus of boos after being booed and heckled nonstop by the crowd. pic.twitter.com/WG4eK47xsx
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 1, 2023
