Hillary Clinton denounced Republicans who align themselves closely with former President Donald Trump as being part of a “cult,” particularly taking aim at Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as someone she believes abandoned his values when Trump took office in 2016.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Tuesday, Clinton criticized Graham for his loyalty to the former president, pointing to the South Carolina senator’s efforts to point out the “inconsistencies and dangers” of Trump’s 2016 campaign before reversing course once he was elected president. Graham was one of more than a dozen people who ran and lost to Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
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“When Trump ended up getting elected, Sen. Graham threw his lot in with him,” Clinton said after being shown an old photo of her with a group of her old Senate colleagues, including Graham.
Clinton, who also was secretary of state and first lady, went on to criticize Graham for his efforts to avoid testifying in a Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigation on efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a request that was ultimately denied by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Graham is expected to appear before the grand jury on Nov. 17.
“I find it bewildering that somebody who was always on the conservative side — don’t get me wrong — has so thrown his lot in with the cult that goes along with the big lie,” Clinton said. “[And it] seems to be, you know, moving us in a direction that I think anyone with half a sense of American history knows is going to hurt us.”
Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 general election after castigating half of his supporters as a “basket of deplorables” made the comments during a wide-ranging interview. The “big lie” is a reference to claims by Trump and his supporters that the 2020 election was stolen due to widespread fraud, assertions that have been roundly rejected by the courts and election officials.
Clinton also criticized Republicans over the response to the attack of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband last week. Although many top Republicans have denounced the attack, Clinton homed in on GOP candidates who have sought to make light of the incident.
“This midterm election, we’ve seen a lot of ads by Republicans running for everything touting crime. Crime is the issue. But when an 82-year-old man is attacked by an intruder in his own home, they don’t seem to be too bothered by that,” Clinton told Reid, referring to Paul Pelosi, who was violently attacked in his San Francisco home last week by a man who was allegedly searching for his wife. Paul Pelosi, 82, was struck in the head by a hammer and is recovering in the hospital.
Hillary Clinton on MSNBC: “This midterm election we’ve seen a lot of ads by Republicans running for everything touting crime. Crime is the issue. But when an 82-year-old man is attacked by an intruder in his own home they don’t seem to be too bothered by that.” pic.twitter.com/qqFJZmpQvO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 1, 2022
Republicans have placed public safety as a high priority to highlight throughout the midterm cycle, seeking to blame rising crime rates nationwide on failing Democratic policies. Crime has emerged as a top voter priority nationwide, with 60% of voters saying violent crime is a “very important” issue, ranking behind only the economy and gun policy.
Despite some Republicans mocking the attack on the House speaker’s husband, several high-profile Republicans have denounced the incident. Trump called the attack a “terrible thing” in an interview on Sunday. In addition, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) have condemned the attack.
However, the two GOP leaders have stayed mostly silent about their party members joking about or playing down the incident.
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For example, Kari Lake, who is running for governor in Arizona, poked fun at the attack during a candidate rally on Monday, saying, “Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s got protection when she’s in D.C. — apparently her house doesn’t have a lot of protection.”
Similarly, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin made light of the attack during a campaign event on Friday, the same day the incident occurred, conceding that “there’s no room for violence anywhere” before adding, “We’re going to send [Nancy Pelosi] back to be with him in California.”
