Graham: Trump's comments are going to 'kill my party'

Donald Trump’s statements on immigrants are going to kill the Republican Party, fellow candidate Lindsey Graham says.

“Well, I think he said something that has brought people who are frustrated about our immigration system to light, but he also said it in a way that’s going to kill my party,” Graham said in an interview with CNN on Friday. “I would prefer that Donald Trump bring his economic genius and his talents to the table in a more constructive way,” he added, noting the billionaire’s charity efforts with military veterans and their families.


Trump’s comments, Graham said, reinforce a narrative between the GOP and Hispanics that will “destroy” any chance the party has of winning the 2016 presidential election.

“I think he should do better, because I think he’s a better man than that,” he said.

Graham is not the only candidate in the crowded Republican field to condemn Trump’s comments that many immigrants from Mexico are “rapists” and “criminals.” A number of other candidates, especially those ranking low in the national polls, have turned to Trump-bashing as they seek to boost their poll numbers ahead of the first debate on Aug. 6 in Cleveland.

If the first GOP debate were held today, Graham would not be on the stage, and two people who have never held elected office—Trump and Ben Carson—would be in.

And Graham has a beef about that, making sure to tell the network televising the first event just how he felt during an interview on Fox News on Friday, calling the top 10 format “a dumb way” to pare down the crowded GOP field.

It’s all about money and celebrity he said, blasting the use of national polling averages to determine the 10 candidates who will appear on the debate stage.

Recent polling has Graham in the low single digits; his Real Clear Politics polling average sits at 1.3 percent. Trump’s average is 6.5 percent, though he polled better in recent polls from CNN/ORC (12 percent) and Fox News (11 percent).

Brad Pitt would have a better chance getting in the debate at this point, Graham said.

“Anybody with any celebrity would be in the debate. I think this is a dumb way to weed out the field. I don’t mind weeding out the field over time, but a national poll tests celebrity, big states have an advantage versus small states,” the South Carolina senator and presidential candidate said. “People who have run before have an advantage over those who haven’t.”

“It’s July, for god sakes. So a national poll is a lousy way, in my view, to determine who should be on the stage, and I quite frankly resent it,” he said.

Graham placed the blame on the Republican National Committee and Fox News for the format, declining to name any other names.

“I would find a way for everybody who’s filed and has got a viable campaign to be on the stage, and after a couple of debates, you could start weeding people out. It’s not about me. It’s about destroying the early primary process of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’re rewarding money and celebrity over the hard work in the early states.”

Graham said he would decide later whether he would participate in the earlier afternoon forum of candidates who don’t make the cut.