Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday that if Republicans are unable to pass their plan to start chipping away at Obamacare, they should let Obamacare collapse under its own weight, and let Democrats take the brunt of the political damage.

In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt Wednesday, Graham called his plan "collapse and replace," and he offered it in the midst of a struggle within the Republican Party over how to start replacing Obamacare in a way that can win a GOP majority.

He said the risk of the GOP's American Health Care Act, which has divided Republicans, is that it's a chance for "every Republican to own a bad bill."

"Here's what I would prefer he do. If [Trump] can't get us in a good spot where we all feel comfortable, we've improved Obamacare dramatically, which we told people we would, let it collapse," he said.

Hewitt told the South Carolina Republican that Republicans will get "killed" if they let that happen, but Graham disagreed.

"No, we won't," Graham said. "Here's what you're going to get killed: If you pass a bill that is using the same process the Democrats did, you ignore every warning sign and you go through anyway, and you take CBO numbers and you just excuse everything the CBO said, if at the end of the day the 62-year-old person in Greenville, South Carolina, doesn't get help from this bill, if their premiums don't go down, that if Medicaid continues to explode and expand, then what good have you done?"

"Here's what I would suggest to the president," Graham continued. "Keep working hard. I want to work with you. I want to get to yes. But if it doesn't work, if we can't get there by ourselves, let it collapse. It is collapsing. Obamacare is a nightmare for the country. Democrats are not going to lift a finger to help President Trump. I would do collapse and replace if you can't get a good, solid fix to Obamacare using reconciliation."