Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says he is still on President Trump’s side.
During an interview on Axios’ HBO show Sunday night, Graham defended his “conscious decision” to help Trump “where I can,” despite admitting that he voted for independent candidate Evan McMullin in 2016.
When asked whether his views on Trump’s character shifted after the 2016 election, the President’s closest Senate ally said he had a change of heart after getting to know Trump, but added that he finds Trump to be a “handful” and “an equal opportunity abuser of people.”
“I’ve gotten to know him and I find him to be a handful, I find him to be an equal opportunity abuser of people, but at the end of the day he can be very charming and be very gracious,” Graham said, without clarifying what he meant by the abuser remark. “I’m judging him by his conduct. If I spent all day analyzing every tweet he issued I’d go nuts.”
In a brief promo of the interview released Saturday, Graham also said that he wants “to make Trump successful,” but “not at all cost” in light of his outward opposition of Trump’s move to abruptly pull U.S. troops out of Syria.
Last week, Graham threatened to become “Trump’s worst nightmare” if he doesn’t resolve the fallout that has ensued from the U.S. leaving the Kurds to deal with Turkey and ISIS detainees in Syria on their own.
Watch Graham’s interview on Axios below:
