It's been more than 10 months since now-President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, defeating then-President Donald Trump by the same margin with which Trump defeated 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton (a margin Trump called a landslide).
Nevertheless, Trump and his ilk continue to peddle lies that the 2020 election was somehow "stolen" from him by Democrats engaging in widespread election fraud. Republican legislatures across the country have prompted or are considering partisan audits to once again relitigate an election repeatedly proven to be legitimate—even after these election fantasies sparked a deadly failed insurrection.
Ahead of said insurrection, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina advocated for Trump's election delusions, even personally calling Georgia's Republican Secretary of State, pressuring him to meddle with votes.
Peril, a new book from journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa examining the final months of Trump's White House tenure, detailed yet another facet of Graham's attitude toward Trump's election conspiracy theories. As the former President's lawyer, Rudy GIuliani, urged Graham to defend the lies, the Senator asked for names and evidence.
According to the Washington Post:
"[P]rivately, Graham gave the arguments a withering assessment, according to the book, saying they were suitable for 'third grade.'"
As the paper points out, this didn't stop Graham from publicly defending Trump's lies:
"The episode illustrates how strenuously the president's legal team sought to nullify the results of the election; how flimsy even their more serious claims were; and what little stock the president's own allies placed in his objections, even as they stood steadfastly with their standard-bearer."
People weren't surprised at Graham's initial assessment.
Preschool. Daycare.— David F. Soros (@David F. Soros) 1632149174
Having listened to Conald many times and read countless tweets, a 3rd grade presentation would be a strong showing for him— Alan \u201cMetatron\u201d Rickman (@Alan \u201cMetatron\u201d Rickman) 1632146513
And that\u2019s coming from a 6th grader!— \ua9c1\ud835\udc36\u210e\ud835\udc52\ud835\udc5f\ud835\udc5f\ud835\udc66 \ud835\udc39\ud835\udc5c\ud835\udc5f\ud835\udc52\ud835\udc63\ud835\udc52\ud835\udc5f\ua9c2 (@\ua9c1\ud835\udc36\u210e\ud835\udc52\ud835\udc5f\ud835\udc5f\ud835\udc66 \ud835\udc39\ud835\udc5c\ud835\udc5f\ud835\udc52\ud835\udc63\ud835\udc52\ud835\udc5f\ua9c2) 1632145669
Sounds about right: a "president" with third grade sensibilities threw a temper tantrum when he lost his bungled bid for reelection. You'd have to be a 9 yr old to even ponder destroying a centuries old democratic republic because you couldn't stand a personal loss.— Scott Amichie (@Scott Amichie) 1632146463
They called him out for continuing to promote the lies.
"Both @LindseyGrahamSC and @MikeLeeforUtah recognize that Trump's fraud claims are poisonous lies. Neither is willing to publicly attack Trump for the damage he's doing to the country. Together, they represent the most execrable form of cowardice" is what you're trying to say.— Alternative Fax (@Alternative Fax) 1632145545
That didn\u2019t keep him from interfering in Georgia, did it?— Saulius Mikalonis (@Saulius Mikalonis) 1632150790
Yet he's all in.— DeBrae (@DeBrae) 1632146500
But Lindsey opted to interfere by calling directly to another state's SoS when he had no business in doing so.— JES (@JES) 1632145618
Graham's call to the Georgia Secretary of State was previously under investigation.
@RonFilipkowski/X