Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, was in Des Moines Friday night to push conservatives in Iowa to get behind President Donald Trump’s reelection.
Graham spoke at the Lincoln Reagan Dinner, an Iowa Republican Party fundraiser. He touted tax reform, low unemployment and the trade war with China, which he said is necessary even though it has been harmful to Iowa’s farm economy.
“Trump’s got to do this,” Graham said. “If we don’t bring the Chinese Communist Party to heel and make them play by the rules they will cheat us all out of our way of life. So to the Iowa farmer, hang in there.”
Graham said Trump has changed the face of the court system through his appointment of more than 150 federal judges, including two Supreme Court justices. He credited Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley for following through with the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh after he was accused of sexual assault and Democrats pushed for investigations.
“He stared those bastards down,” Graham said. “They tried to take over the committee. We couldn’t go five feet without getting yelled at or spit on and he just kept doing the Iowa thing, putting one plow in front of the other.”
Graham and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa attacked Democratic presidential candidates such as Bernie Sanders for proposing Medicare for All, which they characterized as a turn toward socialism.
“They are taking us back in time to Soviet-era politics where we had socialist propaganda, socialist ideals being promoted,” Ernst said. “And you know what folks that’s not what America is built on.”
Trump can make unpredictable departures from traditional conservative policies, Graham said, but “I’d rather deal with him being a handful than them running my country.”
