Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is entering his Republican primary on Tuesday with a powerful ally in his corner: President Trump. Mr. Graham “is doing a fantastic job” and has his endorsement, Mr. Trump has said.
But they weren’t always so chummy.
Mr. Graham was once one of Mr. Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, calling him a “demagogue,” “the world’s biggest jackass” and a “race-baiting xenophobic religious bigot.” Mr. Trump once called Mr. Graham “a disgrace” and “one of the dumbest human beings.”
Since then, Mr. Graham has embraced the president. On Tuesday, Mr. Graham, who faces a primary challenge from the right, is hoping to receive enough votes to avoid a runoff. But with Mr. Trump’s support, Mr. Graham is well-positioned to avoid the fate of Senators John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy, who were both recently ousted in Republican primary races after Mr. Trump claimed that they had been insufficiently loyal and backed their challengers.
A review of public statements, social media posts and video dating back to 2015 shows how the relationship between Mr. Trump and Mr. Graham has evolved from resentment to an embrace.
Here are some key moments:
2015-2016: ‘Go to hell’
Both presidential candidates at the time, their first big clash came in 2015, after Mr. Trump said Senator John McCain — one of Mr. Graham’s closest friends — was only considered a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam, adding, “I like people who weren’t captured.”
The South Carolina senator told Mr. Trump to “run for president, but don’t be the world’s biggest jackass,” on CBS on July 21. Hours later, Mr. Trump revealed Mr. Graham’s cellphone number to the crowd at a South Carolina campaign event and encouraged supporters to “try it.” He also called Mr. Graham an “idiot” and a “lightweight.”
Days before dropping his presidential bid in December 2015, Mr. Graham gave his most forceful condemnation yet of Mr. Trump, who had taken the lead in national polling. He told CNN that Mr. Trump’s rhetoric “disgusted” him and that his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States would be “a death sentence” for allies and interpreters in the Middle East.
Mr. Graham, who had worked with Democrats on immigration, also warned that Mr. Trump’s pledge to aggressively deport illegal immigrants would “tear the party apart.”
“You know how you make America great again?” Mr. Graham asked on CNN. “Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.”
2017-2020: Rapprochement (‘Can you believe it?’)
Mr. Trump’s 2016 upset win cemented his dominance in the party. Once the president took office, mutual friends reportedly convinced Mr. Graham and Mr. Trump to have a “make up lunch” in March 2017, according to New York Magazine. Their personal relationship blossomed, with Mr. Graham becoming one of Mr. Trump’s closest Senate confidants by 2018.
Regular golfing outings were the bread and butter of the partnership.
Discussing his relationship with Mr. Trump in January 2018, Mr. Graham said, “It’s evolved because he is president of the United States.”
“I said everything,” Mr. Graham said on CBS News in January of 2018. “I said he was a xenophobic, race-baiting religious bigot. I ran out of adjectives. Well, the American people spoke, and they rejected my analysis.”
Mr. Trump also had a change of heart.
“He used to be a great enemy of mine, now he’s a great friend of mine,” Mr. Trump said at a January 2018 meeting with Senate Republicans. “I really like Lindsey. Can you believe it? I never thought I’d say that, but I do.”
The alliance further solidified in September 2018, when Mr. Graham gave an impassioned speech calling the public hearing of sexual assault allegations against the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics.”
2021-2024: New rifts
After Mr. Trump falsely claimed the November 2020 election was “rigged,” Mr. Graham called election officials and defended him on television. He was later ordered to testify in a legal battle.
However, Mr. Graham refused to support Mr. Trump’s bid to overturn 2020 election results.
“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey,” he said on Jan. 6, 2021, the day that Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”
But unlike Mr. Cassidy and six other Republican senators, Mr. Graham did not vote the following month to convict Mr. Trump of inciting an insurrection after he was impeached by the House.
The pair reconciled over the next couple of years, and Mr. Graham boosted Mr. Trump’s run for a second term. But he faced lingering skepticism from the MAGA base. Mr. Graham was booed at an event celebrating Mr. Trump’s win of the South Carolina Republican presidential primary after Mr. Trump introduced him as “a little bit further left” than his other supporters, and a crowd in New Hampshire also jeered at Mr. Graham.
The pair went through another rough patch in 2024, when a public disagreement over a proposed federal abortion ban led Mr. Trump to say he regretted endorsing Mr. Graham in 2020.
2025-2026: Graham looks to avoid a runoff with Trump’s help
While Mr. Graham has occasionally voiced disagreements with Mr. Trump over the past two years, they have largely remained in lock step on most policy issues.
That has paid off for the South Carolina senator. Mr. Trump has heaped praise on Mr. Graham and branded his main primary opponent, the businessman Mark Lynch, a “lunatic.” Mr. Lynch has spent millions of dollars as he has sought to cast Mr. Graham as too disloyal to Mr. Trump.
One ad features Mr. Trump saying of Mr. Graham in 2016, “I don’t think he could run for dogcatcher in this state and win again.”
Mr. Lynch and his supporters — including former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — have also criticized Mr. Graham for his longtime hawkish leanings, underlining the tension in Mr. Trump’s coalition over the war in Iran.
“The good folks of South Carolina deserve so much better than this America Last warmonger,” Ms. Greene wrote in a social media post endorsing Mr. Lynch on Saturday.
To defend the seat, Mr. Graham and his allies have spent upward of $15 million promoting his support from Mr. Trump in ads, while Mr. Lynch has spent nearly $5 million, according to AdImpact, the ad-tracking service.
“He’s endorsed me. Not my opponents, but me,” Mr. Graham said of Mr. Trump in an interview with WYFF News 4 on Monday. “If you want somebody who can go to Washington to help him, I’m your best choice.”
Trump was set to host a tele-rally with Mr. Graham on the eve of the primary.
For years, “Graham was perceived as too moderate, too willing to work with Democrats,” said Joel Sawyer, a Republican strategist in South Carolina. “That version of Lindsey Graham that’s always looking to reach across the aisle is gone.”
Shane Goldmacher contributed reporting.
