Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he couldn’t buy all the “joy” Democrats displayed at the Democratic convention in Chicago last week, speaking with Jake Tapper on CNN’s On the state of the nation.
During their conversation, Tapper mentioned the “disciplined” and “well-organized” DNC this week, which, as the journalist put it, “conveyed patriotism and unity.” Graham, the senior senator from South Carolina, saw things differently.
“Well, I didn’t see what you saw,” Graham said to Tapper, laughing. “If you’re a Republican, you saw a hate fest. You saw a hate fest full of insults.”
“Americans are not happy when they go to the gas station and fill up their car,” he continued. “They are not happy when they pay their mortgage. They are not happy when they go to the grocery store. People are suffering, and this whole celebration of joy and love does not exist in the real world.”
To support his claim, Graham pointed to gasoline prices, the state of the border and inflation during Donald Trump’s presidency when “the world wasn’t on fire.”
“So 60 percent of Americans are not happy. They believe their country is going in the wrong direction, and I think President Trump offers the best solution to change the trajectory of the country,” he added.
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), who appeared on the show before Graham, saw things differently.
“I think we’re just fed up with the negative cynicism about America in general,” Booker said after Tapper noted that “joy” was a theme at the DNC. “It’s time for our country to start feeling that hope and that joy.”
Aside from the cheer, Graham also addressed Donald Trump’s Friday comment on Truth Social that his “administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” a comment many found ironic.
“I know you have to ask him that,” Graham told Tapper in response to the comment and the backlash that followed. “I would say that President Trump has been a very good pro-life president. His position now, as I understand it, is that he’s going to leave the abortion issue to the states. He doesn’t believe the federal government has a role to play in that.”
