3 Times Donald Trump Verbally Slapped Lindsey Graham (Who Keeps Coming Back For More)

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President Donald Trump and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham have a complicated relationship, to say the least. It wasn't too long ago that Graham was calling Trump a "jacka**" during a 2015 appearance on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront," and a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot" on CNN's "New Day." 

Somewhere along the way, however, Graham did an about-face, suddenly becoming one of Trump's most loyal supporters and defenders. Since then, the pair appear to be as thick as thieves — well, when Trump's not verbally berating Graham in front of God and everyone else, that is. Alas, ever the loyal lap dog, Graham always comes back for more — even after Trump questioned his status as a Republican, insulted him in front of a room full of people at Mar-a-Lago, and even took credit for Graham being elected. "I'm his north star," Graham boasted to NBC News on February 13 about the so-called truth of his relationship with the President. "We disagree, but he knows where I am coming from. He sees me helping him as much as anybody in the Senate." Sure, Jan. 

In 2022, Donald Trump publicly took friend frenemy Lindsey Graham to task, referring to him as a RINO, an acronym that stands for "Republican in name only." The story goes that Trump was miffed after Graham called Trump's plan to pardon January 6 rioters as "inappropriate" during an appearance on "Face The Nation." He added, "I don't want to reinforce that defiling the Capitol is okay."

As one can imagine, shortly after catching wind of Graham's televised remarks, Trump wasn't exactly pleased with the South Carolina senator. "Well, Lindsey Graham's wrong. I mean, Lindsey's a nice guy, but he's a RINO," Trump declared during a sit-down interview with Newsmax. He added, "Lindsey Graham doesn't know what the hell he's talking about if he says that."

Meanwhile, Graham seemingly took no offense at his so-called pal's public dig. When later pressed by ABC News host George Stephanopoulos during an interview on "This Week" about the current status of his relationship with Trump, he responded by stating that Trump was "the most consequential Republican in the Republican party today," and that he believed he had "a great chance of being president again in 2024 if he'll start comparing what he did as president versus what's going on now and how to fix the mess we in we're in." And scene! 

On March 20, 2022, President Donald Trump seized the opportunity to insult Lindsey Graham yet again during a speech at the Lincoln Day fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago, introducing him as "our progressive senator from South Carolina" (via Patriot Takes). "He's a progressive, but he's our progressive," Trump added about Graham to the wealthy, conservative crowd. Right on cue, the audience erupted into a roar of laughter — all at Graham's expense.

While the remark could've just been one of Trump's sneaky little jabs, it's also entirely possible the backhanded comment was Trump's way of getting back at Graham. Only days earlier, on March 16, in yet another media moment Trump can never erase, Axios published excerpts from an upcoming book, "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future." In the book, the authors, New York Times journalists Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin, claimed that Graham threatened to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office in the midst of the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. (File that one under the untold truth of Lindsey Graham.) 

Perhaps, however, the most insulting thing President Donald Trump has said about Lindsey Graham is that he is solely responsible for Graham being elected senator in South Carolina. In April 2024, following a difference of opinion about abortion, Trump unleashed on Graham via his social networking site, Truth Social. "I blame myself for Lindsey Graham, because the only reason he won in the Great State of South Carolina is because I Endorsed him!" Trump fired off in a post.

Alas, Trump didn't stop there. In August 2024, after learning that the senator had said on "Meet the Press" that "Donald Trump the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election," Trump told CBS News political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns that he was the reason Graham was a senator. "I like Lindsey, I don't care what he says," Trump declared before hastily adding, "Lindsey wouldn't have been elected if I didn't endorse him."

Ironically, in March 2025, Trump once again gave Graham his vote of confidence for Senate re-election, touting him as a "wonderful friend" and someone who "has always been there" for him. And per usual, Graham publicly doled out heaps of praise and appreciation for Trump's backing. "President Trump's endorsement means the world to me. I am humbled by his faith in me as a Senator and as a friend," he tweeted. As the old saying goes, with friends like that, who needs enemies?