# Lindsey Graham — "He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot" > [!quote] "He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for." > — Lindsey Graham, CNN *New Day*, December 8, 2015 ## Context Speaking on CNN the day after [[Donald Trump]] proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States, Graham — then a rival for the 2016 Republican nomination — delivered one of the most direct denunciations of Trump by any Republican officeholder. In the same appearance he said: "You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell." ## Why This Matters The quote is the opening data point of Graham's documented arc from Trump's fiercest Republican critic to his golfing partner and defender. Read against his post-2017 loyalty — and against Trump's use of Graham's July 2026 death to stump for the SAVE Act — it anchors why the KB treats [[Lindsey Graham]] as the **control case for institutional capture**: the transformation is legible precisely because the "before" is on the record in his own words. ## See Also - [[Lindsey Graham]] - [[Lindsey Graham - we will get destroyed and we will deserve it]] - [[Lindsey Graham - never another Republican president elected again]] - [[Donald Trump]]