Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) pulled no punches when cracking jokes about his own party during a roast at an annual Congressional Dinner sponsored by the Washington Press Club Foundation Thursday night. The South Carolina senator went after most of the 2016 GOP presidential field, all while wearing a Donald Trump "Make American Great Again" hat. "My party's gone batsh-t crazy!" Graham, who dropped out of the presidential race in December, said. "How did I lose to these people?" Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Graham joked, "is the nice guy in the race, and he tried to kill his cousin."
Graham's harshest words were for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). "If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you," Graham said, jabbing Cruz for his unpopularity among his Senate colleagues. He also took a hit at Cruz's Canadian upbringing when he predicted when Cruz might suspend his presidential bid. "I know exactly when Ted is going to drop out of the race: March 12," Graham joked. "That's Canadian week at Myrtle Beach."
The only two candidates who Graham spared were Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who he didn't mention at all, and Trump, for whom he assumed a more serious tone. "Our party and our country is going to have to up its game," Graham said about the increasing possibility of Trump being the GOP nominee. "You're going to have to ask harder questions."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Book reviews: ‘We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution’ and ‘Will There Ever Be Another You’Feature The many attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution and Patricia Lockwood’s struggle with long Covid
-
Philadelphia’s Calder GardensFeature A permanent new museum
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
