With national security and terrorism front and center in the GOP undercard debate on Tuesday, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham warned supporters of front-runner Donald Trump to reconsider their choice.
"For God's sake, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and actually knows how to win," Graham said, "and I don't believe that is Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton."
Trump, Graham said, has only exacerbated the threat from the Islamic State (known as ISIS or ISIL) by calling for a ban of all Muslim immigration.
"ISIL would be dancing in the streets, they just don't believe in dancing," Graham said. "This is a coup for them, and to all of our Muslim friends throughout the world, like the king of Jordan and the president of Egypt, I am sorry, he does not represent us."
Other candidates in the early debate also piled on Trump, with former New York Gov. George Pataki mentioning the real estate mogul in his opening statement.
"While the Democratic front-runner won't use the term "radical Islam," Trump is no better, Pataki said.
"Donald Trump continually demonizes," he said, but when he is criticized simply "laughs it off."
The other two candidates on the stage were less critical. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has called Trump's plan unconstitutional, but said Tuesday he would rather have Trump as president than Clinton.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said Trump "brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the the matter is not all Muslims are jihadists, but all jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.