‘Focus on the issues, Mr. President’: Lindsey Graham on Trump campaign strategy

we're now less than 10 days away from seeing Donald Trump and KL Harris on the stage for the very first time the ABC News presidential debate in Philadelphia is of course on September 10th so let's bring in one of Trump's biggest supporters Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Senator Graham before we get to the campaign I want to ask you about the devastating news uh overnight out of Israel I I know that you have been a big Advocate uh for for for the hostages and you got to know uh senator you you got to know the parents of of of hirs uh quite well you're what's your reaction of this heartbreaking news heartbroken yeah devastated mad John and Rachel have done everything in their power to to help their son be released from captivity after 11 months of captivity he was murdered uh by Hamas Hamas could care less about the hostages or the Palestinian Ians and if you want the hostages home which we all do you have to increase the cost to Iran Iran is the great Satan here Hamas is the junior partner they're barbaric religious Nazis Hamas uh they could care less about the Palestinian people I would urge the Biden Administration and Israel to hold Iran accountable for the fate of remaining hostages and put on the target list uh oil refineries in on if the hostages are not released uh we we heard from the White House overnight statement from President Biden saying that Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes that was what the president what are they going to pay I mean what what's the price I mean they've destroyed a lot of Gaza they put their own People In Harm's Way the hamasa care less about about the Palestinian people Mr President BB if you want to really change things when it comes to the hostages tell the Ayatollah what he values is on the target list until that happens nobody's coming home all right Senator Graham I'm going to turn to the the campaign uh you have said uh that that Donald Trump is poised can win this race if he stays focused on the contrast between his record and the Biden Harris record if he focuses on the issue so let me ask you the flip side of that how can he lose this campaign um I think the way that they're running the campaign is to draw him into insult debates get off stripped get off the issues this poll to me is very encouraging now in a head-to-head race uh Trump uh is losing slightly but on the issues Trump economy plus eight inflation plus eight border plus n my God that's a blowout focus on the issues Mr President every poll says it says the same thing the American people trust you with what matters the most of them the economy inflation border security uh and just managing the government if I were you my friend I would focus on those issues laser likee and you will win this race and and if you look at what the former president has said just in the last uh week or so about comml Harris as he looks ahead to this debate uh he has called her quote low IQ dumb someone who quote can't put two sentences together now those sound a little bit more like schoolyard taunts than than the stuff of of a presidential campaign but it's also a strange way to set expectations before a debate yeah I I think she's you know she's been a senator she's attorney general she's now Vice President obviously she has some talent but here's what I would say on foreign policy she's been a wrecking ball on Israel she's sat there and listen to somebody called the Israeli government and people engaging in genocide and did nothing about it she boycotted BB speech to the Congress sending the signal to Mamas and Iran uh that America really doesn't have Israel's back she was Cheerleading uh the withdrawal uh from Afghanistan she's bragged about being the last person in the room the dumbest decision decision maybe in modern history by American Administration I was in Munich when she warned the Russians not to invade Ukraine four days later they did uh she's been in charge of the Border in in some way I don't I don't know what the hell she's been doing on the border but we've got more terrorists in our country anytime in history and fent all poisoning is the leading cause of death among young people in America that's what I would hit her with she's been a wrecking ball on foreign uh policy uh it's been the most incompetent Administration I can remember on things that matter to the American people your safety and your Prosperity that's what I would talk about not her IQ her job performance has been lousy by the way that that speech right netan as I recall jie didn't go either so to maybe a double boycott there let me well but he wasn't yeah but but he wasn't Vice President of the United States and no nobody doubts JD's support for Israel JD has been unequivocally supporting Israel she has been horrible she's slow walking weapons she didn't attend the speech and that Juiced up every terrorist in the region so it's not a fair comparison yeah but I but I would also point out that in her speech she said in her speech to the convention she said contrary to what many own party wanted her to say uh prom to give Israel what it needs to defend itself but let let me move on the dam the damage the damage has been done she was vice president of the United States she refused to come and attend a joint session of Congress with the prime minister of Israel that sent the worst possible signal you could send but let me let me ask you about another big issue this week uh president Trump seemingly out of nowhere came out of a public funding for IVF treatments and a mandate for insurance companies uh to uh to fund them where did this come from I know uh Congress had a vote on this you voted against it every Republican in the Senate voted against it except for two uh where where where did this come from I think he just trying to to show his support for uh IVF treatments that you know we've been accused the party has of being a against birth control we're not we've been accused of being against IVF treatments we're not and one thing I thought about after what he said you know we have tax credits for people who have children maybe we should have a means tested tax credit for people using IVF and er other uh treatments to become pregnant I would support a tax credit uh means tested kind of like we do with children that makes sense to me to encourage people to have children but you wouldn't support this idea of mandating insurance companies to cover this would you you've already voted because there's no end to that yeah there's no end to that I think a tax credit for children makes s means tested uh and I think let's look at that concept for people trying to have a child okay that makes some sense to me I'll talk to my Democratic colleagues who we might be able to find Common Ground here okay let let me ask you also about this incident at Arlington National Cemetery obviously I know president forign president Trump was invited uh by the families to be there uh but but but here's the statement that the Army has put out about what happened uh they say participants in the August 26 ceremony and the subsequent section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws Army regulations and DOD policies which clearly prohibit political activities on Cemetery grounds an Arlington National uh Cemetery employee who attempted to ensure the adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside the incident was unfortunate and it is also unfortunate that that employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked did the campaign did the the campaign cross a line here you know I don't know think we need to you know I'm all for looking at what happened but you know what really is unfortunate that these families had to go visit their their fallen loved ones at Arlington due to incompetence by the Biden Administration you know I've tried to work with President Biden to get Saudi and Arabia and Israel to reconcile I I've supported a lot of their nomination nominees I've known President Biden for a long time but vice president Harris bragged about being the last person in the room cheerleading the withdrawal of all forces that led to the death of these 13 Rising terrorism combined that with a broken border another 9/11's coming our way so what I take away from this whole debate about Arlington is why they died how they died in the incompetency that led to their death to the American people uh we've lost deterrance nobody in the world is afraid of kamla Harris she has become in my view in effective uh in terms of a voice for America so if you want to avoid more dead Americans vote for Trump and I know you also opposed Donald Trump's uh talk of quickly getting out of Afghanistan as well Senator Senator Graham thank you thank you very much for joining us on this week