Lindsey Graham says Trump needs to stop attacking Kamala Harris over her race: 'This is your election to lose'
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images, Spencer Platt/Getty Images
- Sen. Lindsey Graham says Trump should ease off on making racially-charged remarks on Kamala Harris.
- Graham said Trump should slam Harris for her "judgment" rather than fixate on her "heritage."
- Trump has, in the last week, questioned whether Harris — a biracial woman — is Black.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has a suggestion for his longtime ally, former President Donald Trump — lay off on all the racially charged attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ever since Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, Trump has unleashed a barrage of race-driven comments on her.
In response, Graham said in a Fox News Sunday interview that Trump should focus less on Harris' heritage and more on her "bad judgment."
"So, here's what I would say to President Trump. The problem I have with Kamala Harris is not her heritage, it's her judgment," he said.
"Every day, we're talking about her heritage and not her terrible, dangerous liberal record throughout her entire political life," Graham added.
"So, I would encourage President Trump to prosecute the case against Kamala Harris' bad judgment," he said. "This is your election to lose. It's important to win."
Graham's comments came after Trump's incendiary remarks during a panel interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago when he said he didn't know Harris was Black "until a number of years ago."
Trump has also tried to prove to his fans that Harris — who is biracial — is Indian and not Black. He posted an old photo of Harris to his Truth Social account on August 1, where she was dressed in a sari.
Harris has endured a slew of race and gender-driven attacks since President Joe Biden endorsed her for the top ticket.
But political experts told BI that it was not a surprise that Trump and the GOP would launch these racist and personal attacks and expected it to get worse as the elections draw close.
"America has a deep history of attacks being on the basis of race, so it is not unexpected," Thomas Hollihan, a professor of communication at USC Annenberg, told BI in July.
Representatives for Trump, Graham, and Harris did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.