It's been more than 10 months since now-President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, defeating then-President Donald Trump by the same margin with which Trump defeated 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton (a margin Trump called a landslide).
Nevertheless, Trump and his ilk continue to peddle lies that the 2020 election was somehow "stolen" from him by Democrats engaging in widespread election fraud. Republican legislatures across the country have prompted or are considering partisan audits to once again relitigate an election repeatedly proven to be legitimate—even after these election fantasies sparked a deadly failed insurrection.
Ahead of said insurrection, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina advocated for Trump's election delusions, even personally calling Georgia's Republican Secretary of State, pressuring him to meddle with votes.
Peril, a new book from journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa examining the final months of Trump's White House tenure, detailed yet another facet of Graham's attitude toward Trump's election conspiracy theories. As the former President's lawyer, Rudy GIuliani, urged Graham to defend the lies, the Senator asked for names and evidence.
According to the Washington Post:
"[P]rivately, Graham gave the arguments a withering assessment, according to the book, saying they were suitable for 'third grade.'"
As the paper points out, this didn't stop Graham from publicly defending Trump's lies:
"The episode illustrates how strenuously the president's legal team sought to nullify the results of the election; how flimsy even their more serious claims were; and what little stock the president's own allies placed in his objections, even as they stood steadfastly with their standard-bearer."
People weren't surprised at Graham's initial assessment.
@thedailybeast Preschool. Daycare.— David F. Soros (@David F. Soros) 1632149174.0
@thedailybeast @BradMossEsq Having listened to Conald many times and read countless tweets, a 3rd grade presentatio… https://t.co/4ZK5bz1hpX— Alan “Metatron” Rickman (@Alan “Metatron” Rickman) 1632146513.0
@thedailybeast @costareports And that’s coming from a 6th grader!— ꧁𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟꧂ (@꧁𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟꧂) 1632145669.0
@thedailybeast @costareports Sounds about right: a "president" with third grade sensibilities threw a temper tantru… https://t.co/cOoVUAzZeo— Scott Amichie (@Scott Amichie) 1632146463.0
They called him out for continuing to promote the lies.
@thedailybeast "Both @LindseyGrahamSC and @MikeLeeforUtah recognize that Trump's fraud claims are poisonous lies. N… https://t.co/YJbVA6kMx0— Alternative Fax (@Alternative Fax) 1632145545.0
@thedailybeast That didn’t keep him from interfering in Georgia, did it?— Saulius Mikalonis (@Saulius Mikalonis) 1632150790.0
@thedailybeast @SpiroAgnewGhost Yet he's all in.— DeBrae (@DeBrae) 1632146500.0
@thedailybeast @costareports But Lindsey opted to interfere by calling directly to another state's SoS when he had no business in doing so.— JES (@JES) 1632145618.0
Graham's call to the Georgia Secretary of State was previously under investigation.