During an interview with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on CNN’s State of the Union, Dana Bash fretted that if Republicans confront Donald Trump over his controversial comments about Mexican immigrants they risk losing the White House in 2016.
While the CNN reporter insisted that Trump’s presence was hurting the GOP, she also asked Graham if confronting him would result in the Republican Party “handing the keys to the White House to the Democrats?”
After the South Carolina senator argued that Trump had “hijacked the debate” on immigration, Bash worried that Trump will say “you know what, you pushed me too hard, if he doesn't get the nomination, and I’m going to run as a third-party candidate.”
Rather than accept Bash’s premise that the GOP would face electoral defeat if it attempts to control Trump, Graham argued that it was not the responsibility of the Republican Party to worry about a hypothetical third party run:
This is a defining moment in the future of the Republican Party. We can't worry about what Donald Trump might do. We have to focus on what we should do. And, as a party, we should reject what he says, because it's not true. And if we don't reject it, we have lost the moral authority, in my view, to govern this country.
See relevant transcript below.
CNN’s State of the Union
July 12, 2015
DANA BASH: What has he done to the conversation within the Republican nominating process?
LINDSEY GRAHAM: I think he's created a defining moment for all candidates. There are some candidates who agree with Donald Trump that want to make him their vice president. There are some people who love Donald Trump and say that he's speaking the truth. What I think he's doing is being a demagogue. I think he's uninformed about the situation regarding the illegal immigrant population. What happened in San Francisco is appalling. But it does not represent the 11 million. And I think he's hijacked the debate. I think he's a wrecking ball for the future of the Republican Party with the Hispanic community. And we need to push back.
BASH: What if he says, you know what, you pushed me too hard, if he doesn't get the nomination, and I'm going to go run as a third-party candidate? Aren't you just then handing the keys to the White House to the Democrats?
GRAHAM: I have learned a long time that I can't control others. I'm not responsible for what he says. I'm responsible for what I believe. My party is responsible for who we are. This is a defining moment in the future of the Republican Party. We can't worry about what Donald Trump might do. We have to focus on what we should do. And, as a party, we should reject what he says, because it's not true. And if we don't reject it, we have lost the moral authority, in my view, to govern this country.
