Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday blasted Republican presidential rival Donald Trump over his remarks on barring Muslims from entering the U.S.
“You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell,” Graham said during an interview on CNN’s “New Day,” referencing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
{mosads}Graham made the remark after offering a broadside against Trump’s latest idea to bar all Muslims, except American citizens living abroad, from entering the United States.
“You know how you win this war? You side with people in the faith who reject this ideology, which is 99 percent,” Graham said of the fight against radical Islamic terrorism.
The South Carolina senator joins a number of GOP candidates who have slammed Trump’s proposal to prevent Muslims from entering the U.S. amid stoked terrorism fears.
The White House has also condemned Trump’s remark, suggesting that it plays into the hands of terrorists who want to paint the United States as at war with Islam.
Trump defended his idea during a round of call-in television interviews Tuesday morning, including on the same CNN program where Graham appeared.
“He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” Graham said on CNN. “He doesn’t represent my party. He doesn’t represents the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.”
“He’s the ISIL man of the year,” Graham said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.