Republicans "don't have a snowball's chance in hell" of winning back the Senate majority without the help of former President Donald Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is warning Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"I know Trump can be a handful," Graham told Fox News' "Hannity" on Tuesday night. "But he is the most dominant figure in the Republican Party. We don't have a snowball's chance in hell of taking back the [Senate] majority without Donald Trump. If you don't get that, you're just not looking."
Graham's comments come after McConnell, R-Ky., and Trump made harsh comments about each other in recent days.
Minutes after the Senate vote Saturday to acquit Trump, McConnell said he joined other Republicans in voting against convicting the former president because of constitutionality concerns. However, he said on the Senate floor, there is "no question, none," Trump was "practically and morally responsible" for provoking the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
In response, Trump slammed McConnell on Tuesday as a "dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack," and said "if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again."
Graham told Hannity the two powerful Republicans' war of words has to stop.
"Mitch McConnell working with Donald Trump did a hell of a job," Graham said.
"They're now at each other's throat," he said. "I'm more worried about 2022 than I've ever been. I don't want to eat our own."
Trump, he added, is "the most consequential Republican in the party. If Mitch McConnell doesn't understand that, he's missing a lot.
"We need to knock this off."
Graham said McConnell should follow House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's lead when it comes to taking a "different approach" to Trump without dividing the party.
He also encouraged Trump to recognize he is the "hope" of conservatism.
"The Democrats are doing all they can to help us," he said. "We just need to help ourselves."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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