Graham: GOP may have to rally around Ted Cruz

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says the Republican Party may be forced to support presidential hopeful Ted Cruz in order to stop front-runner Donald Trump.

{mosads}”You know Ted Cruz is not my favorite, by any means,” Graham, who dropped his own bid for the White House in December, said in an interview with CBS. “But we may be in a position where we have to rally around Ted Cruz as the only way to stop Donald Trump, and I’m not so sure that would work.”

His comments came with Super Tuesday results indicating Trump would win as many as eight states. They also came a week after Graham joked, “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody could convict you.”

Graham has been a tough critic of both Trump or Cruz. He once said that choosing between the two would be “like being shot or poisoned. I think you get the same result, whether it’s quick or it takes a long time.”

The South Carolina senator also said on Tuesday that Trump’s rhetoric on immigration would guarantee Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, would win the general election.

“I think we’re about ready to lose to the most dishonest politician in America, Hillary Clinton, and how could you do that? Nominate somebody who’s crazy. And I think dishonest beats crazy, that’s our problem,” Graham said.

“And Donald Trump I think is crazy — the things he says.”

Graham said nominating Trump would be a major setback to GOP efforts to attract more Hispanic voters.

“You’ll never convince me that Donald Trump is the answer to the problem we have with Hispanics. It will tear the party apart, it will divide conservatism, and we’re gonna lose to Hillary Clinton and have the third term of Barack Obama,” he said.

Updated at 11:24 p.m.