Graham says Trump ‘hurting his chances’ at reelection by focusing on 2020

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday said former President Trump is “hurting his chances” at reelection by staying focused on the 2020 presidential election.

Asked by anchor George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” if he supports Trump’s comeback in 2024, Graham said “it’s his nomination for the taking,” but suggested that the former president would have a more difficult time being elected if he “looks backward.”

“Donald Trump is the most consequential Republican in the Republican Party today. He has a great chance of being president again in 2024, he’ll start comparing what he did as president versus what’s going on now, and how to fix the mess we’re in,” Graham said.

“If he looks backward, I think he’s hurting his chances,” he added.

Pressed by Stephanopoulos on past comments in which Graham said Trump, who has repeatedly leveraged baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen, would have to change if he wants to be competitive in 2024, and examples of him not changing his conduct since, Graham emphasized that Trump will “hurt his cause” and the GOP overall if he “continues to talk about the 2020 election.”

“I do believe that if he talked about what he’s capable of doing and remind people what he did in the past, he has a chance to come back,” Graham said.

“If he continues to talk about the 2020 election, I think it hurts his cause and quite frankly, hurts the Republican Party,” added.

Trump has not yet said if he will mount a reelection bid in 2024, though he has publicly dangled the possibility on a number of occasions. In July, he told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that he had made up his mind regarding a potential future bid, but did not reveal which way he was leaning.