Lindsey Graham branded Trump a 'race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot' in resurfaced clip - despite now bowing down to Republican candidate

One day after South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham was booed mercilessly on stage next to former President Donald Trump, a clip of the politician harshly criticizing the likely Republican presidential nominee has resurfaced.

In the video, Graham - who, at the time, himself competing in the 2016 Republican presidential primary - calls Trump a 'race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot' who 'doesn't represent my party.'

Graham, in the CNN interview, goes on to criticize Trump's approach to what was then the threat of the Islamic state in the middle east.

He claimed Trump's rhetoric was endangering US soldiers abroad and helping ISIS recruitment numbers. Graham dropped out of the primary less than two weeks after the interview aired.

Over Trump's time in office, Graham came around on the de facto leader of the Republican party and ahead of this presidential contest, Graham endorsed Trump's bid during the summer of 2023.

But despite now having seemingly good relationship with Trump, Graham is not so well loved by Trump's die-hard MAGA supporters.

Following Trump's monstrous win in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, Graham - who is at this point a Trump campaign surrogate - hopped on stage to speak in support of the former POTUS, only to be met with a massive round of boos from the crowd.

Trump did Graham no favors by introducing him as 'a little bit further left than some people on this stage.'

Loud boos then broke out and kept up as Trump tried to tame the crowd.

'No, no. Remember,' Trump said, but the boos continued. 'I love him, he’s a good man. Come up here Lindsey,' Trump said.

'America, the nightmare you are facing is just about over,' Graham said, to some cheers but mostly continued boos.

Trump returned to the microphone and attempted to moved.

Trump also shouted out South Carolina GOP Chair Drew McKissick, who was booed.

At that point, Trump said: 'We have a highly opinionated group of people!'

Trump, on Saturday, got on stage in the early evening to speak after running away with a victory in South Carolina. 

The win delivered him a four-state sweep of the early Republican primary contests - including the ones in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.

'This was a little sooner than we anticipated,' Trump joked to a crowd of cheering supporters.

Not even a minute after polls closed at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, the race was called for Trump - an embarrassing defeat for Nikki Haley.

Haley's loss on Saturday marks the first time a Republican candidate has lost their home state primary election in more than 50 years. The time it happened was when Richard Nixon lost California's primary to Ronald Reagan – who was also from California. 

Speaking to reporters on Saturday ahead of polls closing, Graham said: 'Republicans have made up their mind.' 

He added that he respects and admires Haley, but the sooner she drops out of the race, the better.

Trump celebrating win in Columbia, South Carolina minutes after the state's primary was called for him just after 7 p.m.

Donald Trump embarrassed Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina on Saturday as he ran away with a victory in the Republican primary

Haley, however, feels differently.

She said during a 'state of the race' speech lastTuesday that she was 'far from' ending her bid despite her underwhelming performance in the primary so far and dismal polling that consistently shows her trailing Trump in national and state elections by large margins.

The former South Carolina governor said she plans to stay in until Super Tuesday on March 5, when 15 states and an astounding 874 delegates are up for grabs in that single day.