--- title: Lindsey Graham: Republicans Have Gone 'Bats--t Crazy' description: Graham was speaking at a dinner when he took shots at the Republican presidential candidates, particularly Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4238930/lindsey-graham-republicans-bats-crazy/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-26T17:57:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:24.294Z article:section: Politics og:title: Lindsey Graham Says the Republicans Have Gone 'Bats--t Crazy' og:description: "How did I lose to these guys?" og:url: https://time.com/4238930/lindsey-graham-republicans-bats-crazy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c71c4d3a5d4bc5d/6988739f0a4a2277ec9c74d1/lindsey-graham-republican-jewish-coalition.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidate Lindsey Graham speaks about the threat America faces from radical islamic movements at the Metropolitan Republican Club on November 19, 2015 in New York City. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lindsey Graham Says the Republicans Have Gone 'Bats--t Crazy' twitter:description: "How did I lose to these guys?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c71c4d3a5d4bc5d/6988739f0a4a2277ec9c74d1/lindsey-graham-republican-jewish-coalition.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lindsey Graham Says the Republicans Have Gone 'Bats--t Crazy' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 26, 2016 5:57 PM UTC  Republican Presidential Candidate Lindsey Graham speaks about the threat America faces from radical islamic movements at the Metropolitan Republican Club on November 19, 2015 in New York City. Republican Presidential Candidate Lindsey Graham speaks about the threat America faces from radical islamic movements at the Metropolitan Republican Club on November 19, 2015 in New York City. Spencer Platt—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 26, 2016 5:57 PM UTC South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham [took](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/politics/lindsey-graham-ted-cruz-dinner/) aim at the Republican party on Thursday in no uncertain terms, saying the GOP had gone “bats–t crazy.” The former Republican presidential candidate was speaking at the Washington Press Club Foundation’s 72nd Congressional Dinner, according to CNN, when he laid into the current candidates vying for the Republican nomination with a series of off-color digs. “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you,” Graham said, taking aim the body’s widespread distain for Cruz. Graham also gave Democrats their fare share of ribbing, but he reserved much of his ire for Republicans, and Donald Trump in particular. “The most dishonest person in America is a woman who is about to be president, that can get me,” Graham said, alluding to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.”My party’s gone bats–t crazy.” At another point, the Senator openly pondered how he been beaten by the current GOP field. “How did I lose to these guys?” he asked. He later acknowledged his own failed presidential bid and the CNN Republican debate which was being broadcast at the same time from Houston, telling the audience that “this is the largest number of people I’ve ever talked to during a Republican debate.” To cap it off, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi handed Graham one of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats, which he put on. Graham then took a crack at himself for jinxing both his own candidacy, and that of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who he endorsed after dropping out of the race. “I endorse Donald Trump and hope that Graham magic still exists,” Graham declared. \[[CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/politics/lindsey-graham-ted-cruz-dinner/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4238930/lindsey-graham-republicans-bats-crazy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4238930/lindsey-graham-republicans-bats-crazy/"},"headline":"Lindsey Graham Says the Republicans Have Gone 'Bats--t Crazy'","datePublished":"2016-02-26T17:57:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:24.294Z","description":"\"How did I lose to these guys?\"","url":"https://time.com/4238930/lindsey-graham-republicans-bats-crazy/","keywords":["2016 Election","republicans","2016 Election","Lindsey Graham"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c71c4d3a5d4bc5d/6988739f0a4a2277ec9c74d1/lindsey-graham-republican-jewish-coalition.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c71c4d3a5d4bc5d/6988739f0a4a2277ec9c74d1/lindsey-graham-republican-jewish-coalition.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Presidential Candidate Lindsey Graham speaks about the threat America faces from radical islamic movements at the Metropolitan Republican Club on November 19, 2015 in New York City.","caption":"Republican Presidential Candidate Lindsey Graham speaks about the threat America faces from radical islamic movements at the Metropolitan Republican Club on November 19, 2015 in New York City.","creditText":"Spencer Platt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4238930/lindsey-graham-republicans-bats-crazy/","name":"Lindsey Graham Says the Republicans Have Gone 'Bats--t Crazy'"}}]}] ```