Senator Lindsey Graham drew swift, bipartisan criticism Thursday after tweeting that the “only way” to end the violence in Ukraine is for Russians to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.
“Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?” Graham tweeted.
“The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out,” he added. “You would be doing your country — and the world — a great service.”
Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?
The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out.
You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 4, 2022
In a followup tweet, he added: “Unless you want to live in darkness for the rest of your life, be isolated from the rest of the world in abject poverty, and live in darkness you need to step up to the plate.”
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Several of Graham’s congressional colleagues responded to his comments, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called them “unhinged.”
“While we are all praying for peace & for the people of Ukraine, this is irresponsible, dangerous & unhinged,” she wrote, adding: “We need leaders with calm minds & steady wisdom.”
While we are all praying for peace & for the people of Ukraine, this is irresponsible, dangerous & unhinged.
We need leaders with calm minds & steady wisdom.
Not blood thirsty warmongering politicians trying to tweet tough by demanding assassinations.
Americans don’t want war. https://t.co/l2hqiUbZGv
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) March 4, 2022
Whether Greene herself displays the leadership qualities she espoused is an entirely different matter, but her general message was echoed across the aisle.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat, said Graham’s remarks “aren’t helpful.”
“I really wish our members of Congress would cool it and regulate their remarks as the administration works to avoid WWlll,” she tweeted. “As the world pays attention to how the US and [its] leaders are responding.”
I really wish our members of Congress would cool it and regulate their remarks as the administration works to avoid WWlll. As the world pays attention to how the US and it’s leaders are responding, Lindsey’s remarks and remarks made by some House members aren’t helpful.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 4, 2022
The Washington Post spoke with experts who said “such a move would not help solve the crisis, and it would be illegal outside an armed conflict with Russia.”
MSNBC host Chris Hayes said he’s “gobsmacked” by Graham’s tweet.
Honestly gobsmacked at how reckless that Lindsey Graham tweet is.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 4, 2022
Jim
Yes this is hyperbole and probably not helpful, but would you disagree about taking out Hitler????
Robothedestroyer
Out loud? Of course, especially if Hitler had his finger on some nukes. War is a game of chess after all, and I am pretty sure the one who flips the table isn’t the winner.
Beachman
It’s not hyperbole, it’s the only way out before this psychopath destroys the world. Americans need to pull their heads out of their a%%es and see the forest through the trees. This war will quickly make the COVID-19 pandemic a walk in the park. Our lives will be changed forever. Millions of lives will be lost, destroyed, and changed forever. This is a big, big, big, deal. There’s no going back now for Putin. the only hope for the Russian people and for millions of Ukrainians and Europeans is for Putin to be eliminated, and it needs to happen ASAP.
I never thought I would agree with Miss Graham, but he’s one of the few people who are actually speaking the truth. Many are thinking this, but do not want to say it.
Wake up girls, we are already in WWIII. Let’s end it before it destroys all of our lives.
Cam
Two things.
1. The laws against taking out leaders in war were written by, other leaders who don’t want it to be taken out. Better to take out Putin than for thousands of young kids to die while he sits back in safety.
THAT SAID….
2. Graham and other Republicans took MILLIONS from Putin connected oligarchs, now that they are getting backlash, this is just a sad attempt by Graham to pretend he wasn’t in Putin’s pocket.
SamB
White-Queer-African: So you agree with him! Wow, I never thought I’d see the day.
Bosch
*facepalm*
MarcyMayer
Cam:
Poor baby, here is BAD news for you today.
According to the Civiqs Poll as of March 3, 2022, Joe Biden only has a 35% approval rating.
THIRTY-FIVE PERCENT!!! lol
By the way, this Poll isn’t biased because Civiqs is an online opinion polling and data analytics company founded by Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas in March 2018.
Republicans will TROUNCE the Democrats in November, even Bloomberg said so.
Cam
@SamB Sweetie, you keep trying this tactic and it always backfires on you. I’ve pointed out you’re a troll, you get enraged and try the “I know you are but what am I?” defense.
As always, your trolling is sad and weak.
And as for your other screename: @MarcyMayer
Translation: You’re so desperate to deflect from Republican’s Russia connections that you will throw anything at the wall and hope it sticks.
So, to repeat. Republicans support Putin, took millions from him into their campaign coffers and now, after backlash are desperately backpedaling.
Even funnier is how you always give yourself away, desperately trying to talk about how the poll isn’t biased etc… but you gave away the game. It’s an ONLINE self selecting poll! LOL!
Funny then that the valid poll shows Biden’s approval shot up 8 points after the State of the Union. Oooops, nice try troll.
https:// thehill. com /homenews/administration/596890-bidens-approval-rating-jumps-to-47-percent-after-state-of-the-union-address
MarcyMayer
Cam, sweetie, once again, you do not know what you’re talking about.
Here’s the headline today from “The Economist”:
“Joe Biden’s state-of-the-union address fails to impress
Ukraine aside, a gaffe-laden speech does nothing to turn Democrats’ problems around”
LOL
barryaksarben
Marcy – a REAL polling service gives Bidenan 8 pt jump to 49% approval. With over 7in 10n supporting his handling of Putin and Ukraine including a strong majority of republicans. You keep relying on biased polls wont help you over the shock. Like when you thought the orange idiot was going to win that second term that he lost bigly. WITH ZERO proof of any large voter fraud you people just look foolish. SO how gay are you? a top or a bttm? curious as to what a straight guy is doing here? Turns you on to talk to REAL gay guys. Gotta stiffy?
Polaro
@cam got both sides of this equation right. Biden’s poll numbers are an attempt to change the subject. Biden is more popular than these polls indicate. More troubling for trolls, Trump is plummeting.
Kangol2
Very interesting: over the last several months, one person basically using the same themes, rhetoric, and arguments has popped up on here under different names: James Hart, then BarryM, now MarcyMayer. This person initially said they were a Democrat, then claimed to be a libertarian, and is now saying “civil libertarian.” (These are all different things, BTW.) They frequently appear to be reasonable only to eventually spout GOP talking points, and as a fallback refer to the upcoming November election and Biden’s low poll numbers. They also have commented positively on some non-political threads, including some referencing Broadway shows, and refer to having lived in NYC in the past. I assume Queerty is keeping an eye on people posting under differing names, but this person seems to be one who’s doing it. SamB seems to be someone else; they regularly troll and post negative comments on every thread, unlike this other person/people.
Cam
@Kangol2
I agree except for one part.
I think SamB is part of it because they will defend each other’s posts very quickly. I think he uses some screenames as the crazy right wingers, then has another grout that pretends to be more reasonable, so that when those “More reasonable” screenames defend the crazy ones, the troll thinks it will give their bigoted ravings more legitimacy.
Just my 2 cents on that one.
Eternal.Cowboy
I never thought I would say this but it looks like I owe Majorie Taylor Greene an apology for comparing her to SamB. She is clearly the smarter of the two.
Rivcuban
First time I have ever agreed with Graham.
eeebee333
You and me both.
Polaro
Not the first time, but the first time in a long time. Still no saving Graham in the history books.
Rivcuban
Wrong Marcy. Go to 538. It averages the polls to give a more accurate number. Biden still has not gone low as Trump. BTW. Biden has created over a million jobs in the past couple of months. How many jobs did Trump lose because of his incompetence?
SamB
LA: Biden destroyed 10,000 jobs first day in office by cancelling Keystone XL. Biden has “created” zero jobs, these jobs were lost due to covid and are back due to loosening restrictions. Trump created 6.6 million jobs n 2020 before Covid hit.
ZzBomb
@ SamB
Completely untrue and the Keystone pipeline was never going to employ even 1/10th of the jobs you morons claimed it would. Btw, Biden’s economy is already outpacing Trump’s even before the pandemic hit.
Cam
@SamB
That’s funny because even keystone admitted that there would be about 100 American employees. Since you exposed yourself lying so blatantly, should I bother to mock you for the rest of the Keystone topic?
Sure why not….
Of COURSE anti-American Republicans love Keystone. It is a foreign company, that would have pumped low quality foreign oil sands oil across America, to compete on the open market AGAINST America’s own oil.
But who owns those oil sands where the oil comes from? The Republicans donor – Koch brothers.
So again, of COURSE Republicans love Keystone, it does two things they like. It hurts American products and puts money in their donors pockets.
SamB
Cam/WQA: This is why trying to debate with you is futile and I usually don’t do it. 100 employees is ridiculously low. “TC Energy Corp., the Canadian company that owns the pipeline, told PolitiFact that it estimates 1,000 people will be out of work as a direct result of Biden’s order.
The company estimated about 10,400 U.S. jobs and 2,800 Canadian jobs would be created throughout the pipeline’s construction, according to the company’s project overview of the project. Meaning, only 1,000 of those projected jobs have been filled so far.”
Key words there “so far” meaning more to come.
And the foreign oil is coming from Alberta, and it currently still IS being pumped but only up to Steele City, Nebraska.
And how is creating an oil supply with the US’s biggest ally a mistake? If more money was pumped into the project it could make the US largely dependent on Canada over Russia and Saudi Arabia for oil. Independence is a good thing.
But you think assassinating Putin is a good thing, so maybe you can’t see what’s really going on here.
Eternal.Cowboy
“Trump created 6.6 million jobs n 2020 before Covid hit.”
This isn’t accurate at all. Per the Bureau or Labor and Statistics:
Jan 2020 225,000 jobs were added.
Feb 2020 273,000 jobs were added.
Mar 2020 701,000 jobs were lost.
Not only did Trump not create 6.6 million jobs in 2020 before Covid hit, he didn’t even hit half a million. If you are going to make things up at least be in the ball park, not off by 6.1 million.
barryaksarben
SamB – really 10,000. ? LOL there is no way in hell that pipeline employed more than a few hundred. Trump is the one who threw away millions of jobs destroying whole industries realated to stopping global warming and other energy options while propping up coal (AGAIN)
SamB
Eternal: You’re quoting me 3 months, I’m Trump created 6.6 million jobs and they only started to go down because of Covid. Biden has created zero. Any rise in Employment is due to people going back to work.
Barry: That was a quote from the TC Energy Corp. You don’t believe it then take it up with them.
Eternal.Cowboy
@ SamB
Again, I’ll put the quote of what you said;
“ Trump created 6.6 million jobs n 2020 before Covid hit.”
That clearly say Trump created 6.6 jobs in 2020 before covid hit. There were two months in 2020 before covid hit and less that half a million jobs created. Your claim is false.
Cam
@SamB
Ohhhh, so suddenly it’s CANADIAN jobs and CANADIAN oil. Funny how you left that out when you were screaming about Biden cutting those jobs.
PLEASE, by all means, keep posting to defend your lies, every time you do we get to laugh at what a terrible troll you are. Then again, maybe you’re weak from hungers since your rubles aren’t buying as much as they used to.
Rivcuban
Just released today.
Marist College (which gets an “A” in terms of accuracy)…
Approval 48%
Disapproval 50%
——————————————————————————-
Rasmussen (conservative pollster)
Approval 44%
Disapproval 50%
Rivcuban
Debating if Trump was a good president is like debating whether satan is evil. Not going to waste my time.
Rivcuban
BTW. Trump tried to extort lies about Biden’s son from Ukraine in exchange for military aid. Ukraine never got the military aid. Trump hates the USA and only loves himself!
SamB
In March 2016 Biden leveraged one billion dollars in aid to get prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired. Tit for tat buddy. Don’t call out one side and not the other.
Cam
@SamB
Translation: you can’t dispute the comment about Trump’s criminality.
Mister P
San B is like trump here. Nobody likes him.
Rivcuban
No surprise Mister P. :^)
Mack
Nailed it. All SamB does (like Trump) is makes up one lie after the other after the other, after the other and so forth and so on.
Fahd
Senator Graham will say anything to stay “relevant”. Also, I have to say, as if life in South Carolina is so great for the average person there. lol.
Topics like assassinating Putin shouldn’t be discussed on Twitter by a U.S. Senator. They are for other departments of government to address and with appropriate confidentiality.
Rivcuban
So right ZZbomb. 10,000 jobs out of 6.6 million (jobs created under Biden) is 0.151% (which is a negligible amount).
The Accidental Polemicist
Millions were rendered jobless as businesses shut down, and now as the businesses finally open up and people are getting back to their old jobs, Biden is trying to take credit for it. Purposely closing down an economy and then opening it back up is not job creation.
Kangol2
Don the Con closed down the economy in 2020, not Biden, and allowed Covid-19 to rage out of control, along with crime, homelessness, you name it. Under Biden the economy has grown faster in his first year than under any president in the last 50 years. The unemployment rate ticked down from 4% to 3.8% last month. It’s painful for Republicans to admit, but Don the Con crashed the economy worse than George W. Bush. No matter how much you try to spin it, he was a complete disaster. And he was impeached twice, once for trying to extort Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine using $400 million in military aid to smear Joe Biden, and once for staging a failed coup to overthrow a legitimate US federal election.
Cam
@The Accidental Polemicist, I already exposed this screename as annother of SamB’s screenames.
You aren’t clever, you aren’t subtle, and as always, your troll game is sad and weak.
Rivcuban
Yes cam. The dirty tar sands from Canada were all for export to other countries.
white-queer-african
SamB, et al. You clearly becoming very unhinged. Like your fürher Trump. I do feel flattered that you think I am Cam. I am not and you et al is actually dumber than I thought. Sitting on my stoep with my husband and son on the east coast of South Africa, having hysterics telling them about the confused SammyyyBbbb!
SamB
OMG you have the perfect life. I’m very jealous. South Africa is a magnificent place to raise a child. Best of luck.
white-queer-african
SamB et al.
Lol. Lol. Lol. Your sarcasm flies way over my head. Carry on being disillusioned. If it makes you happy?
SamB
WQA: My statements flew WAY over your head, that is absolutely correct. You eat beef or cow?
white-queer-african
Princess SamB et al or should that be tired old cantankerous queen. I was not going to fall for your sarcastic toxic comment as I understand your toxic brain from reading your banal comments. Having been active on Queerty for a number of years, you et al is the most disliked troll. So STFU and crawl back into your trailer.
Cam
@SamB
Hey troll, it’s me! Am I the same person?
Awwww, it’s just so sweet how your rage and obsession with me grew so large you had to include another person in it.
As always, your trolling is like Trump. Sad, poor, and weak.
Prax07
I loathe Graham, but on this one point he’s right, and he’s saying what I’ve been thinking about Putin (and trump).
tjack47
I dislike him, but he’s correct.
Man About Town
I literally LOL’d when I read Marjorie Taylor Greene’s tweet. I guess she thinks she was a leader of “calm mind and steady wisdom” when she heckled Biden in his SOTU speech while discussing his dead son.
The Accidental Polemicist
To be accurate, it was Rep. Lauren Boebert who “heckled” President Biden BEFORE he mentioned the word “son”.
Fname Optional Lname
It was both of them
The Accidental Polemicist
Fname Optional Lname:
No, it wasn’t. It was both of them chanting, “Build the wall!” It is on videotape, go watch it!
Cam
@The Accidental Polemicist, Give it up SamB
dhmonarch89
I’m ALL for killing Putin- why let thousands die when his death would end the whole thing? Label him a terrorist- which he is, and go after him with a drone strike like we do with Al Qaeda.
G R
For once I agree with Miss Lindsey. Putin is evil personified, a stain on humanity and someone that makes 45 look like Glinda the Good Witch. He’ll continue to decimate Ukraine until there’s nothing left for those innocent people to go home to.
The only way this ends is for someone to take this motherfu*ker OUT.
wikidBSTN
I don’t disagree with the sentiment – but maybe it should not be coming from a sitting US Senator making public remarks.
wikidBSTN
Maybe we could do an exchange. They give us Putin – we give them Trump.
Terrycloth
Careful Lindsey. Maybe Putin will have one of his spies t take you.out..dumbass
BDAguy
For the first time in my life I agree with the Senator… that said, where was all of this righteous indignation and firmness when Trump was President and Graham his lapdog? Could it be the good Senator simply wants/needs to silence Putin before whatever Putin had on Trump (and Graham) comes out?
jt1990
Now that’s a great idea Mr. Graham! I’m sure no one, not even the top military strategists in the world have considered that as a solution. Or else they would have publicly announced it…
Next weeks news: former senator dies suddenly from covid
Rangerboy
This is the first sense making comment I have heard from Lindsey Graham in a long long time. People like Putin who start wars in such a manner, like Hitler btw. Deserve to me assassinated. It would save lots of lives, pain, damage. For the first time in a long long time, I agree with him.
dario717
Even blind squirrels find nuts once in a while.
cuteguy
I cannot stand Lady G, but she’s not wrong
LeBlevsez
Graham always looks and sounds like a skittish chihuahua.
Except during an insurrection. Then he’s more like a startled goose, honking at others to save his waddling ass ‘cuz he’s Lindsey Graham, goddamn it!
scrough
Love this pic of Lindsey. Because you know that picture was taken at the urinal.
Ginger Tom
Miss Graham may not have to wait long for that which she desires. Putin does not look a well man, or so it seems to me. He has a very odd walk which suggests he is in a certain amount of pain. I heard what is admittedly a rumour that he is suffering from bowel cancer. At his age it is by no means an impossibility. It might explain why Putin seems especially grim, vindictive and angry and yet at the same time curiously detached, cold, somewhat disconnected and distant.