Senator Lindsey Graham directly called for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin twice on Thursday, both on Twitter and during an appearance on Fox News.
So many people were shocked by his statements that “resign now” trended on Twitter in response.
“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,” Graham tweeted.
In a follow-up tweet, Graham wrote that the Russian people will live in “abject poverty” and “darkness” unless someone carried out the killing.
The only people who can fix this are the Russian people.
Easy to say, hard to do.
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.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 4, 2022
“The only people who can fix this are the Russian people. Easy to say, hard to do. 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.”
Graham made nearly identical comments during his appearance on Fox News.
WATCH: U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham calls for President Putin’s assassination pic.twitter.com/pCmXqzee72
— BNO News (@BNONews) March 4, 2022
Fox host Sean Hannity, who has also been openly calling for escalation with Russia, brought up a law forbidding US government employees from engaging in political assassination and asked if it was time to revisit the rule.
Sean Hannity references a decades-old rule forbidding US government employees from engaging in political assassination:
“When it comes to Putin, is it time to now revisit that rule?” pic.twitter.com/f9Lcn1PBl5
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) March 3, 2022
Graham faced swift backlash on social media, with “RESIGN NOW,” “Lindsey Graham,” “John McCain,” and several other related phrases trending throughout the evening.
The calls for his resignation came from all over the political spectrum, as people demanded that he was looking to push the US into a third World War.
Author and political commentator Jack Posobiec’s response calling for Graham’s resignation amassed over 20,000 “likes” in approximately six hours.
Resign. Now
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 4, 2022
Resign now is trending because Lindsey Graham got a couple of cosmos in him at happy hour and decided to start threatening world leaders…
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) March 4, 2022
Rep. Matt Gaetz also weighed in, asking, “when has Sen. Graham encouraging regime change ever ended badly?”
When has Sen. Graham encouraging regime change ever ended badly? https://t.co/W1SbvuMVtP
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) March 4, 2022
Chris Hayes of MSNBC wrote that he is “gobsmacked” at how reckless Graham’s tweet was.
Honestly gobsmacked at how reckless that Lindsey Graham tweet is.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 4, 2022
Former Blaze reporter Jon Miller added, “he’s been sending his own citizens to the slaughter for 20+ yrs so that’s hardly his worst. There’s nothing these people love more than bloodshed. It’s the edgy right wing jokes that are morally repugnant.”
Oh Lindsey Graham called for Putin’s assassination on national TV? Shock. He’s been sending his own citizens to the slaughter for 20+ yrs so that’s hardly his worst. There’s nothing these people love more than bloodshed. It’s the edgy right wing jokes that are morally repugnant.
— JON MILLER (@MillerStream) March 4, 2022
Lindsey Graham has never seen a country he doesn’t want to bomb.
— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) March 4, 2022
Graham calls for assassination of Putin. Because that worked so well in Libya. pic.twitter.com/enb8jt8hkt
— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) March 4, 2022
“Graham calls for assassination of Putin. Because that worked so well in Libya,” Max Abrahms, a professor at Northeastern University and expert on international security and US foreign policy, wrote.
