get watch the biggest political event live, on-demand, anytime, anywhere on our new video app. excess top highlights, this into c-span radio and discover new podcasts. also download c-span now today. ♪ >> south carolina republican senator and former residential

candidates lindsay graham was the keynote speaker at the annual fall fundraiser held by the tarrant county republican party in fort worth, texas. he spoke about the races and is evolving relationship with former president trump. this is about 30 minutes. [applause] >> has anyone ever heard of the lindsey graham.com that is what you get for your money. sen. graham: thank you for the warm welcome. i want you to realize i know what you get when you don't pay. [laughter] i just wanted to say this, i'm

going to donate $5,000 to this. [laughter] on behalf of --, they are going to donate $5,000. [laughter] [applause] we share the values. -- were from south carolina. maybe you should learn from that. [laughter]

he called me and said would you come and you are the artist republican county left. i felt like the least i could do is come if i could and help you raise some money tonight. they are sure they are -- i am sure they are happy they help dupe your work are the guys with the guns -- i am sure they are happy they helped you to. where are the guys with the guns? i hope you enjoyed this. i wanted to get that out of the way. i am here to help you.

[laughter] i wanted to get that out of the way too. you are a lot of fun. the more you drink, the better i sound. [applause] [cheering] i've never met -- running for judge in my life. this is a very dangerous place. [laughter] you all have a lot of judges. god bless you all. [cheering and applause] beth, where are you at? thank you all for -- nancy

pelosi. i know a bunch of you all are running against each other and you all will figure it out. all i can say is we better not screw this up, do you agree? i am honored to be here. have you all been to south carolina [applause] -- south carolina? [applause] we change senators every 50 years whether we need to or not. luckily it was the year before i was born. i got 34 more years to do this. [laughter] i will come on my last year for free again. so let's just talk a little bit about where we are at and where we are going. you all were challenged but you withstood it. the bottom line is liberals hate

this. they are trying their best to turn you the other direction, but you seem to be in good shape . -- and ted cruz are wonderful senators. a queue for sending these to the senate -- thank you for sending these guys to the senate. ted and i have scrapped every now and then but usually we are on the same side. i have never met of our dedicated constitutional conservative in my life. he was stalwart when it came to judges. i appreciate them both. speaking of president trump, we weren't, but we are now.

when i saw that picture, it scared me, i thought he was here. met want to get used to that cut out. -- you might want to get used to that cut out. [laughter] i ran for president 2020 and if you don't remember that it is not your fault. it didn't last long. trump and i didn't see i to i. he said why did you say all of those things to -- about me? and i said i couldn't of anything else to say. he won and i lost period i think he was a hell of a president.

[applause] i got to know him we found common ground. i seemed to like him and he liked me -- and he liked him. [laughter] we played a lot of golf. the first nine holes is when i liked him and the second nine holes is when he liked him. he made a big difference, don't you think? [cheers and applause] we miss him, don't we? i see him on fox all the time.

somebody said he is most honest politician. really bigger than life personality. you could look to her for hope. she was not not afraid to be conservative. i am pushing a bill we are of seven nations in the world that allows baby to be aborted at 20 weeks. we have a heck of an agenda for a lot of people. i want to thank the democratic party for making us look better every day. [laughter] [applause]

thank you. the bottom line is i want you to think about three things come what they have done as democrats, what they would do if they could and how they will try to win. they took a border that was secure and is wide open. if there was a contest to screw up the world, joe biden would have one -- won. how many do you think -- how many of you think kamala harris will be the candidate in 2024? i hope so. the bottom line is look at what they have done in eight months.

they took a secure border. i don't blame everybody in the world coming here, i blame us for letting everybody in the world come here. what is the likelihood of some terrorist from afghanistan will come and visit us? going up every day. the border is in chaos. anybody here in the military? a round of applause. [applause] i saw a purple heart and i said where did you get that because i was in the pentagon in november 11. i said i am honored to be here

and that is why i wanted to donate $5,000. ladies and gentlemen, what happened in afghanistan breaks my heart. i was there with john mccain and others. i have been to afghanistan 57 times since war to try to figure out how to --. what joe biden did allowing the taliban to take over that country is the worst thing since 9/11. too many people died and too many families turned upside down into many families -- lives shattered. let's win in 2022, ok? [applause] i have never been more worried about a terrorist threat like 9/11 than i am now.

how likely for someone from afghanistan to make to the border and kill a bunch of us? do we have any presbyterians here? we are glad to have you. do we have any baptists? a bomb could kill everybody in this room, do you believe that? we are along the taliban to take care of america is that a good idea? that is a dangerous idea. joe biden hasn't done more harm

to our national security in eight months than anyone in modern times. he turned down military advice and the rest is history. inflation is a nightmare for working men and women. my dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. i grew up in the back of the bar and ran pool and i know a liar when i see one. my parents finished high school. joe biden and his crowd are --

job creators of the enemy in their world. we were energy independent and now we are begging them to produce more oil. we shut down our pipeline and let russia build theirs. in 2020, people felt, joe biden sounds good. we need a more moderate fellow. don't you think we were tricked? every day that goes by, tweets and all, donald trump looks better and better. what happened is in eight months the border has become completely surrendered to drug cartels in human trafficking. we surrendered afghanistan to the taliban and terrorists, our economy is going south,

inflation is running rampant, and we lost the ability independent because of the crazy idea of the biden administration. we can't afford to lose again. think that texas has changed the loss in terms of how you vote. now that control there can be cheating. the reason why i know we are doing it right is because the liberals are upset. i american should have the right to vote. [applause] how many believe every american should have the right to vote without cheating? [applause] when you look at 2022, the argument we need to make is somebody needs to slow this down . somebody needs to fire nancy

pelosi. [cheers and applause] they have a four seat majority in the us house of representatives. we could pick up two or three of those seats in texas. everybody in the world is moving to texas. it now i think i know why. to clean up oil. [laughter] i think we are going to pick up 25 to 40 seats in the house because of the backlash. [applause] i believe there is going to be a big backlash. i think we are going to blow it out in the house. what does that mean for you?

that means nancy pelosi can't run the house anymore. that means the train never gets off the tracks. that means the squad aoc had nothing to do. the most radical agenda in my lifetime. we need one more senator. i would take one from california, but they won't let me. if we could pick up one more senator --

[cheers and applause] ladies and gentlemen, one senator would change everything. we could stop a form of these appointments. we would be in charge rather than chuck schumer. we have a chance to pick up a majority in the united states senate. arizona has two democratic senators. i am going to arizona monday to look at the border. we need to stop these people in 2022 so we can win in 2024. [applause]

i am not going to ask the other question. we have a lot of people who would be darn good candidates. mike pompeo would be a heck of a candidate. the bottom line is you have the governor of florida. [applause] 2024 won't matter if we screw up in 2022. do you agree with that? we have to stop this train. we've got to make sure we slow down the socialist agenda and we keep the senate intact. i told you what they have done. tell me that -- let me tell you what they would do if they could. if you don't want to give money after this, that i have screwed

up big time. if they have the ability, the district of columbia would be a state, puerto rico would be a state. there would be 13 members on the supreme court, not nine. the electoral college be abolished. hr one, allowing ballot harvesting would be the law of the land. we have got to manage the senate in a smart way to make sure we don't lose the filibuster before 2022. everyday i go to work i check and see however but he looks physically. just think about what would

happen, one person gets sick. the only thing between us and a transformed america in all the wrong ways is one seat, two senators not willing to go along with chuck schumer. i have done everything but move in with joe manchin. [laughter] so what would happen if we lost more seats in the senate and they were able to change the filibuster, we will not recover from. america will be fundamentally changed forever. abolishing the electoral college needs that new york and california choose the vote of the united states.

packing the court means everything we've worked for all these years is wiped out in one moment. do we have any pro life here? [applause] she is pro-life, and she is who you are. and they didn't destroy her because of kavanaugh. if they had won and we had backed out and thrown in the towel, who would be next wanting

to be a judge? after what he went through, would you want your neighbor to be in washington? what they were willing to do to this man was one of the worst things in my time in the u.s. senate. i have known him for years. if you moved in and was your neighbor you would be lucky to have him. how would you like your life ruined over a party in high school that nobody could remember where it was at and when it happened? and the people who were there so they don't know what you are talking about. how would you like to have three people make false accusations against you to ruin your life. how they were able to do that i will never know it i think the good lord was on his side. [applause]

i want you to understand how they play the game. the only reason anybody listened to me was because i took a lot of krapp because i believe -- crap because i think they should be judges based on the qualifications. ask aaliyah that 96 -- scila got 96 votes. they changed the game. so on the last day of the hearing they said that we got this letter to put in the letter that record. they got a letter from ford and had it for weeks and never

allowed him to answer to the accusations. you wake up to the front page of the washington post. don't you think this was planned? do you know why i would never do this, because i was raised better. [applause] when it comes to the left, they are the most intolerant hateful people on the planet. [laughter] and they play hard. here is what i want you to understand, play hard but don't forget who you are. my mama and daddy said because johnny did it doesn't mean you do it. the republican party believes in stuff. our judges disappoint us every now and then.

judges them for themselves. i've never felt better about the future of the republican party than i do right now. [applause] a senator who worked at chick-fil-a. he is going to take this party to new levels. young girls will understand that conservatism is for them. to the committee of texas, you are future we love you. you work hard. [applause]

this party, our party is on the verge of a breakout. what do we need to do between now and 2022? not eat our own. get the primaries behind us. realize whatever faults you find, compare that to what would happen if the other side wins. i think we are going to blow it out in 2022. i think in 2024 the republican party has a chance to get it all back, the house, the senate, and the white house. [laughter]

i believe from the bottom of my heart that conservatism is the last best hope for mankind. [applause] i believe that america is the last best hope for mankind. [applause] saving america is what we need in the 21st century. i never dreamed i would be in the senate. growing up where i grew up, it just couldn't happen but it did. do you know what i got in the senate, because of people like you. people who believed in me when i was in the statehouse, the first republic and since reconstruction.

the rest is history. every day that i go to work i think, oh my god, how did this happen to me. it happened to me because other people helped me. there are 10 of you who i elected tonight. [laughter] let me tell you what the republican party did for me. they got me on my feet and got me started. make those phone calls, had a good copier. the republican women's federation -- [cheers and applause] when i first ran for the statehouse, we had had a republican since 1873, and it

was the republican federation of women that came. [laughter] -- [applause] it was the republican club which was the average age of about 89-year-old men who made all the phone calls. it was a group that did my first fundraiser and we raised $12,000. [applause] so what am i telling you? without people like you, there aren't people like me. if you don't have a full-time person in this county, you need to go get one.

because if we lose this county, the democrats are going to smell blood, right? i didn't about this country until a day ago. i came because of you. i read up on you and i met you. i feel really good about the future of texas republican policy. [cheers and applause] so enjoy it very much. i am going to watch election night in this county. [applause]

i hope you get 83 in the house and maybe we can pick one up. the state senate, that is a big deal. you are present more people than a member of congress. we have 46, you only have 31. so texas politics is a big meal for -- big deal for america. from the bottom of my heart, i'm glad i came.

i'm glad i gave you money. and god bless texas. [cheers and applause] >> the house is back in session tuesday and will work on a senate bill to increase the debt ceiling to keep the federal government solvent through december 3. the house comes in session at 3 p.m. eastern. all coverage on c-span, online at c-span.org or with the c-span no app. >> browse our latest products, books, home decor. every purchase hopes are nonprofit organizations.

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