Presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham has some advice for international negotiators celebrating a deal with Iran over its nuclear program: “When the Iranians say this is a win-win, it probably is not.”
A relaxed version of the South Carolina senator appeared on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Tuesday night, where he talked about his long-shot candidacy, discussed the large and fractious Republican field, and criticized the deal struck with Iran over restrictions to its nuclear program.
He continued with a more nuanced critique, saying that “I wanted a deal that would not make the Arabs feel like they need to get a nuclear weapon,” and arguing that the accord would “create an arms race in the Mideast.”
The Senator also weighed in on the controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants, in which he characterized many as “drug dealers” and “rapists.”
“Well, my initial impression is that insulting a whole class of people is a bad vote. But apparently not,” Graham deadpanned.
“From my point of view,” he added, “I don’t think anybody who wants to be president of the United States should say that most of the 11 million illegal immigrants are rapists and drug dealers when they’re not.”
Graham was also asked about his chances in the increasingly crowded 2016 presidential campaign, which has swelled to fifteen declared Republican candidates after Scott Walker’s announcement this Monday. Most polling on the 2016 race so far has Graham toward the bottom of the pack, and a CNN-ORC poll from late June measured Graham’s level of support at just 1%.
Acknowledging his low standing in the race, Graham joked “this is what happens when you’re at 1%. You show up at 12:30 on television.”
Graham also teased the significance of the all-important early nominating states Iowa and New Hampshire, describing the Late Night audience as “the biggest crowd I’ve had in like two weeks, and asking “anybody from Iowa or New Hampshire? If not, have a good night.”
