Sen. Lindsey Graham wasn't impressed with this year's Democratic National Convention, because heaven forbid they were mean to poor Trump.
During an interview on this Sunday's State of the Union on CNN, once again free of any fact-checking by host Jake Tapper, Tapper asked Graham if he was concerned about the positive energy the convention generated, the Harris campaign raising "an eye-popping $540 million in 35 days," and whether it's making the Trump campaign nervous.
Graham responded by pooh-poohing the notion that Americans are actually joyful right now, before pretending Trump had anything to do with low gas prices (rather than the fact that people weren't driving during the pandemic), lying that he supposedly had the border secured (he didn't), and blaming the Biden administration for the inflation (rather than the pandemic, supply chain issues and the tight labor market).
GRAHAM: If you're a Republican, you saw a hate fest. You saw a hate fest full of insults.
And Donald Trump said to Barack Obama, you're a nice man after President Obama insulted and jabbed President Trump continuously. It was designed to draw him into an exchange of insults. It was light on policy, heavy on insults.
So I told President Trump then and now, you're going to win this thing if you focus on policy. Americans are not joyful when they go to the gas station and fill up their car. They're not joyful when they make their mortgage payment. They're not joyful when they go to the grocery store. People are hurting.
And this whole joy lovefest doesn't exist in the real world. Gas was $1.87 a gallon when President Trump left office. We had the most secure border in the last 40 years. Inflation was down, not up, and the world was not on fire.
So, 60 percent of Americans are not joyful. They believe their country is going in the wrong direction. And I think President Trump offers the best solution to change the trajectory of the country.
And, finally, if you're waiting on Kamala Harris to come up with new policies, you're going to die of waiting, because she will continue what they have been doing for the last four years.
That's why she has no new policies to offer, because they're going to keep doing the same old thing.
The "same old thing" seems to be working pretty well now since the United States has been recovering faster than other advanced economies from the pandemic.
I hate to break it to Lindsey, but "no joy in America" isn't exactly a winning campaign message, although it does pretty much describe what things are like on his side of the aisle right now.
And Trump doesn't need any help being drawn into "an exchange of insults." Lobbing insults is all he knows how to do.