An openly exasperated Sen. Lindsey Graham slammed Donald Trump on Thursday for saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a better leader than President Barack Obama.
“Vladimir Putin is a thug, a dictator, an autocratic ruler who has his opposition killed in the streets in Russia,” the South Carolina Republican told reporters on Capitol Hill. “If you are running to be leader of the free world and you find admiration for Putin, well, then, you’re losing me.”
The Republican presidential nominee made his latest comments about Putin at a forum on military and national security issues hosted by NBC on Wednesday evening, but his stance isn’t new. Trump has often expressed admiration for Putin’s leadership, describing him as strong and resolute in contrast to Obama, whom he has painted as a weak and ineffective leader.
Graham said that while he agreed that Obama had failed to stand up to Putin, Trump’s comment crossed the line and “unnerves me to my core.”
“As to President Obama’s policies regarding Putin, I think he’s been weak, I think he’s been indecisive, I think Putin’s walked all over him but no, I’m not gonna say that Putin’s a better leader than the Democratic elected president of the United States, even though I have differences with him,” he said on Thursday.