Sen. Graham: If Kavanaugh Isn't Confirmed, Republicans 'Don't Deserve to Stay in Power'

Following his fiery performance at the Kavanaugh hearing Thursday, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), known for his collegiality, explained why he was so angry and disgusted with Senate Democrats. “Elections don’t matter to them,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “They only matter when they win.”

Graham also had a stern message for his Republican colleagues: If Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh isn’t confirmed, the Republican Party doesn’t deserve to hold its majorities in the Senate and House.

“This is not about finding the truth between Dr. Ford and Brett Kavanaugh,” he explained. “It’s about delaying the hearing to get past the midterms [and] hope they pick up the Senate, and denying this seat [being able] to be filled by Donald Trump,” Graham said.

He added that it wasn’t about the FBI, either. “If really you wanted to know what the FBI thought about this you would have come forward when you first knew about it. It’s certainly not about protecting Dr. Ford. The one thing I learned beyond any doubt today is that they never intended to protect Dr. Ford. And everything I believed I knew about Brett Kavanaugh, I am more convinced than ever that he didn’t do it, that he’s the right guy to be on the court, that Ms. Ford has got a problem, and destroying Judge Kavanaugh’s life won’t fix her problem,” Graham declared. “And if we legitimize this, God help us all because both sides can do this.”

Graham noted that he voted to confirm Obama nominees Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor because they were qualified, not because he agreed with their judicial philosophies because it used to be that “elections matter.”

The senator blasted his Democrat colleagues, saying, “Elections don’t matter to them. They only matter when they win. When we win — when Donald Trump wins — there are no rules, there are no boundaries.” He added, “To my friends on the other side, I would never have done this to one of your nominees, you should be ashamed.”

He also had a message for his Republican colleagues: “If this guy goes down, then we don’t deserve to stay in power.” This echoed what he told them during the hearing: “If you vote no, you’re legitimizing the most despicable thing I’ve seen in my time in politics.”

Graham said that he is “convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Brett Kavanaugh is not the man that they’re trying to make him [into], and this is all political.”

“I will be brokenhearted if the Senate rejects this good man,” he added.