South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says Ted Cruz's debate performance shows that he is lost on foreign policy, and compared Donald Trump's foreign policy to "a drunk driver going from one lane to the other."
"Isolationism is in full retreat within the Republican Party," Graham told Brian Kilmeade on his radio show Kilmeade and friends in an appearance on Wednesday. "Events have proved me right, them wrong. I'm very pleased with the way the party is moving: Marco, Jeb, Christie, Carly – all of these folks articulated a foreign policy that I'm comfortable with."
Graham then turned his attention to Cruz, saying, "Ted Cruz's carpet-bombing comments made no sense, and I've been in the Air Force for 33 years. I think that Ted Cruz is a man who is lost. He is trying to be an isolationist when that's hot; he's trying to be a Lindsey Graham-type when that's hot."
Graham saved his harshest criticism for front-runner Donald Trump, who he said "really doesn't understand this war."
"There's three lanes, here," explained Graham. "There's leading from behind by Obama, which is not working. Isolationism, which is a step behind leading from behind. Then there's Donald Trump, which is a drunk driver going from one lane to the other."
"What he is selling is a false sense of security. What he is selling is helping the enemy," Graham continued. "If you're a soldier or a diplomat in the Mid-East, Donald Trump is putting you at risk.
"He appears to be strong, but in my view he is very weak, when it comes to understanding how to win this war."
Graham also told Kilmeade that if he doesn't start rising in the polls, "I'll be in trouble."
"I've gotta show some life here. I've gotta show movement," Graham explained. "I've got a lot of people who believe in me, that want me to stay in this debate, to challenge people who talk about foreign policy in a fashion that will make us less safe, to be a critic of Obama but also to have a way forward, talk about problem-solving."
"I gotta start moving here, Brian," he said. "And time will tell – I hope I do. I've enjoyed the heck out of it."
