Trump’s Ally Lindsey Graham Faces Backlash Over Iran War Stance Amid Disney Trip Controversy

The Senate’s most vocal advocate for military intervention surprised many by urging a de-escalation of tensions with Iran.

For weeks, Senator Lindsey Graham was a staunch supporter of military action against Iran. However, he has now shifted his stance, advising Donald Trump to “wind down” military operations and focus on negotiating a peace agreement.

Graham hinted at a broader vision, suggesting that a significant achievement would be Saudi Arabia’s inclusion in the Abraham Accords, thereby formalizing peace with Israel.

“Keep it up, Mr. President,” Graham expressed on X. “Reduce the conflict and increase efforts towards a landmark peace deal.”

While Graham advocated for diplomacy, he did not entirely dismiss the idea of escalation, emphasizing that Iran would need to cooperate.

“I endorse diplomatic measures to resolve the conflict in line with our strategic goals, but collaboration is essential,” he stated.

But it still represented a major shift in tone from when Graham was cheering the President to ‘take Kharg Island,’ Iran’s main oil hub, which would put American ground troops at risk. 

His critics quickly took note of the timing – as he tries to shift the news cycle off his highly panned trip to Disney World amid the partial government shutdown. 

Conservative columnist Lydia Moynihan said on CNN: ‘Well, he went to Disney World this weekend, and I think he wants to bring some of that Disney magic back to Washington, D.C., clearly.’ 

‘Look, I think one thing that’s always been a hallmark of the right is ideological diversity, and I think it’s good for conservatives to push back and make sure that President Trump is not in an echo chamber and that he’s hearing what many in his base think, and so I’m glad to hear that articulated,’ she went on. 

Before his Iran U-turn, conservative pundit Megyn Kelly tore into Graham for the optics of the trip.    

‘He’s frothing at the mouth right now at the thought of thousands of our soldiers going over there,’ she exclaimed on her SiriusXM show Monday.

‘So what is Lindsey Graham doing to support those troops and the families who are preparing to put their lives on the line? He’s at Disney World.’

She also called out Graham for being a ‘single man with no wife, children or grandchildren’ noting he was talking around the Orlando park ‘with a bubble wand.’  

‘There he is in the middle of Disney with a bubble wand. I’m sorry, but motherf***er! Look at him,’ she said of the 70-year-old.

TMZ had asked readers to send in pictures of members of Congress on vacation amid the partial government shutdown, which had left Transportation Security Administration workers without paychecks for weeks, resulting in airport chaos. 

Trump signed an executive order last week to pay TSA employees using a different bucket of money, but the standstill is ongoing on Capitol Hill.

TMZ was able to obtain several photos of Graham walking around Disney World – including enjoying a breakfast at Chef Mickey’s and walking through Space Mountain holding a bubble wand. 

Graham told the celebrity news site that Disney was just a stopover as he worked toward having Saudi Arabia sign the Abraham Accords.

‘I was invited to a meeting in South Florida on Friday with Trump official Steve Witkoff,’ Graham told TMZ. ‘[T]o talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.’ 

‘I went to Orlando to meet friends after. I’m already back in South Carolina,’ he added. 

Previously, Graham said that he was going to ask South Carolinians ‘to send their sons and daughters over to the Middle East,’ a comment that got swiftly rebuked by several Republicans, including those more aligned with Trump’s non-interventionist MAGA movement.

‘Washington’s war machine is hard at work. They are trying to drag us into Iran to make it another Iraq. We can’t let them,’ GOP Representative Nancy Mace posted to X last week. 

‘And yes, when we say Washington’s war machine, we mean Lindsey Graham,’ said Mace, who’s running for South Carolina governor. 

Senator Lindsey Graham announces his reelection campaign earlier this month in Columbia, South Carolina. Graham has received criticism for his Disney trip and for suggesting the US should escalate the war with Iran 

Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a top MAGA ally of the President, slammed Graham for advocating for ‘war everywhere.’ 

‘NO BOOTS on the ground. If Senator Graham wants to go fight in a foreign conflict, let him be the first to volunteer,’ Luna wrote. 

Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Senator John McCain, who had been Graham’s closest friend in the Senate, also went after him. 

‘Nothing like a single, childless, septuagenarian telling American mothers to send their children to possibly die in a war,’ the mother of three posted to X earlier this month.

Mace reveled in the news Tuesday, that Graham had changed his tune.

‘A week ago Lindsey Graham was ready to sacrifice the lives of 7,000 marines invading Kharg Island,’ Mace said. ‘This week he wants to end the war.’ 

‘I’m always ahead of the curve. Some people just take longer to catch up,’ the gubernatorial hopeful posted.

The Daily Mail reached out to Graham’s office for comment.