The Republican senator from South Carolina, who has previously fought with Trump, tweeted a story from CNN on Republicans not ready to back Trump just yet -- and revealed he intended to support the President.

"As to the 2020 presidential race, I believe President @realDonaldTrump will run for reelection and I intend to support him," he wrote on Twitter.

He later told CNN's Manu Raju, "The Trump movement is real ... he will be our nominee, I'm confident of that, and I will support him."

Hardly any would offer a categorical endorsement of the President. Graham and Trump haven't always had the most stable relationship. During the election, the two sparred often when they ran against each other for the Republican nomination -- with Graham eventually endorsing Trump for the presidency. Since Trump's inauguration, Graham has cozied up to Trump, especially during the Obamacare debate, but found himself in a confrontational role with the President again when it seemed he might fire special counsel Robert Mueller earlier this year. </s> While some Republicans hesitate on whether or not to publicly support a Trump re-election at this point, two South Carolina politicians are making it clear where they stand.Lindsey Graham, a U.S. Senator from South Carolina, vowed to support Trump in 2020 in a Thursday morning tweet that linked to a CNN article quoting 11 Republicans who either stopped short of endorsing Trump in the next presidential election or just plain refused to."I'm worried about my own race right now," said Republican Congressman Mark Sanford of South Carolina in the CNN article.Sen. Graham, who has represented the state in the upper chamber of Congress for 15 years, doesn't seem to feel the same pinch."I expect we will — at times — continue to have differences," Sen. Graham wrote in one tweet. "I will continue to speak my mind, just like I know he will. I think that makes us both better."Graham's thoughts on Trump are, understandably, complicated. After calling him a "kook" in 2016, he lambasted the media's "endless attempt to label the guy as some kind of kook unfit to be president" during a TV appearance in November.Gov. Henry McMaster followed with his own tweet an hour later, posting a photo of him shaking hands with 45."President Trump has done an outstanding job delivering results for the American people," McMaster wrote. "I was proud to be one of the first to stand with him in 2016, and I proudly support him now."Most Republicans asked about the next election said they were concerned about other issues, and that 2020 was far from their minds."I've supported the President in the past and support him now but three years from now?" Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told CNN. "I think the midterms are a long ways away in terms of politics; I don't get involved that far ahead."President Trump has a a disapproval rating of 54.2 percent and an approval rating of 40.2 percent, according to a poll aggregator run by FiveThirtyEight. His approval rating is lower than that of the past five commanders-in-chief at the same point in their presidencies.A Winthrop University poll found that Trump's support among S.C. Republicans hovered at a comfortable 80 percent, though his support among the general population sat at 47 percent. </s> (CNN) — South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham forcefully defended Brett Kavanaugh against an allegation of sexual assault during a tense Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday and accused Democrats of wanting to “destroy” the life of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

Immediately following an aggressive line of questioning by Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, Graham said angrily, “What you want to do is destroy this guy’s life, hold this seat open, and hope you win in 2020.”

The Republican from South Carolina then turned his attention back to Kavanaugh and asked: “Are you a gang rapist?” Kavanaugh replied: “No.”

The Republican senator also asked Kavanaugh, “Would you say you’ve been through hell?” Kavanaugh responded, “I’ve been through hell and then some.”

Graham expressed sympathy for the Supreme Court nominee and his family, saying, “I cannot imagine what you and your family have gone through.” He added, “I hope the American people can see through this sham.”

During Thursday’s hearing, senators have had the option to hand off their questioning to Rachel Mitchell, a career prosecutor with decades of experience prosecuting sex crimes. GOP senators opted to defer to Mitchell during questioning of Christine Blasey Ford, while Democrats asked their own questions. Graham appeared eager to speak himself, however, when it came time to question Kavanaugh, and several Republicans followed his lead.

Graham had a message for Republicans on the panel as well, saying, “To my Republican colleagues, if you vote ‘no’, you’re legitimizing the most despicable thing that I have seen in my time in politics.” He told Kavanaugh that he hopes the nominee ends up on the Supreme Court, saying, “that’s exactly where you should be.”

White House officials such as Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Sarah Sanders praised Graham’s comments.

“.@LindseyGrahamSC has more decency and courage than every Democrat member of the committee combined. God bless him,” Sanders tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Graham compared the judge’s treatment to Ford’s experience, the woman who came forward to accuse him of sexual assault.

“I’m not going to reward people for playing a political game, I think, with her life,” Graham said. “She is just as much a victim of this as I think Brett Kavanaugh (is). Because somebody betrayed her trust, and we know who she gave the letter to.”

Graham made those comments to reporters on Capitol Hill following Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and ahead of Kavanaugh’s scheduled reappearance before the panel. Kavanaugh testified later on Thursday afternoon.

Graham expressed deep seated anger with his Democratic counterparts for their handling of the accusations from Ford and for California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s decision not to inform others about the allegations after Ford reached out to her confidentially earlier this year.

He accused Democrats further of trying to use the allegations against Kavanaugh to delay the confirmation process and ultimately prevent President Donald Trump from getting Kavanaugh on the court.

“All I can say is that we’re 40-something days away from the election.” Graham said. “And their goal, not Ms. Ford’s goal, is to delay this past the midterms so they can win the Senate and never allow Trump to fill the seat.”

Graham called Ford a “nice lady,” but said her story was uncorroborated and pointed to Kavanaugh’s denial of her allegations. He suggested a rejection of Kavanaugh’s nomination based on these allegations would set a bad precedent as well.

“God help anybody else that gets nominated,” Graham said.

He also took issue with the notion of waiting for an FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh.

“The FBI is going to tell us what?” Graham said. “What house are they going to go to? What city are they going to go to? Who are they going to talk to? Because they tell us the month, barely the year, so this is all delay?” </s> Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said Thursday morning that it's too early to say whether he'll support a re-election bid for Donald Trump in 2020, adding to a growing list of conservatives on Capitol Hill who are holding out their endorsements for their party's President.

"It's way too early to be talking about 2020," Johnson told CNN's "New Day" co-anchor Chris Cuomo. "It could be a completely different world by 2020. We have a 2018 election first."

Johnson called the prompt for Trump's endorsement a "gotcha question," adding that he thinks "it's unusual that members of the media would be talking about the 2020 election in 2018."

Johnson joins a wide array for House and Senate GOP members not yet ready to endorse Trump. CNN reported Thursday that Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander and South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford are among the Republicans who are holding out their official support for Trump in 2020. </s> The Latest: Warren says Trump may not be 'free' in 2020

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — The Latest on Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, who is campaigning in Iowa (all times local):

Democrat Elizabeth Warren says President Donald Trump "may not even be a free person" by next year's election.

The Massachusetts senator's comments came Sunday as the Democratic presidential candidate campaigned in Iowa a day after Trump renewed his criticism of her past claims of Native American heritage. In a tweet, Trump called Warren "Pocahontas" and said he would see her "on the campaign TRAIL."

The White House didn't explain what the president was referring to in his tweet, though some Democrats accused him of making light of the Trail of Tears — the forced removal of Cherokee and several other Native American tribes from their lands in the 1830s. Warren's campaign wouldn't say what the senator believes Trump was referencing.

Warren has largely avoided talking about Trump since she began testing the waters for a campaign more than a month ago.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is returning to South Carolina this week as part of a tour of early voting states following the official launch of her 2020 presidential campaign.

Warren's campaign says the Massachusetts Democrat will make her first trip to Greenville on Saturday for an organizing event. She did something similar last month in the state capitol of Columbia.

Warren's South Carolina swing overlaps with Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who is also eyeing the White House. Harris will be in the state on Friday and Saturday.

Warren officially announced her candidacy Saturday in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and is visiting New Hampshire and Iowa this weekend.

In addition to South Carolina, she is also making stops in Georgia, Nevada and California. </s> RINO Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and his bud John McCain, are known neo-cons, aka warmongers for Israel.

Two days ago, on April 16, 2018, Graham criticized the Trump Administration’s April 14 firing of 105 missiles at Syrian government targets over an alleged, wholly unverified chemical attack in Douma, a suburb of Damascas (more on this latest Syrian crisis later, in a post to come).

Graham criticized President Trump for not doing enough, calling the bombing a “major step backwards” because the missile-strikes had failed to weaken Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government.

A lifelong bachelor, RINO Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is long rumored to be homosexual.

As an example, in a speech at a TEA Party event in Greenville, SC on April 17, 2010, William Gheen, President of Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC), said:

“US Senator Lindsey Graham is gay and while many people in South Carolina and Washington DC know that, the general public and Graham’s constituents do not. I personally do not care about Graham’s private life, but in this situation his desire to keep this a secret may explain why he is doing a lot of political dirty work for others who have the power to reveal his secrets. Senator Graham needs to come out of the closet inside that log cabin so the public can rest assured he is not being manipulated with his secret.”

Now Wayne Madsen, who calls himself America’s foremost “independent” journalist, publicly declares Israel has the goods on Graham and is using his closeted homosexuality to blackmail him.

Yesterday, April 17, 2018, in an interview on PressTV, Madsen said:

“Graham is a well-known neoconservative war hawk. He was hoping obviously that John Bolton, who’s his fellow traveler in neoconservative circles and the new national security adviser, that we would see a more sustained military attack against Syria. What Lindsey Graham wanted to see of course was a US attack on Syrian airfields, infrastructure, the presidential palace, and on the nationals of Russia or Iran or Lebanon, and members of Hezbollah killed. That’s just fine for Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham does not care about putting the world on the brink of World War 3. And I think the reason for that is the fact that Lindsey Graham, who comes from a very conservative state, South Carolina, the Israelis have significant blackmail information on Mr. Graham having to do with his homosexual lifestyle.”

The identification of Israel’s interests as America’s interests is best illustrated by an Israeli stamp (below) that was issued upon the inauguration of the Zionist Organization of America House in Tel Aviv.

Founded in 1897, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is the first official Zionist organization in the United States, and the primary representative of American Jews to the World Zionist Organization. ZOA was instrumental in mobilizing the support of the U.S. government, Congress, and the American public for the creation of Israel in 1948. Following the founding of Israel, and to unify Jewish representation with the executive branch of US government, the ZOA became a charter member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

As you can see, the stamp places the ZOA building in front of the Manhattan skyline:
• New York Times: Israeli and other foreign intelligence have the goods on pedophile D.C. politicians
• Threat to free speech: Unconstitutional S720/HR1697 will make it a felony to support anti-Israel boycott
• Congressional Resolutions (HRes 257, SR 118) will sic law enforcement on you for ‘hating’ Muslims, Jews, or blacks
• Israeli intelligence chief said Israel does not want ISIS to be defeated </s> Southaven, MS - President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Southaven, Mississippi on Tuesday, Oct. 2.

Trump predicts havoc if Democrats take over Congress

As the fate of his Supreme Court pick hangs in the balance, President Donald Trump barnstormed for a Republican Senate candidate in Tennessee, warning that Democrats will unleash havoc if they gain control of Congress and accusing them of trying to sink his nominee.

“A Democratic takeover of Congress will plunge our country into gridlock and chaos and take away all of the wealth that you’ve earned over the last 20 months,” Trump warned Monday night, claiming without evidence that the stock market would plummet, 401(k)s disappear, taxes rise beyond “your wildest imagination,” and crime go through the roof.

It was a dire picture painted by a president eager to convince his raucous supporters of what’s at stake in November as he headlined a high-dollar, closed-door fundraiser and appeared at a packed rally in Johnson City to boost U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn in her tight Senate race against the state’s Democratic ex-Gov. Phil Bredesen for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Bob Corker.

Trump praised Blackburn as a “true fighter” for the state, telling the crowd, “She’s all about Tennessee values.”

“A vote for Marsha is really a vote for me,” he said.

Bredesen, like other Democratic candidates across Trump country, has painted himself as a pragmatist willing to work with the president on certain issues. The Tennessee campaign is among several closely watched races expected to determine control of the Senate, where Republicans are desperate to defend a narrow two-seat majority in the face of surging Democratic enthusiasm.

And the stakes couldn’t be clearer. The rally came as the FBI investigated sexual misconduct allegations against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh — a probe that was forced by a small group of undecided senators who could doom the nomination. Earlier Monday, Trump disputed reports that his White House tried to narrow the scope of the probe and limit which witnesses the FBI could interview, saying he wants them “to do a very comprehensive investigation, whatever that means.”

But Trump was far less sympathetic in front of his enthusiastic rally crowd, accusing Democrats of trying to slow down the investigation and insisting that nothing will come of it.

“If we took 10 years, they’d want more time,” he complained, charging that Democratic senators are “willing to do anything or hurt anyone” to subvert his agenda, including taking down his nominee.

“They’re trying to destroy a very fine person, and we can’t let it happen,” Trump said.

Kavanaugh has staunchly denied allegations now leveled by multiple women, including one who testified that he pinned her against a bed, groped her, tried to take her clothes off and covered her mouth to silence her when they were in high school.

The rally was the first of a busy week of campaign travel for the president that will take him to states including Mississippi, Minnesota and Kansas.

Previewing his own re-election playbook, Trump criticized a number of rumored 2020 presidential opponents, including Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Vice President Joe Biden.

“We call him 1 percent Biden,” said Trump, claiming that his political career was finished until former President Barack Obama “took him off the trash heap.”

Trump, who railed against the North American Free Trade Agreement during his 2016 campaign, also hailed the revamped trade agreement with Canada and Mexico unveiled late Sunday, drawing loud cheers from his crowd.

But Trump spent far more time railing against “radical Democrats,” who he said had been “in a blind rage” since his election win.

“They’ve gone crazy,” he said. “Trying to burn our future down.”

Blackburn’s contest, in a state that Trump won by 26 points, has drawn heavy interest from the White House, with repeat visits by both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Bredesen has tried to distance himself from the national Democratic Party, presenting himself as an independent thinker who will support Trump’s policies when they’re beneficial to the state.

The former two-term governor, who would be the first Democrat to win a Senate campaign in Tennessee since Al Gore in 1990 if he’s victorious, has run TV ads in which he says that he’s “not running against Donald Trump” and learned long ago to “separate the message from the messenger.” He held an event Monday night in Chattanooga that he’d hoped would be a debate with Blackburn, and he has been needling her for not agreeing to one there.

“Presidential visits are good for fundraising, but I’ve found that Tennesseans are independent thinkers who can make up their own minds,” Bredesen said in a statement after Trump’s visit.

Trump, as he has in other states, argued that Bredesen is not the centrist he says he is and will wind up voting with Democratic leaders including Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi if he gets to Washington.

Copyright 2018 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> With the election of six new Republicans this month and a runoff victory Tuesday for staunch Trump ally Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, the U.S. Senate will now be more pro-Trump than ever.

In 2016, many Republicans had hoped to win despite Trump, rather than because of him. In 2018, it was Trump’s endorsement and repeated rallies in their states that helped propel GOP candidates to victory.

Now lawmakers owe him and will be eager to champion the president's agenda. Depending on the outcome of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, they might even provide a bulwark protecting Trump from impeachment.

“These are the individuals who embraced the Trump agenda, ran with Trump and had unwavering support,” Trump’s former campaign manager and current adviser Corey Lewandowski told USA TODAY. “That is going to translate when they get to Washington to help Trump be successful.”
• North Dakota senator-elect Kevin Cramer, who had been his state's sole congressman, was personally recruited by Trump to run for Senate and served as the Trump's energy adviser during the presidential transition.
• Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who will be the first woman senator from Tennessee, was a top surrogate during Trump’s campaign.
• Incoming Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the state’s current governor, was one of the first prominent Republican politicians in the nation to back Trump's candidacy in 2016 and has known him for decades.
• Indiana businessman Mike Braun and Missouri’s Josh Hawley, the state’s attorney general, unabashedly praised the president on the trail.
• Hyde-Smith, who beat Democrat Mike Espy in a runoff election, strongly supported Trump in the Senate since being appointed this year to fill an open seat. The president defended her after she made "public hanging" remarks many considered racially insensitive.

They were all rewarded during the campaign with frequent visits from the president, Vice President Mike Pence and Trump family members.

"He made my candidacy better just by being connected," Cramer told USA TODAY during an interview on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., center, meets with incoming GOP senators for the 116th Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14, 2018. From left are, Sen.-elect Mike Braun, R-Ind., Sen.-elect Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Sen.-elect Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Sen.-elect Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Sen-elect Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Sen.-elect Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

The GOP also has a wider 53-47 margin after the midterms, thanks to Republicans flipping four Democratic seats while holding onto two open seats. Democrats picked up two GOP seats, giving Republicans an overall two-seat gain.

The incoming group may end up being Trump’s final protection against impeachment. The House flipped to Democratic control earlier this month, picking up nearly 40 GOP seats. Democrats are expected to open investigations into the president and his administration as soon as they take over committee gavels. That could lead to impeachment proceedings, though Democratic leadership denies it’s their goal.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host who is now vice chairwoman of a pro-Trump super PAC, said it's “hugely important” to have allies to provide “strong support” for the president in impeachment proceedings and say "listen, the country doesn’t need this."

Guilfoyle traveled the country with her boyfriend, the president's son Donald Trump Jr., in the final weeks campaigning for Republicans, including Cramer, Braun and Scott.

Divided government also means there likely will be showdowns over legislation on immigration, government funding and protections for special counsel Robert Mueller.

Already, Congress is at an impasse over government spending because of Trump’s demand for increased border wall funding. Some of Trump’s judicial nominations have been blocked over unrelated demands to bring up a bill that would protect Mueller. If those fights spill over into the next Congress, new senators will have a say in how to proceed.

Some of the group have echoed the president’s characterization of the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as a “witch hunt.” Cramer said he doesn't think the president should fire Mueller, but said the investigation has failed to restore confidence in the justice system. This summer, Hawley said the president’s assertion he could pardon himself was “an open question.” And he said he understood why Trump was frustrated with the probe, according to The Kansas City Star.

The wider GOP margin, stacked with Trump allies, could also widen the leeway for tough votes and help usher through the president’s picks for the court and administration.

Republican Senator elect from Utah Mitt Romney (L) walks with Republican Senator elect from Missouri Josh Hawley (R) following the Republican leadership elections in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Nov. 14, 2018.

But there is one new Republican senator who worries some Trump allies with his independence.

“I think that Mitt Romney is going to be a thorn in the president’s side,” Lewandowski said. The former Massachusetts governor ran unsuccessfully for president in 2012 was critical of Trump during the 2016 election, calling him “a phony” and “a fraud.”

Romney and Trump eventually patched things up and he was briefly considered as Trump’s secretary of State. Trump endorsed Romney for his Utah Senate run, but Romney has kept the president at arm’s length.

Democrats worry that replacing some of the most moderate senators in the chamber with Trump allies will make it harder to make deals. “Voters and Americans thought that there was gridlock in the Senate and in Congress before. I think that is only going to get worse,” said Tara McGowan, the head of ACRONYM, a progressive digital startup.

More: Meet the Democrats who could lead the investigations into President Donald Trump

More: Donald Trump still faces Senate headaches despite a wider Republican majority

Others say these new members will act like Republicans, not Trump clones.

”A lot of Republican senators in the senate had come to a pretty stable conclusion that they were going to ignore (Trump) on the legislative side, but they were going to defend him,” said Matt Glassman, senior fellow at the Georgetown University Government Affairs Institute.

But defending Trump may have limits, even for some of his strongest supporters. When the president attacked two cable news hosts and said one had been bleeding from a facelift, Blackburn said the tweets were “were a step too far.”

Scott, who won by a tiny margin in Florida after a recount, ran a Spanish-language ad during the campaign that said he didn’t always agree with the president. Trump has insulted Hispanics with his immigration stance and by calling those who cross the border illegally "animals" and "rapists." Scott also said he disagreed with the president's assessment that Democrats had bolstered the Puerto Rican death toll for political reasons.

Chris Harline, a spokesman for Scott, said he has "shown that he’s willing to break with the president.”

Cramer left open the possibility of himself breaking with the president on issues that require compromise with Democrats, such as immigration. But he added he thinks the president has offered up a fair solution.

"My comfort will be determined by what I believe to be in the best interest of North Dakota and the country," Cramer said. "He's popular out there, but so am I." Cramer said he likes to remind Trump his margin of victory was higher than the president's in 2016.

Cramer pointed out newly elected members could have opportunities for compromise. As if on cue, Vermont Rep. Peter Welch, a progressive Democrat, interrupted the conversation to congratulate Cramer on his Senate win. "I love him," Cramer said as Welch walked away.

Rory Cooper, a Republican strategist for former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor but no fan of Trump, said, “Just because you act like a Republican does not mean you’re Trumpian. It just so happens that Trump is acting like a Republican when it comes to the Trump agenda."

The president should have an easier time directing his party, now that two of his most vocal GOP critics are on their way out. Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who didn't run for re-election, will be replaced by Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. Outgoing Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker's spot went to Blackburn.

“I hope that senators will show independence. That’s usually why you have six-year terms. And this institution has a lot of oversight responsibilities with the administration, obviously,” Flake told USA TODAY. “I’m sure some of them will.” </s> Texas Senator Ted Cruz said that he would support President Trump's reelection bid in 2020, almost two years after he raised hackles when he refused to endorse then-candidate Trump during the 2016 Republican National Convention.

"I was supportive of and campaigned for President Trump in 2016, and I am very encouraged with the substantive policy victories we are getting, whether it is an historic tax cut bill, whether it is regulatory reform that’s unleashing jobs, whether it is repealing the Obamacare individual mandate — which I led the fight to do in the United States Senate — whether it is nominating and confirming strong constitutionalists to the courts," Cruz told Breitbart.

"On all of those fights I’ve been working to lead the battle. I’m content to continue working to lead that battle and defend our freedoms and defend the Constitution."
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham states that he will support Trump in the 2020 elections.