Lindsey Graham joins 2016 Presidential race
Lindsey Graham, the proud Republican neoconservative, firearms enthusiast and member of the GOP compromising on immigration reform, officially announced his presidential bid on Monday morning in his hometown of Central, South Carolina.
Promising voters an uncompromising fight against foreign adversaries and smaller government at home, Graham became the ninth Republican to announce a White House bid. The GOP field includes three other senators.
“Some of you have known me since I grew up in the back of that bar in that building,” Graham told his audience. “But no one here, including me, expected to hear me say, ‘I’m Lindsey Graham, and I’m running for president of the United States.’”
Invoking Ronald Reagan’s “policy of peace through strength”, Graham said he had “come to the conclusion that we will never achieve peaceful coexistence with radical Islam.”
“I want as president to defeat the enemies that are trying to kill us. Not just penalize them, or contain them, but defeat them,” he said. “Simply put, radical Islam is running wild.”
Graham proudly called for a wider military engagement in the Middle East, living up to his neocon label from critics.
He talked about his youth, his support of gun ownership, but always stayed focused on battling Islamic jihadists.
“I’ve never been more worried about my country than I am today, in terms of radical Islam,” Graham said earlier this year. “And yes, it is radical Islam.”