Lindsey Graham Slams Democrats: If Filibuster Is ‘Tool of Racism, Why Did They Use It So Much?’

US Senator Lindsey Graham holds a media conference at JW Marriott Hotel in Ankara, on Janu
ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) defended the filibuster on Thursday, which his Democrat colleagues have routinely characterized as racist, questioning why the left has used the supposed “tool of racism so much” when they were in the minority.

“The President of the United States … has called every Republican, every person who supports Georgia voting reform, Jim Crow 2.0,” Graham said at a Thursday press conference alongside Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX).

“The terms being used to try to bully us into agreeing to this agenda won’t work,” he said, noting he wants to work with Democrats on police reform.

“So to my Democratic colleagues, playing the race card won’t work. It diminishes you, not us,” he said. “There is nothing racist about keeping the filibuster.”

“And here’s the question. If it’s a tool of racism, why did they use it so much when they were in the minority?” Graham asked. “Why did they use it to stop [Sen.] Tim Scott’s ability to have a discussion about police reform? This is hypocrisy and it’s not going to work.”

Indeed, several Democrats have continued to describe the filibuster, which they seek to nix to advance their radical agenda, as a “relic” of Jim Crow.

“You lost all credibility when you stole a Supreme Court seat,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said in response to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warning of a “scorched-earth Senate” in January.

“The filibuster is a Jim Crow relic. It represents everything wrong with Washington. Abolish it,” she added:

On Wednesday, freshmen Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) took it a step further, declaring that “the Jim Crow filibuster” is “killing us.”

“There are no Black women in the Senate. They don’t have our voice there to tell them that the Jim Crow filibuster is killing us,” she said, announcing an upcoming press conference to “make it clear” that the filibuster must be eliminated to “save lives”:

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