Fervent supporters of President Trump paid tribute to South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham at the Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington on Friday and angrily condemned the Republican as a “traitor” and a “liar” for voting for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to formalize. ‘s victory.
“Traitor! Traitor!” one woman could hear screaming in some videos shared with The New York Times. “You said you had his back and not.”
“Get out of here,” said another woman. Graham shouted, who was once considered Trump’s closest ally in the Senate. “You do not represent America.”
The tense scene witnessed the ongoing crisis in the Republican Party, while lawmakers, their voters and the country withdrew from an uprising by Trump supporters that overtook the Capitol this week as Congress convened to count the electoral votes.
Mr. Graham has not been alone for a long time, as elected Republicans who rejected Trump’s attempt to overthrow the election faced serious setbacks from their own voters, who were persuaded by the president’s false claims that he had won. Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah, also had a nasty airport confrontation with supporters of Mr. Trump, while other Republicans outside the Capitol were housed by voters from their states who traveled to Washington at the request of the president to protest his election defeat.
After four years of standing next to mr. Trump, including some of his unfounded allegations of voter fraud, accused Mr. Graham made a clean sweep Wednesday night after the crowd was purged from the Capitol and said “enough is enough.” He seems to be anticipating the coming crisis.
“I can not convince people, certain groups, by my words, but I will tell you by my actions,” he said in the Senate.
On Friday, Mr. Graham seen another video, posted by Daniel Lippman of Politico, who was escorted by uniformed police officers from the waiting area while several dozen people harassed him. (An earlier version of this post misspelled Mr Lippman’s name.)
“One day they will not be able to walk down the street,” a woman said, wearing a T-shirt with the initial ‘Q’, a reference to QAnon, Trump’s conspiracy theory. “It’s today.”
Mindy Robinson, a self-described conservative activist and commentator, posted another video in which a woman, apparently she, mr. Graham called him a ‘garbage man’.
“It will be like this forever for the rest of your life, wherever you go,” the woman taunts.