Lindsey Graham on Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's Relationship: 'This Love Crap Needs to Stop'

Senator Lindsey Graham blasted President Donald Trump's relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday, saying that the "love crap needs to stop."

"I'm telling President Trump: 'Enough with I love you,'" Graham said during an interview at the Atlantic Festival. "From my point of view, this love crap needs to stop. There's nothing to love about Kim Jong Un."

The senator was referring to comments the president made last week at a rally in West Virginia, in which he said his relationship with Kim had grown exponentially since their historic meeting in Singapore this past June.

"I was really being tough and so was he," Trump told the crowd. "And we would go back and forth. And then we fell in love, OK? No really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they're great letters. And then we fell in love."

Graham remains skeptical of the newfound friendship and said that he is "worried" that North Korea is trying to manipulate and divide the United States from South Korea.

"I'm worried that we are being played here," he told The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. Graham was greeted at the festival with boos from the audience after saying that Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has been "treated like crap" after being accused by three women of sexual misconduct.

Goldberg asked the senator why he thinks Trump is cozying up to the North Korean leader.

"He's trying to pull [Kim Jong Un] in his orbit. Charm works, insults work," Graham replied. "But this is different."

graham
Senate Judiciary Committee member Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, listens to testimony from Christine Blasey Ford on Capitol Hill, September 27. During an appearance at the Atlantic Festival on Wednesday, Graham said he... Win McNamee/Getty Images

Graham added that the president has put himself in a difficult situation and that he has to deliver on getting Kim to give up his nuclear weapons program or nothing will change between the two countries.

Denuclearization was the No. 1 topic at the summit between the two leaders in Singapore earlier this year. Trump said that after their one-on-one meeting, Kim agreed to immediately start working toward dismantling the nuclear program.

At the United Nations General Assembly in September, Trump said that a second summit with North Korea is likely to happen "quite soon." After their first meeting in June, Trump said he would even be willing to invite Kim Jong Un to the White House.

"If Rocket Man believes that he's got Trump loving him and backing off, then we are all in trouble," Graham said.

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Alexandra Hutzler is currently a staff writer on Newsweek's politics team. Prior to joining Newsweek in summer 2018, she was ... Read more

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