Lindsey Graham Rebukes Kaepernick, AOC Over Condemnation of Soleimani Killing: 'He's A Loser,' 'Racist'

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham fired back at former NFL player Colin Kaepernick and Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday after they condemned President Donald Trump over the killing of Iran's Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.

Kaepernick took to Twitter this weekend to criticize the United States strike that killed the Iranian general last Friday, which was ordered by Trump. "There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism," the quarterback tweeted on Saturday afternoon. In a follow-up tweet shared one minute later, Kaepernick accused America of using "militarism" to enforce it's agenda onto non-white people.

"America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad," he wrote. "America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world."

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez, along with fellow progressive Democratic lawmaker Ilhan Omar, also criticized Trump on Saturday for allegedly threatening to commit "war crimes" against Iran in a series of tweets. After the president warned that the U.S. had targeted 52 sites in Iran if the Middle East nation decided to retaliate for Soleimani's killing, the congresswomen argued that threatening Iranian cultural sites would amount to a "war crime."

In response, Graham appeared on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures to defend Trump against his critics over the Iran situation.

"Yeah, he's a loser on and off the field," Graham told host Maria Bartiromo in reference to Kaepernick. "He has no idea what the Iranian regime has done to the region, he has no idea that they have 600 American deaths as a result of IEDs made in Iran and used in Iraq."

"It's un-American," he continued. "He's a racist. If you're looking for for racism in America, Mr. Kaepernick, look in the mirror. Your country is not the problem! It's the Iranian and you're so blinded by your hatred of Trump that you can't see the difference between who we are and who the Ayatollah is."

The Republican senator then directed his attention to Ocasio-Cortez. "You do not need congressional authorization to defend troops in the field in harm's way," Graham said. "AOC doesn't know anything about the law of armed conflict, obviously."

Progressives in Congress, including Omar and Senator Bernie Sanders, have previously called for Washington D.C. to stop the Executive Branch from ordering military strikes without authorization from lawmakers. After news of Soleimani's death broke, Sanders on Friday announced his intention to introduce a bill with Democratic Congresswoman Ro Khanna that would prevent Trump from further escalating tensions with Iran.

"I am introducing a bill with Rep. Khanna to stop Donald Trump from illegally taking us to war against Iran," Sanders tweeted. "It's working-class kids who will have to fight and die in a disastrous new Middle East conflict—not the children of billionaires."


Lindsey Graham
President Donald Trump looks on as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks during an event about judicial confirmations in the East Room of the White House on November 6, 2019 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty