MAGA country star boasts he put 'disgusting' Lindsey Graham in his place as Trump watched

Pro-Trump country music star John Rich regaled right-wing commentator Tomi Lahren about the time he put "warmonger" Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in his place at a dinner retreat, while Donald Trump watched.

Prior reporting from 2022 describes a heated meeting involving the three in Nashville, as part of a series of secret dinners Trump hosted with his supporters while trying to get together his comeback campaign. Rich and Graham were said to have clashed over Operation Warp Speed, the emergency program Trump put in place to expedite the development of COVID vaccines; Rich railed against vaccination, while Graham defended the vaccines as a signature accomplishment of the Trump administration. Rich has held a grudge against Graham ever since.

With Graham taking headlines again for being an enthusiastic supporter of war in Iran — something fracturing the MAGA base in two — Rich recounted his clash with the South Carolina senator, and how, in his retelling, Trump loved the sight of Graham getting taken down a few pegs.

"Lindsey Graham is not a conservative," said Rich, as Lahren laughed. "Oh, I can't stand him. He's a warmonger. He's one of the most disgusting people I've ever had the displeasure of sitting across a table from. He called me a conspiracy theorist in front of the President of the United States, yelling at me across the table, swishing his wine around, his third glass of Chardonnay, and Tomi, I tore his arm off and beat him in the head with it, right in front of the president."

"What was Trump's reaction to that, by the way?" asked Lahren. "Because he likes Lindsey Graham and I don't really get it."

"Trump?" said Rich. "Every time I see the president now, he goes, 'John, I've got to get another dinner scheduled and invite Lindsey, because that was one of the greatest takedowns I've ever seen.' I said, 'You know, if I'd have known you were enjoying it, I would have actually said what I was thinking.' He said, 'Oh, we've got to put that together again.' He looked at Lindsey Graham, and he goes, 'Lindsey, I could be wrong, but I don't think John Rich likes you very much, right John? I could be wrong, but wow, what a takedown.' And Lindsey Graham is just looking at me like, oh my."

"You can't have a fear of politicians," he added. "I'm a regular American citizen, they work for us, and you don't interrupt me when I'm talking. No. I shut him down. That was total disrespect, and a lot of them have that attitude. Arrogant, sit down and shut up, you stupid American citizen, we know what we're doing and you don't. A lot of them have that attitude."