Lindsey Graham calls Trump a “handful” and a “son of a bitch” in joke-filled remarks at the Jewish summit where the senator said, “You know what we have in common? I like him and he likes him’

Senator Lindsey Graham was in a cheeky mood on Friday evening as he took several lighthearted jabs at his ally Donald Trump.

Speaking to a conference center full of Jewish voters in Las Vegas, Neada, the South Carolina senator said it took a while for him to warm up to the former president, whom he has now endorsed in his third bid for the White House.

There was once a time when Graham ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries and had strong words against his competitor at the time.

“I want to say one thing about Trump,” Graham said Friday. “He’s a handful.”

“But all the bad guys are afraid of him and I’m happy about that,” the lawmaker added in his comments on foreign policy in the Middle East, amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Graham spoke Friday evening at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit at the end of Shabbat dinner.

Between his sentences about Trump, Graham giggled, smiled or downright laughed a little with the crowd. “It’s good to laugh,” he noted at one point.

“So what happened to me and Trump?” Graham asked with a knowing grin.

The comment is ironic, as this is the question many Republicans have asked over the years when it comes to the troubled relationship between Graham and Trump.

Graham was once a staunch critic of the ex-president and now strongly supports Trump. But some speculate that he still doesn’t exactly have the best image of the president. Despite his jokes on Friday, Graham says he came to like Trump.

“I was one of 29 people running for president in 2016,” Graham recalled, exaggerating the crowded Republican Party primary field — but not by much.

“If you don’t remember, it’s not your fault. I didn’t last long,” Graham said self-deprecatingly.

“I hated Trump,” he said to loud laughter from hundreds of members of the Jewish voting bloc, struggling to contain his own giggles. “I thought he was a complete bastard.”

“So I met the man. We play golf together a lot. “I’ve actually grown to like him,” he said.

‘Do you know what we have in common? I like him and he likes him.”

Despite his early endorsement of Trump during the 2024 primaries, it’s not immediately clear whether Graham even wants him as his nominee anymore.

It’s also unclear whether there was any truth to the senator’s jokes on Friday night.

There are about a dozen other Republicans running for the Republican nomination in 2024, but none have come close to closing the gap with Trump in the polls.

“We have a group of people seeking the Republican nomination who are incredibly talented – choose wisely,” Graham said.

Then he laughed, “And we have Donald Trump, who will be here tomorrow.”

Graham and Trump have had a relationship that has been in flux since they crossed paths in the 2016 presidential election. But Graham was an early supporter of Trump in his latest bid for the White House

‘He called me this morning. He said, ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘I’m in Las Vegas.’ He said, ‘I’m coming to Las Vegas.’ I said, ‘I know,'” Graham said.

The South Carolina senator complimented two other Palmetto Staters who participated in the primaries: Senator Tim Scott and former Governor Nikki Haley, who also served as UN ambassador under Trump.

Graham’s comments were filled with joking jabs at Trump on Friday, the day before the ex-president is set to make his own comments to the same group of Jewish voters.

Haley and Scott will also both speak on Saturday.