WASHINGTON, D.C. (KXAN) — On Monday morning, protesters and activists gathered outside the Washington, D.C., home of South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to “wake him up” with pots and pans, strobe lights and audio recordings.
The dozens of gatherers turned out in the dark after the Senator expressed over the weekend that he’d support Pres. Donald Trump’s nomination to replace the empty seat on the U.S. Supreme Court after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Democrats and protesters alike say this is hypocritical, given that Graham backed Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s blocking of President Barack Obama’s 2016 nominee, Merrick Garland, due to the Presidential Election being several months away.
The protest event, was called “Wide Awake,” and protesters were seen banging pots and pans, yelling and playing audio of 2016 quotes from Graham.
“I want you to use my words against me,” Graham said in 2016. “If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said, ‘Let’s let the next president, whoever it may be, make that nomination.”
Nevertheless, Graham tweeted on Sunday:
“I’m dead set on confirming @realDonaldTrump’s nominee.”
The tweet was accompanied by a January 2019 Fox News interview where he claimed that Democrats had “changed Senate rules” by stacking the courts for former President Barack Obama.
Graham elaborated on these “changes” on Twitter, saying Democrats also “chose to try to destroy Brett Kavanaugh’s life to keep the Supreme Court seat open.”
On Sunday, Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden blasted Republicans who are considering moving forward, saying:
“They’ve made this their standard to serve their interests. They cannot, just four years later, change course when it doesn’t serve their ends.”
Joe Biden
Biden explained that he’s asking Senate Republicans who “know deep-down what is right for the country and consistent with the Constitution…not what is best for their party.”
On Sunday, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she will oppose a vote before the Election, joining GOP Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine.