Senator Lindsey Graham stirred major controversy over the weekend after delivering a fiery speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. While praising President Donald Trump, Graham’s remarks took a dark and unsettling turn when he appeared to celebrate the government’s recent wave of deadly military actions abroad.
“I feel good about the Republican Party and where we’re going as a nation,” Graham told the crowd enthusiastically. “We’re killing all the right people and we’re cutting your taxes! Trump is my favorite president. We’ve run out of bombs. We didn’t run out of bombs in World War II!”
The audience cheered, but the senator’s comments quickly went viral online — with many people expressing shock at how casually he referred to lethal military operations. Critics accused Graham of glorifying violence and overlooking the human cost of U.S. actions overseas.
Under Trump’s current term, the administration has carried out several high-profile strikes abroad, many of which have sparked outrage among human rights groups. One of the most controversial campaigns involves the ongoing operations against alleged drug cartels in the Caribbean. These strikes have resulted in at least 64 deaths so far, with some being described as extrajudicial killings by legal experts and even a few Republican lawmakers.
Earlier this year, in March, the Trump administration also launched massive airstrikes in Yemen. Those attacks, authorized directly by the president, killed at least 31 people. The strikes were reportedly aimed at Houthi forces, which had retaliated against Israel amid its ongoing siege on Gaza. The White House defended the attacks as acts of defense and deterrence, but international observers have raised serious questions about their legality.
During his speech, Graham also praised the Republican Jewish Coalition — a group known for promoting strong U.S.-Israel relations and conservative political causes. “As a coalition of Republicans — some Baptist, some Jewish — we organize ourselves around principles we love and cherish,” he said. “We love individual freedom, we love entrepreneurship, we love capitalism… we love Israel. We love the idea of Israel, we love the struggle they’ve been involved in, we love helping them because you’re helping yourself.”
However, many critics noted that his words about “freedom” clashed with his apparent enthusiasm for the rising number of U.S.-led killings abroad.
A clip of Graham’s remarks was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by the account Republicans Against Trump, quickly gaining millions of views. The video drew strong backlash from users who accused him of treating war and death like political accomplishments.
Lindsey Graham has long been one of Washington’s most outspoken advocates for military intervention. Over the years, he’s called for U.S. strikes or invasions in countries including Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and even Mexico. To many observers, his recent comments are a continuation of that aggressive worldview — one that prizes military might as the ultimate display of American strength, no matter the cost.
