In a moment that should embarrass every GOP pol with a shred of pride, Chris Christie publicly outed Sen. Lindsey Graham as the poster child for Republican hypocrisy: the guy who tells MAGA crowds he worships Donald Trump but trash‑talks him behind closed doors.
Christie didn’t whisper this. On HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher during the “Overtime” segment, the former New Jersey governor dropped it like it’s hot: Republicans griping about Trump privately while showering him with praise publicly. He painted a vivid picture of GOP lawmakers giving him a thumbs‑up in the green room, saying Trump is “nuts,” only to turn around and call him “the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln” on camera.
Then Maher pressed for names.
“Bill, ‘Overtime’s not long enough to give you all the names,” Christie said. “But I’ll give you one: Lindsey Graham.” The South Carolina senator, once a harsh Trump critic, is now celebrated as a MAGA standard-bearer — golfing with Trump, praising him publicly, and serving as a loyal Senate ally.
Graham’s transformation is remarkable only if you ignore his 2016 behavior. Back then, he called Trump a “jacka‑‑” for attacking John McCain and insisted the businessman shouldn’t be commander in chief. Trump didn’t forget, even posting Graham’s private phone number to a rally crowd. Fast forward, and Graham is smiling next to Trump at Mar‑a‑Lago and claiming loyalty like a model GOP drone.
Even the brief post-Jan. 6 moral stance — calling the Capitol riot a “self-inflicted wound” — barely lasted. Graham quickly retreated back into MAGA’s warm embrace. By the time Trump endorsed him for reelection, Graham had fully reconciled his public persona with the party line, no matter what he muttered privately.
Christie’s revelation underscores a wider GOP strategy: keep your criticism private, keep your loyalty performative, and make sure no one catches the hypocrisy. Behind every MAGA salute might lurk whispered scorn, but the public image is spotless. Graham embodies that tension perfectly — the ultimate bootlicker who hates the party leader in secret.
So what’s the takeaway from Christie’s on‑air bombshell? It’s this: behind every public MAGA salute might lurk a watered‑down critique whispered in some green room. Graham’s trajectory from critic to bootlicker to secret scoffer says everything you need to know about GOP loyalty in the Trump era — it’s performative, transactional, and utterly without conviction.
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