- Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene are unhappy with Lindsey Graham, a fellow Republican.
- Graham suggested on Thursday that someone in Russia should assassinate President Vladimir Putin.
- Cruz called it "an exceptionally bad idea" and Greene said it was "dangerous" and "unhinged."
Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested on Thursday night that someone in Russia should assassinate President Vladimir Putin — and some of his Republican colleagues aren't happy about it.
Putin is currently leading a brutal invasion of Ukraine, which he's dubbed "a special military operation," causing hundreds of civilian deaths, destruction and devastation of many areas with shelling, and spurring a refugee crisis that threatens to destabilize Europe.
Both parties in Congress are almost unanimously united in opposing Russia's war and supporting the Ukrainian people. President Joe Biden has imposed harsh sanctions on key Russian leaders and oligarchs, but has repeatedly stressed that he has no plans to deploy US troops to defend Ukraine.
In a Thursday night tweet, Graham asked whether there was a "Brutus" or a "Colonel Stauffenberg" in Russia, referring to Marcus Brutus, one of Julius Caesar's allies-turned-assassins, and Claus von Stauffenberg, a Nazi colonel who unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.
"Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?," Graham tweeted.
"The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country — and the world — a great service," he added.
In a follow-up tweet, Graham said "the only people who can fix this are the Russian people."
"Unless you want to live in darkness for the rest of your life, be isolated from the rest of the world in abject poverty, and live in darkness you need to step up to the plate," Graham said.
Two of the most prominent conservatives in Congress quickly pushed back.
Sen. Ted Cruz, one of Graham's colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Graham's tweet "an exceptionally bad idea," saying the US "should not be calling for the assassination of heads of state."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right conservative House member who is known for her inflammatory tweets and statements and was stripped of her committee assignments in 2021 over her own threatening social media posts, found Graham's tweet to be a step too far.
"This is irresponsible, dangerous & unhinged," Greene wrote. "We need leaders with calm minds & steady wisdom."
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a conservative Freedom Caucus member, sarcastically quipped, "When has Sen. Graham encouraging regime change ever gone badly?"
—Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 4, 2022
—Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) March 4, 2022
Graham's suggestion managed to unite the two opposite ends of the political spectrum in bewilderment and concern.
Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a progressive Democrat, tweeted: "Seriously, wtf?"
"I really wish our members of Congress would cool it and regulate their remarks as the administration works to avoid WWlll," she added.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham, one of the network's most prominent and popular opinion hosts, also expressed bafflement and dismay at Graham's suggestion.
"I don't know why a sitting US senator would be tweeting that out. It seems really dangerous and stupid to say that," Ingraham said on her show on Thursday night in a segment with Sen. Tom Cotton. "And we like Lindsey Graham, but that's just a stupid comment."