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Lindsey Graham calls for Putin to be killed, Internet replies 'sit this one out'

'The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out,' tweets Senator, furious Internet hits back telling him to shut up

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham caused a massive uproar on Twitter on March 3, 2022, after calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be assassinated. The shocking tweet, which is still up at the time of publication was met with widespread condemnation and trolling, as many users noted how the GOP rallied around Putin even days after he began his invasion of Russia. 

While Russia continues its violent and brutal campaign in Ukraine, over in the US, there appears to be more division than unity over the response. On February 24, Rep. Eric Swalwell caused an uproar when he tweeted "Republicans are rooting for the Russians." In part, that does appear to be true, thanks to none other than Donald Trump himself. In several comments since the war began, Trump has praised Putin as a "genius". So far, no Republicans have come forward to reprimand Trump, at least publicly. 

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However, it appears that some Republicans are since breaking away from that stance, and now directly attacking Vladimir Putin. Take, for example, Senator Graham whose shocking tweet did more than slam Putin for his violent war. 

'Is there a Brutus in Russia?'

"Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military? 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," Graham tweeted on March 3. He followed that up with another saying, "The only people who can fix this are the Russian people. Easy to say, hard to do. 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."

The tweet makes Graham one of the most high-profile Republicans to directly attack Putin, while others carefully toe the line between calling for Ukraine's defense, and not explicitly slamming Putin. Interestingly, Graham also made the same call during an appearance on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News.

While many may agree with Graham's sentiments, the fact that it came from a sitting US Senator didn't go down well with social media. In response, Rep. Swalwell tweeted, "Remember when you could have legally taken out the biggest threat to our democracy by voting to acquit him for the crimes of January 6? Sit this one out, Lindsey."

'Lindsey Graham is a deranged warmonger'

Others who responded to Graham were less diplomatic. "Probably not the most responsible thing for a U.S. senator to tweet," one person noted. Another said, "Honestly gobsmacked at how reckless that Lindsey Graham tweet is." A third commented, "Lindsey Graham is a deranged warmonger. Pass it on." A fourth mocked, "Resign now is trending because Lindsey Graham got a couple of cosmos in him at happy hour and decided to start threatening world leaders..."

"The Republican is utterly and completely unhinged. Lindsey Graham is a U.S. SENATOR calling for the assassination of Putin on a social media platform," one person tweeted. Another joked, "I never thought I’d want Lindsey Graham to go back to kissing ass." One user replied to the tweet by saying, 'I don’t know if this was written by a United States Senator or a comms staffer, but either way you should lose your job."

Many users also called on Graham to resign, but those calls will almost certainly fall on deaf ears. Others wondered if the tweet would get Graham suspended from Twitter, in line with the company's policies. So far, there's no word on whether Twitter will act, but that could change as the tweet gets more traction.