Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is being criticized after being spotted at Walt Disney World amid the government shutdown.
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TMZ first reported Graham’s visit to “The Most Magical Place on Earth” on Sunday. The longtime congressman was photographed enjoying a meal at Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort.
Graham was seated at a table with an unidentified young woman and a child.
TMZ later posted photos of Graham at Magic Kingdom two days before his meal at Chef Mickey’s. The senator was caught on camera riding Space Mountain and later carrying around a Little Mermaid bubble wand throughout the park.
The senator later spoke to TMZ about his trip, noting he wasn’t just there for a Walt Disney World visit.
“I was invited to a meeting in South Florida on Friday with Trump official Steve Witkoff,” he explained. “To talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. I went to Orlando to meet friends after. I’m already back in South Carolina.”
Defending himself, Graham also told the media outlet that he had voted seven times to fund the government fully. “Call a democrat,” he added.
The government is currently in its longest shutdown, at six weeks, as Republicans and Democrats clash over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
The Senator Responds to the Criticism With a Photo of Himself Shooting a Gun
To combat the criticism both online and off, Graham took to X and shared a photo of himself holding a gun.
“Spent some time breaking clays in Edgefield County today,” he wrote. “Doesn’t get much better than that.”
The critics continued to call Graham out.
“Nice try,” one critic stated. “You get caught aimlessly wandering around [Disney World] with a child’s toy in your hand. And now you try to recover your manhood with a photo op with a gun? You’re not fooling anyone. We all know who the real Lindsey Graham is.”
Another critic wrote, “You thought going from holding a bubble wand to shooting a shotgun in 24 hours was gonna change the narrative?”