'Lie with dogs, get fleas': Lindsey Graham mocked as Project 2025 architect comes for him

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will face Paul Dans, the architect of "Project 2025," along with others, in a GOP primary race for the 2026 midterm elections.

And the reaction to the news was swift on social media, including from President Donald Trump's former co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita.

"Like everything Paul Dans starts, this too will end prematurely," warned LaCivita, a senior adviser to Graham's campaign.

NBC News reporter Allan Smith quoted Dan's response, saying, “I feel like Trump has endorsed me already, and he does that every day when his administration moves out and does great conservative actions that are reflected in Project 2025."

Dans was shoved aside after it became clear that Americans loathed what was in "Project 2025." He wasn't brought into the Trump administration when it began despite overseeing the drafting of the Trump agenda.

It prompted a lot of mockery at Graham, who was often ridiculed with an imitation of a southern woman by "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart.

"You lie down with dogs, you get fleas, Lindsey," joked writer and lawyer Amee Vanderpool on Bluesky.

"Graham spent the last decade as Trump’s fawning lap dog only to have a Trump MAGA insider challenge him for his Senate seat. Graham is horrible. Dans is worse," said political media advisor Marty Taylor.

Satirical social media user and influencer "Hoodlum" quipped, "Lindsey is said to have required emergency smelling salts and a fainting couch."

Political scientist David Darmofal observed, "Lindsey Graham is facing multiple primary challengers this election. Mark Lynch, an upstate SC businessman, Andre Bauer, the former Lieutenant Governor of SC, and now Paul Dans, the architect of Project 2025. That suggests unhappiness w/ Graham that should weaken him further if he's the nominee."

The Lincoln Project harkened back to a well-known anti-Trump phrase, "Everything Trump Touches Dies." "#ETTD, Lady Lindsay," the NeverTrump group wrote on X.