MAGA world was displeased Monday after learning that President Donald Trump’s first in-person fundraiser for the 2026 midterm campaign cycle will be in support of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who’s drawn scrutiny from the more anti-interventionist wing of the president's base.
Trump is expected to join Graham in South Carolina for a golf tournament in November, according to an insider who spoke with Politico on the condition of anonymity, an event dubbed the “Trump-Graham Classic” golf tournament, with donations helping fund Graham’s re-election campaign.
“I am thrilled that he would do this, and it is going to be a big, big event,” Graham told Politico in its report Monday. “It will not only help me tremendously, but it will help others who support President Trump.”
For a number of MAGA faithful, however, the announcement fell flat as further evidence that Trump had abandoned his pledge to “drain the swamp.”
“The longer Trump is in office, the more I believe he was a plant to finish off the country and implement global authoritarianism,” wrote X user “True_Patriot_1776,” who frequently shares conservative content from the anti-interventionist wing of the MAGA movement. “He talked a good talk in 2016, but the country has increasingly gotten more hateful, divided and corrupt since he won that election.”
Figures such as former White House strategist Steve Bannon, media personality Tucker Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) were among the leading anti-interventionist voices in the MAGA movement, and they often clash with its more hawkish wing – lawmakers like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Graham – who regularly advocate for military action abroad.
Graham in particular is among the most hawkish lawmakers in Congress, having directly pushed for or supported military action against Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Mexico, and many on repeated occasions.
“The ultimate rugpull president,” wrote X user “Deportation Enthusiast,” an apparent supporter of Trump’s mass deportation policy who frequently shares content on immigration data.
“If this is true, it’s disgusting,” wrote X user “American Patriot Press,” a conservative Tennessean who’s amassed nearly 6,000 followers and frequently shares MAGA content. “President, we HATE Lindsey.”The longer Trump is in office, the more I believe he was a plant to finish off the country and implement global authoritarianism.
He talked a good talk in 2016, but the country has increasingly gotten more hateful, divided and corrupt since he won that election. https://t.co/Q9xadIQep5
— True_Patriot_1776 (@True_Patriot_78) October 20, 2025