Ted Cruz Rebukes Lindsey Graham: 'Exceptionally Bad Idea' to Assassinate Vladimir Putin

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) rebuked his fellow Republican colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) for calling on the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Thursday, Graham lit the internet ablaze when he called for a Russian “Brutus” – a reference to famed Julius Caesar assassin Marcus Brutus – to take out Putin, an apparent call for his assassination.

“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,” tweeted Graham. “You would be doing your country–and the world–a great service.”

Graham then called upon the Russian people to rise up against Putin, lest they should “live in darkness” for the rest of their lives.

“The only people who can fix this are the Russian people. Easy to say, hard to do,” he continued. “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 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.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 4, 2022

Graham’s tweet sparked heavy criticism on social media from both the left and the right, who charged the assassination of Putin could not only spark a full-scale war with Russia but could destabilize the country into losing control of its nuclear stockpile.

“This is an exceptionally bad idea. Use massive economic sanctions; BOYCOTT Russian oil & gas; and provide military aid so the Ukrainians can defend themselves. But we should not be calling for the assassination of heads of state,” responded Ted Cruz.

This is an exceptionally bad idea.

Use massive economic sanctions; BOYCOTT Russian oil & gas; and provide military aid so the Ukrainians can defend themselves.

But we should not be calling for the assassination of heads of state. https://t.co/crPGHw9xyJ

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 4, 2022

Cruz was not the only one to hit back against Graham.

Probably not the most responsible thing for a U.S. senator to tweet.

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) March 4, 2022

Maybe not such a helpful thing for a senior U.S. elected official to be putting out into the world right now.

— Joan McCarter (@joanmccarter) March 4, 2022

Has Lindsey Graham or any of these psychopaths even considered who would take over if Putin is assassinated?

Think beyond Step One

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 4, 2022

I am respectfully asking Senator Graham to read the second half of Julius Caesar.https://t.co/pVrq1GCX0Z

— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) March 4, 2022

Even if you agree with Lindsey Graham about assassinating Putin, you have to understand that you are a private citizen and he is not.

He’s a sitting Senator and a leader of the Republican Party.

Twitter is not the place to share his thoughts on assassinating a world leader.

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) March 4, 2022

Honestly gobsmacked at how reckless that Lindsey Graham tweet is.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 4, 2022

Yeah, just roll the dice and see whose hands Russia’s 5,977 nuclear warheads end up in! What could go wrong? Switch to decaf, sir. https://t.co/PVQNEdWloN

— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) March 4, 2022

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