Sen. Lindsey Graham — in a stunning about-face — said Tuesday that Donald Trump was "getting better" and described his battle with Hillary Clinton as "a hell of a race."
"Trump is getting better," the South Carolina Republican told an interviewer, according to CNN.
"What makes you say that?" the interviewer asked.
"Just the polling — and you can see more disciplined message," Graham said. "If he can hold it together for another eight weeks, she's had massive political body blows that would knock anybody else out — and if he can cross the line in the eyes of the public, it could be a hell of a race."
Graham, whom Trump defeated in the primaries, has steadily attacked the nominee — slamming him as "a complete idiot" to Newsmax in November and later likening the choice between Trump and rival Ted Cruz as tantamount to being shot or poisoned.
"If you nominate Trump and Cruz I think you’d get the same outcome," he told reporters in January, about a month after he quit the race. "Whether it’s death by being shot or poisoning, does it really matter?
"I don’t think the outcome will be substantially different."
The next month, the senator told a dinner of the Washington Press Club Foundation that "my party has gone bat---- crazy," in light of the zaniness of the GOP campaign.
He later donned a "Make America Great Again" baseball cap — the slogan of Trump's campaign — and noting that he had not had much luck during the primaries.
"Tonight, I endorse Donald Trump and hope the Graham magic still exists," he quipped.