Donald Trump revisited one of the strangest chapters of his long-running association with Senator Lindsey Graham, remembering the moment he publicly shared Graham’s personal phone number during the early stages of the 2016 Republican primary battle.
The anecdote resurfaced on Tuesday during Trump’s eulogy for Graham at Washington National Cathedral, where the president mixed praise, memories of their rocky political history and a few familiar jabs as the late South Carolina senator was honored after his death earlier this month.
Speaking about their history, Trump reflected on how their relationship began with open hostility before eventually evolving into a close political alliance.
During the 2016 campaign, Graham was among Trump’s sharpest Republican critics. In one televised appearance, he dismissed Trump as a ‘race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot’ and a ‘jackass’, setting the tone for a bitter exchange between the two men.
Trump’s response became one of the more notorious moments of that primary season. At a South Carolina rally in July 2015, he held up a sheet of paper and read Graham’s private cell number aloud in front of the crowd and television cameras.
“He was a force of nature, and I will miss him greatly. As you remember, Lindsey and I did not exactly get off to the best of starts running against each other,” Trump said.
Trump went on to describe the episode as an impulsive act of retaliation after Graham’s criticism.
“Back in 2016, Lindsey said something rather nasty on his fight to becoming the next President of the United States. So, naturally, I did something that I shouldn’t have done.
“I shared his personal cell phone number with the millions of people that happened to be watching that particular day. As I made a speech, a very important speech, I remember the number (202) 228-0292. If anybody wants to give it a shot.”
The fallout was immediate. Graham’s phone was reportedly bombarded with calls and texts, with the volume overwhelming the device almost right away.
“His phone exploded. He said, ‘I had that number for 20 years.’ His phone totally, I don’t know what he did with it, but it exploded,” Trump added. “That was the beginning of a friendship in a way.”
Graham chose to lean into the stunt rather than publicly stew over it. At the time, he released a video called ‘How to Destroy Your Cell Phone’, showing himself trying to wreck his flip phone with tools including a blender, a golf club, a meat tenderizer, and sword shears.
Although the pair traded insults throughout the Republican primary, their dynamic shifted dramatically after Trump entered the White House.
Graham later became one of Trump’s strongest supporters in Washington and was frequently seen with him on the golf course as well as in political settings.
Looking back, Trump framed their story as an unlikely progression from public feuding to lasting friendship, even while acknowledging they continued to disagree on several issues.
“It was Lindsey who had the last laugh because while I blew up his phone all for one day, we became great friends, and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years. It was not easy,”
Trump also closed with a tribute to Graham’s resilience and patriotism.
“As a brother, a senator, a warrior, and a patriot, he withstood every last test, every single test that you can go through in every trial… Lindsey, we love you. God bless you,” he concluded.
The anecdote stands as a reminder of how dramatically political relationships can shift, turning what was once a headline-grabbing feud into a story retold with a sense of affection and disbelief.