South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham was roundly mocked for grovelling comments he made about Donald Trump in a TV interview.
Mr Graham told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday evening that the former president was “very nice” because “he’s allowed me to be in his world”.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe the following day, the co-hosts laughed at the senator’s subservient tone in praising his master.
Willie Geist mockingly mimicked the obsequious statement saying to Joe Scarborough: “First of all, Joe, I want to thank you for letting me into your life, much like Lindsey with Trump. It means the world to me.”
As fellow host Mika Brzezinski laughed, Geist added: “Can you imagine saying something like that?”
“It’s really sad,” agreed Brzezinski. “Who says that?”
Mr Graham, one of Mr Trump’s most loyal supporters, had briefly denounced the then-president in the aftermath of the deadly riots at the US Capitol on 6 January.
The senator said he and the president had had “a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh, my god, I hate it”.
He dismissed the president’s wishes to challenge the election results in Congress as “not going to do any good”. Mr Graham even got applause from his fellow senators when he acknowledged that Joe Biden would be the next president.
However, Mr Graham was soon back in the Trump fold after an airport encounter with supporters of the president shortly after 6 January.
“Lindsey Graham [is] trying to stay on the right side of the seditionists and QAnon people," Mr Scarborough reminded viewers. “Three people and a chihuahua chased him through the airport and he completely melted.”
The hosts contrasted Mr Graham fawning over Mr Trump to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican conference chair Liz Cheney, who they say are focused on winning back Congress from Democrats.
