© Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesSen. Lindsey Graham
Citing a dubious anonymous "Republican" source, The Democratic Coalition chairman Jon Cooper speculated that Graham has become increasingly supportive of President Donald Trump because he's being blackmailed by Russia over "his sexual orientation" or "some pretty serious sexual kink."
"A Republican just told me that he doubts [Lindsey Graham] is kowtowing to Trump (and indirectly Putin) because he's being blackmailed over his sexual orientation (an open secret) or even financial corruption. Rather, he thinks it probably involves some pretty serious sexual kink," posted Cooper.
Cooper was quickly condemned by politicos on both sides of the aisle for the "homophobic" line of attack, for which there is zero evidence.
"This is a BS homophobic tweet from an account that just makes stuff up for retweets," said Huffington Post reporter Yashar Ali.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who reports for The Intercept, called Cooper's tweet "repulsive, homophobic gutter trash."
"This is repulsive, homophobic gutter trash from the Chairman of [The Democratic Coalition] - of the kind that has been historically used for the most nefarious smears," wrote Greenwald. He also noted that Cooper's leftist political ideology would act as a shield against any real consequences: "But it's done with the right political ideology so it's fine."
"Absolutely right, this is gross and shameful," CNN's S.E. Cupp echoed Greenwald.
The Reagan Battalion, a conservative group known for being critical of President Trump, wrote, "This is disgusting and homophobic, and should better be condemned by every Democratic official."
National Review's Jonah Goldberg simply asked Cooper, "Wtf is wrong with you?"
After receiving much backlash, Cooper doubled down on the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory launched at Graham and provided himself a bit of cover: reminding Twitter users that he's a gay man.
"By the way, as an openly gay man myself, I couldn't care less about Lindsey Graham's sex life (gay, straight or otherwise)," he said in a tweet posted Sunday evening. "However, Graham is the Senate Judiciary Chair and there's a strong likelihood that he's being blackmailed by the Russians. If so, that needs to be revealed."
Last year, comedian and left-wing political activist Chelsea Handler similarly hit Graham with a homophobic Russian-themed conspiracy theory. "Holy, f*** f***. I just the video of trumps bipartisan 'meeting' yesterday. Hey, [Lindsey Graham] what kind of d*** sucking video do they have on you for you 2 be acting like this? Wouldn't coming out be more honorable?" Handler wrote in a tweet.
H/t Jeff Taylor
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