Lindsey Graham Goes Viral Defending Chick-fil-A on Twitter

Sen. Lindsey Graham is such a fan of Chick-fil-A that — in his words — he's willing to go to war for fast-food chicken chain. Or, at least, the values it espouses.

His defense of the company, unspooled on a Wednesday Twitter thread, went viral. Given the subject matter, it drew plenty of reactions.

Graham was responding to a Fox News report regarding a group of University of Notre Dame students who wrote a letter opposing a proposed Chick-fil-A outlet on campus, given the anti-LGBTQ beliefs and donations by the company's founding family. (The company has worked to distance itself from this behavior, saying that is not a focus.)

"I have always thought @NotreDame was one of the greatest universities in America, if not the world," Graham wrote, sharing a link to the report about the school.

He continued: "It's disappointing to hear some ND students and faculty want to ban Chick-fil-A from doing business on campus because they disagree with the values held by the Chick-fil-A founders. What a dangerous precedent to set."

The South Carolina Republican ended his thread by saying he would protect the chain and "go to war" for the principles it stands for if he had to.

"I want everyone in South Carolina and across America to know I have Chick fil-A's back. I hope we don't have to, but I will go to war for the principles Chick fil-A stands for," Graham wrote. "Great food. Great service. Great values. God bless Chick fil-A!"

The posts drew some support and plenty more criticism and jokes in response, with many Twitter mocking Graham for taking such a vocal stance on an issue of seemingly little consequence to most of Americans.

"Thank you for giving this vital matter your attention, senator," historian Kevin Kruse wrote. "They're talking about putting a Burger King up near me. Do you have time to talk about that, or is your staff working up a position paper on it?"

Others were similarly unimpressed by Graham's stance.

"Thank you for defending campus speech sir!" a Georgetown professor, Don Moynihan, sarcastically wrote along with a screenshot of a tweet from Republican Sen. Tom Cotton arguing that critical race theory should be banned public universities and schools. "You may be concerned to know that your colleague is planning to remove federal funding from any university that allows discussion of theories he disagrees with. But still, let's keep our eyes on the fast food prize!"

Others drew a comparison between Graham's defense of Chick-fil-A and his opposition of a bipartisan commission to investigate the riots on Jan. 6, in which he and his colleagues had to be evacuated when a mob of Trump supporters breached the building and ransacked their offices.

"So, Lindsey Graham will go to war over some chicken nuggets, but not for the cops beaten on Jan. 6????" wrote Twitter user @covie_93, pointedly calling Graham: "Mr. back the blue."

While Graham initially slammed former President Donald Trump (a close ally) for Trump's role in inciting the violence in January, he has since backed off some of that language, telling reporters earlier this month that Trump's speech didn't "cause the riot" but "it didn't help."