Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday said John Kelly’s ‘fascist’ comment about former President Trump, under whom he served as White House chief of staff, was a sign of desperation for the Harris campaign with just over a week to go until election day.

Graham, R-S.C., appeared on ABC’s ‘This Week,’ where he was asked about how Kelly insisted Trump met the ‘general definition of a fascist’ and would govern like a dictator if allowed during an interview with The New York Times last week. 

‘[Kelly’s] undermining a concept that’s been good for America,’ Graham said. ‘I think our generals have sort of been apolitical. He’s entitled to his opinion. I just categorically reject it.’

‘Three weeks before the election, you’re calling basically Trump Hitler, a fascist, is not going to resonate,’ the senator continued. ‘What happened to joy on the Democratic side? They went from joy to now Trump is Hitler. Well, that’s desperation.’

Graham further struck back on Kelly’s ‘fascist’ comment, asking Americans to look at Trump’s record as ‘a friend of Israel unlike any other’ and how he helped put Israel ‘in the strongest position they’ve been in.’ He also said there were no wars, the border was at its most secure and inflation was down, all on Trump’s watch.

‘I think General Kelly’s criticisms are not based on facts,’ the senator said. ‘I think it’s emotional, it’s sad, and it’s not going to matter.’

Graham was also asked about criticisms that retired four-star Gens. Mark Milley and Jim Mattis, who both served in the Trump administration, also made about the former president.

‘That shows you how desperate this campaign is, you’ve got three retired generals who have been out of the game for a while, three weeks before the election and trying to replace joy with fear,’ Graham said.

Graham also noted that he does not think Harris is a fascist or communist either when commenting about the war of words between Trump and Harris.

‘Do I think Kamala Harris is a fascist? No. [Do] I think she’s a communist? No. I think she’s the most liberal person ever to be nominated by a major party. I think she’s ineffective. I think she’s incompetent,’ Graham said.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, of Ohio argued that his running mate, former President Trump, has clashed with former Pentagon officials for refusing to enter ‘ridiculous wars,’ arguing that this was the reason why former officials like ex-White House chief of staff John Kelly have spoken out against him.

In a sit-down interview that aired on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ Sunday morning, Vance sparred with host Jake Tapper over recent allegations brought by Kelly, who said Trump is the ‘definition of a fascist.’ 

Vance charged that Kelly and other critics like former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney disagree with Trump on policy and are ‘conservative in the sense that they want America to get involved in a ton of ridiculous military conflicts – they wanted America to police the world, and Donald Trump wasn’t.’ 

Tapper pushed back on this, noting that Kelly’s son died in the war in Afghanistan. Vance, a Marine veteran, defended his position, saying, ‘I know John Kelly’s worldview,’ and stating that while he honors Kelly’s son and his family’s sacrifice, ‘that doesn’t mean he wasn’t wrong about policy.’ 

‘Donald Trump wouldn’t listen to the leadership of the military when they wanted him to start ridiculous conflicts,’ Vance said. ‘A lot of former members of the Pentagon bureaucracy, a lot of neoconservatives, they have a fundamental difference with Donald Trump on the question of peace and war.’ 

‘I believe Donald Trump is the candidate of peace. I think the record supports that. The reason these guys go after him so vociferously, I don’t think it’s about his personality, Jake,’ Vance said. ‘I think that it’s about they don’t like that Donald Trump said no when a lot of them want to start a ridiculous war.’ 

Tapper challenged Vance on what he was basing this assertion on. Vance said that it was ‘based on people that I’ve talked to in the Trump administration.’ 

Tapper also cited other former Trump administration officials, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Defense secretaries James Mattis and Mark Esper, and former White House national security adviser John Bolton, who criticized their ex-boss. 

‘You know one reason why Kamala Harris doesn’t have as many people criticizing her?’ Vance said. ‘Because she doesn’t fire people who fail. That’s why we haven’t had a real audit of the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal is because Kamala Harris protects failures in government. Donald Trump fires them, and I’d much rather have a president who fires people who screw up.’  

Vance lambasted Tapper for not asking about the cost of groceries, housing and other issues impacting Americans’ livelihoods. 

‘They didn’t think he was unfit for office until they had a falling out with him because he fired them, and we’re not talking about the public policy,’ Vance added. ‘Can we talk about how Americans can’t afford groceries? Can we talk about how Americans can’t afford the cost of housing? Can we talk about the fact that a lot of people out there in Erie, Pennsylvania, they’re the ones that suffer and die when people like Mark Esper and Mark Milley don’t obey the commander in chief’s orders?’ 

Vance charged that Tapper would ‘much rather talk about what Donald Trump allegedly said than what he did in office.’ He said his running mate ‘wants to use American troops sparingly, he wants peace through strength’ and denied that Trump ever said he would use the U.S. military against the American people. 

In regards to Trump’s ‘enemy from within’ comments, Vance said Tapper was conflating Trump’s stance on ‘far-left lunatics’ and people who would riot in the wake of an election or who burned down American cities in the summer of 2020, adding that federal law enforcement should respond in those cases. 

Vance also appeared on CBS and NBC Sunday shows. 

On foreign policy, Vance told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ that Trump would stay in NATO, but other countries should pay their share, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ‘clearly an adversary’ but the United States needs to be ‘smart about diplomacy too,’ especially to end the war in Ukraine. 

‘Of course we’re going to honor our NATO commitment, but I think it’s important, Kristen, to recognize that NATO is not just a welfare client, it should be a real alliance,’ Vance told NBC’s Kristen Welker. ‘Donald Trump wants NATO to be strong. He wants us to remain in NATO. But he also wants NATO countries to actually carry their share of the defense burden.’

In an effort to secure more support from male voters before Election Day, vice-presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., played Madden NFL together on the live-streaming platform Twitch on Sunday.

‘Sundays are for football! Game on, AOC,’ Walz wrote in a post on X.

The pair jumped on the streaming service Sunday afternoon, during NFL Sunday games, to discuss the upcoming election.

Ocasio-Cortez opened the session explaining that her and Walz agreed to do the live-stream a couple of weeks ago when he expressed interest in doing a game stream with her. They agreed to play Madden because he used to be a football coach, and he was familiar with the game, having played it with his children in the past. 

Walz joined the stream after 30 minutes, wearing a camouflage Minnesota Vikings hat, prior to attending a campaign rally in Nevada. 

The duo wasted no time in throwing jabs at former President Donald Trump and emphasized the importance of Democrats taking control of the House and keeping majority control of the Senate.

‘We don’t all share the same politics, we don’t all share the same views, but the need to defeat Trump this year has been my number one priority,’ Ocasio-Cortez said.

During the live-stream, Walz told Ocasio-Cortez that if he and Kamala Harris win the election, he would make her the Speaker of the House. 

‘We’re gonna win this election. We’re gonna make you put a gavel in your hand in the House,’ Walz told Ocasio-Cortez

The two continue to game and chat about a Harris-Walz administration, with Walz eluding that they would eliminate the filibuster.

‘The Senate has their own things. They have, kinda their ‘norms and their customs,’ but in order..’ Ocasio-Cortez said before Walz cuts in.

‘Maybe, maybe, some of those norms, I’m just gonna say I don’t know where you stand, but I’m guessing you and I are probably the same on the filibuster?’ Walz asks.

‘Oh yeah, we gotta get rid of that thing,’ Ocasio-Cortez replies. 

The filibuster is a Senate rule that allows a minority to block legislation pending a supermajority vote.

While Harris first said she would support ending the filibuster to reinstate Roe v. Wade era abortion legislation in 2022, she has since made abortion a major issue in her Democratic bid for the presidency this election cycle. She also supported ending the filibuster to pass the progressive Green New Deal climate legislation in 2019. 

Walz and Ocasio-Cortez also talked about the importance of access to Social Security, bonding over their mutual losses of their dads when they were teenagers.  

‘Gov. Tim Walz and I both lost our dads when we were teenagers. A lot of people don’t know that Social Security also helps you if you lose a spouse (or parent, if you’re a kid). It’s so important we defend and expand it,’ Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X following the live stream.

During a campaign rally in North Carolina earlier this month, Walz claimed that his mother has to wait for her social security check every month to feed herself and that Trump and all his ‘rich friends’ don’t care or even worry about Social Security. 

‘When my mom looks for that Social Security deposit to be made in her bank account, that’s how she’s going to feed herself. That’s how she’s going to get things done. He [Trump] doesn’t give a damn if his Social Security check comes or not,’ Walz claimed. 

Walz touted that a hundred million Americans under Kamala Harris as president would see a tax cut.

Walz and Ocasio-Cortez finished their game after playing one half. Walz played for the Minnesota Vikings, while Ocasio-Cortez played for the Buffalo Bills. The final score was 0-0. 

Walz then campaigned in Las Vegas. He attended a ‘Latinos con Harris-Walz’ get-out-the-early-vote event and watch party for the Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs game with Congressman Steven Horsford and Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez on Sunday afternoon.

The Harris-Walz campaign said they have placed an emphasis on building a network of trusted allies to mobilize their male-driven audiences – including a program called, ‘Athletes for Harris,’ which is co-chaired by NBA players Stephen Curry and Chris Paul, and former NBA legend Magic Johnson.

During an interview with NBC News last week, Harris dismissed her diminishing support among male voters who pressed her on why former President Donald Trump had a 16-point lead over the vice president in the key voting bloc. 

‘Why do you think there is a disconnect for you with men right now?’ NBC’s Peter Alexander asked Harris during an interview in Michigan that aired on Saturday.

An NBC poll conducted in early October found that while Harris leads Trump among women voters, 55% to 41%, Trump leads Harris 56% to 40% among male voters.

MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell also called out Harris’ issues with male voters during an appearance on NBC’s ‘Meet The Press’ earlier this month.

Fox News’ Hanna Panreck and Jamie Joseph contributed to this report. 

As Ukraine renews its call for an invitation into the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, a former top Trump official warned that such a move ‘risks World War III.’

Reflecting on a variety of geopolitical threats in an interview with Fox News Digital, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien said the U.S. could offer security guarantees for Ukraine and more biting sanctions on Russia, but could not fulfill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request for an invitation into NATO without serious escalation.

‘To bring a country into NATO and the alliance that’s in a war with Russia is very provocative to the Russians, and could lead to escalation, even nuclear war,’ he said.

‘We can certainly give Ukraine security guarantees … put eastern European troops [in Ukraine] to help secure peace after a peace deal gets done. But NATO is too provocative at this point.’

O’Brien’s point of view serves as a glimpse into how a future Trump administration could approach dueling global crises in the Middle East, Russia and the Far East. O’Brien, who was former President Donald Trump’s top adviser on national security issues from 2019 to 2021, has been floated as a possible pick for secretary of state or another national security-focused role. 

‘Of course’ he would accept a job in the White House if Trump is successful in November and offers him one, he said. 

‘It’s always an honor to serve the country and to serve the president. But I’m not campaigning for a job,’ he said. ‘There are a lot of really great people who’d like to work for the president.’

The way out of the war, according to O’Brien, is through the negotiating table, and steeper sanctions are needed to cripple Russia’s economy and bring them to the table.  ‘The sanctions have been relatively minor,’ O’Brien said. ‘They haven’t sanctioned the Russian Federation Central Bank. They haven’t kicked folks out of SWIFT. They’ve taken a few oligarchs’ yachts.’ 

Last week, a growing band of nations looking to break away from the U.S. dollar and challenge western hegemony met at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, as a way to evade western sanctions. 

‘I think we have got to use sanctions less. But when we do use them, we should use them comprehensively. I think slap on the wrist sanctions are the worst of all worlds. It encourages people to leave the dollar as a trading mechanism, but it doesn’t achieve any goal of truly punishing the target country,’ the former adviser said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said recently that the U.S. is expected to announce fresh sanctions aimed at curbing the Russian war effort in the coming days. The restrictions will be aimed at secondary entities that are supplying Russia with critical supplies. 

‘Ukraine is going to be in real demographic trouble if it doesn’t stop the war,’ O’Brien mused. ‘We’re going to leave it to Ukrainians to decide what they’re willing to trade for peace.’ 

In the Middle East, O’Brien said, President Joe Biden has tried to ‘constrain Israel’s actions.’ 

‘Everything from negotiating with the Hamas terrorists, to not sending our Special Forces to rescue Americans who were taken hostage, to failing to punish Hamas for killing 30 Americans on Oct. 7, up to today, with Biden and Harris trying to dictate to Israel what targets they can hit in Iran — all projects weakness.’

From the left, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have lost support for not taking a strong enough stance against Israel’s offensive campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon — campaigns that have soured Israel’s standing among its neighbors.

It’s begged the question whether Israel would normalize relations with Saudi Arabia – a deal that had been on the precipice of completion when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

O’Brien said he is not worried about Israel’s standing in the Middle East. ‘I’m actually surprised at how durable the Abraham Accords have been,’ referring to the deals between Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco that he helped broker under Trump. 

‘I think absolutely Saudi Arabia will join the accords. It may take Donald Trump winning the election for that to happen,’ O’Brien said. 

But that would likely depend on the makeup of Congress. Two-thirds of the Senate would have to approve the deal — a high bar for Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of human rights violations and involvement in the 9/11 attacks. To add to the contention, the deal would likely include the U.S. agreeing to allow the Saudis to work on nuclear projects for energy purposes.

Such a deal would amount to a pivotal realignment of the Middle East and further isolate Iran. But this week, Saudi Arabia and Iran conducted unprecedented joint military drills in the gulf of Oman. 

But O’Brien shrugged off the threat of the potential realignment of a U.S. ally, as Iran awaits Israel’s counter-attack for the 200 missiles it fired on Tel Aviv on Oct. 1.

‘Iran’s been exposed for being a lot of bark and less bite,’ he said. ‘They have no air force to speak of. They’ve got a couple old F 14 Tom Cats that can’t make it to Israel. They’ve got no real Navy to speak of. And their missile attacks have been blunted with very little damage or loss of life in Israel. There’s not a lot Iran can do right now. They’re wide open to Israeli attack.’ 

And while Harris asserted Iran is the U.S.’s biggest geopolitical threat, O’Brien insists it’s China.

‘If Iran is such a big threat to our freedom, why have we stood by and not enforced the sanctions?’ he asked.

‘China is the biggest threat to America. China has the demographics, the number of people, they’re hard-working, they’ve got a massive economy. China is an existential threat to America because they could beat us in a war and change our way of life. Iran can never defeat us in a war. They can’t change our way of life.’