Lindsey Graham's Chilling 2016 Warning About Trump Resurfaces After Senator's Shocking Death at 71

Donald Trump spent much of Sunday gushing about his friend Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly over the weekend at 71.

But RadarOnline.com can reveal the two previously had a contentious relationship, with the senator once publicly issuing a chilling warning to his fellow Republicans to keep Trump out of the White House.

Long before Graham became one of Trump's most vocal supporters, the South Carolina senator was one of his harshest critics. The senator was an early presidential opponent of Trump's in 2016, running for the same office the businessman would shockingly capture later that year.

Graham eventually suspended his campaign, but remained critical of Trump, refusing to endorse the 80-year-old after dropping out, or supporting him during the general election.

Now, as Trump mourns his ally, a resurfaced tweet from Graham has uncovered his past feelings about the man who would be president.

"If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it," Graham tweeted on May 3, 2016, the day of the Indiana primary, which proved to be the last stand for Trump's two remaining GOP primary opponents, Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

Although the tweet is more than a decade old, Graham's passing has brought it back into the spotlight, along with a slew of fresh comments from critics and naysayers.

"Lindsey Graham’s words about nominating Donald Trump should be his epitaph," one person wrote, as another added, "He gave his soul to the devil of politics but looks like he paid the price...based on all his words of warning."

A third person responded, "The Lindsey Graham we've seen over the last 10 years was a shell of himself, mindlessly and spinelessly repeating misinformation for the Trump administration."

While one person blasted, "He knew what a bad person Trump was & is. What was threatened to Lindsey to change his mind from this strong opinion to always frantically siding with Trump? Graham was the epitome of the fall of GOP politicians to cultic devotion."

Despite whatever his original feelings may have been, Graham eventually became one of Trump's firm supporters. After Graham's death, the president called out various media groups to pay tribute to his friend.

Trump revealed during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press that he spoke with the South Carolina Republican on Saturday evening. While the president noted that Graham sounded exhausted after returning from a trip to Ukraine, he otherwise seemed to be in good spirits.

"He actually said he was tired, but he wanted to pass the SAVE America Act, and I said, 'Well, we're going to get it done, Lindsey. We're going to get it done. I'll see you, like, soon," Trump recalled, adding the two had expected to see each other the following day.

The president said Graham had called to discuss the proposed election reform legislation, which currently lacks enough support to pass the Senate. During the conversation, the senator also spoke about his recent travels to Ukraine.

"He was telling me about the trip," Trump said in a separate interview on CNN's "State of the Union." "He had a great trip."

"Other than being tired, he was fine," the POTUS clarified, later adding he believed Graham's passing was "a quick end, and maybe that's not the worst way to go."