Senator from South Carolina
Lindsey Graham must be tired of being a Senator from South Carolina. In the last two weeks, Lindsey has “come out” as Donald Trump’s biggest supporter. He’s been on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. He’s been on Meet the Press. I missed him on CNN, but I bet he was there too. Lindsey is trading on his friendships with the deceased Senator McCain and the very alive President Biden, to bolster his former reputation as a bipartisan “straight shooter”. He’s reaching out on “Mainstream Media” to those Republicans who can’t stomach Trump. He’s trying to create (the magic word) a “permission structure” to let them come back to Trumpism.
And how is he doing it? Air Force Reserve Colonel Graham (retired) is disparaging Four-Star Generals (retired) Mattis, Kelly and Milley. All have made strong statements against another Trump term in office. Kelly has gone so far as to say that Trump matches “the definition of Fascism”. But Graham’s trashed their reputations, saying they “failed” to stand-up armies in Iraq and Afghanistan when the US withdrew from those nations. Of course, he takes no blame for those failures himself as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, nor does he allow any of the blame to fall on the former Commander-in-Chief, Trump.
Final Act
What does Lindsey want? My guess; he sees himself as the next Secretary of Defense in the Trump Administration; a suitable “final act” for the sixty-nine year old retired Air Force Reservist. Graham would probably be seen as the “solid-establishment guardrail” in a sycophantic second Trump Cabinet, a figure like Leon Panetta on the Democratic side. Of course, he’s not. Lindsey told us himself the week after John McCain died; “I’m no John McCain”. And then he completed his about-face from a Trump opponent to his best golf buddy.
He did falter in his loyalty on January 6th. He told Trump, and the world, “It’s been a good ride… but count me out ”. But when he saw the Trump could shed all responsibility for the Insurrection, Graham was right back on the MAGA bandwagon. And that’s where he really stands today.
Of course, there’s more self-interest in his statements than just a possible future cabinet position. Even if Trump’s loses, Graham hopes that the race is close enough that it brings the Senate “over the threshold” and Republicans regain control. Sure, it won’t be the “kinder-gentler” Senate of Mitch McConnell. If the Republicans are in control, they’re likely to be dominated by MAGA forces, guys like Ted Cruz (GO COLIN ALLRED!!) and Josh Hawley.
So again, Graham can play on his image as a “moderate” (much like McConnell’s false image of moderation) to regain his Chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. If he’s Chairman again, he’ll move ahead with the Federalist Society plan to radicalize the Judiciary in the style of Justices Alito and Thomas, and Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida.
Disappointment
So why am I “picking” on Lindsey Graham? After all, there are a whole plethora of disappointing Republican Senators; Tom Cotton of Arkansas, John Kennedy of Louisiana and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin to name a few. All were “reasonable” Republicans until Donald Trump came along. All abandoned their “reasonableness” to jump on the MAGA bandwagon. Graham is just one of many.
No, my “bone to pick” with Graham is a bit more personal. Graham had too older “mentors” in the United States Senate, both men I highly respect. One was John McCain, the “maverick” Republican Senator from Arizona and 2008 Republican candidate for President of the United States. McCain was a conservative Republican, but one who was willing to visibly break with his party in order to follow his convictions.
And McCain and Joe Biden were friends back from when McCain was a Naval Aviator assigned as a military advisor to the Senate. Even though Biden and McCain often differed on domestic policy, they were aligned on most foreign policy, and good friends. And they brought Graham into their relationships, becoming “the three amigos”. My “beef” with Graham is not only did he break from both of his old “amigos”, but he continues to use his former relationship to further his own political fortune, even though he doesn’t honor their bipartisanship.
He’s been two-faced for a long time. If he needs to be a Trump apologist, that’s his mistake. But he shouldn’t be using his image as an “amigo” to help him do it. It surely must disappoint Biden. Make no mistake, Graham was completely correct when he said: “I’m no John McCain”. That’s too bad for America. We could use him.
This is an excellent take. Good use of the phrase “permission structure”. Graham is the kind of wherever-the-political-wind-takes-me politician that Trump purportedly stands against.