ArcaMax

Since last Saturday, when news broke about the sudden death of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, tributes poured in from his Senate colleagues, both Republican and Democrat. Whether or not they agreed with him on any given issue, they said, he worked hard for his home state, was occasionally willing to work across the aisle and was always fun to hang out and have dinner with.

All of which may be true. But, unfortunately, none were willing to add the ultimate truth about Lindsey Graham: he was a total sell-out. He sold out his country. He sold out his state. He sold out his party. He sold out his soul – to the most unfit, disgusting, racist, sexist, inept, and corrupt president in history.

I first met Graham when he was a young Republican congressman from South Carolina and I was the new co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire.” He quickly became one of our favorite guests because he was so sharp, funny, and articulate, the kind of moderate Republican everybody at that time admired. But the Lindsey Graham I knew then is not the same Lindsey Graham we’ve seen sitting in Trump’s lap the last 10 years.

In those days, while clearly a conservative Republican, Graham was never afraid to differ with his own party when he felt it necessary. When he moved up to the Senate in 2003, he immediately became a major player, teaming up and becoming best friends with another maverick, Arizona’s Senator John McCain.

It was no surprise, then, in 2015, that Graham was one of the first Republicans to denounce candidate Donald Trump, especially after Trump claimed McCain was no “war hero” because he’d been captured. “I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said in July 2015. In return, Graham called Trump a “demagogue” and a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.” “You know how you make America great again?” Graham said in a CNN interview in 2015. “Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.” He likened Trump’s winning the nomination to “being shot in the head,” and later admitted voting for independent candidate Evan McMullin, rather than for Trump or Hillary Clinton.

But suddenly, when Trump was elected, Graham changed, as the New York Times headlined, “from Trump critic to acolyte.” He became one of Trump’s closest advisers, frequent guest at the White House, and regular golf partner. John McCain’s former best friend was now Donald Trump’s new BFF.

How can you go from being John McCain’s best friend to Donald Trump’s best friend? You can’t, if you have any self-respect. Yet Lindsey Graham did. For four years. Until Jan. 6, 2021, when he did another 180.

After the Trump-inspired assault on the Capitol, Lindsey Graham publicly broke with Trump. “We’ve had a hell of a journey,” he declared that evening. “I hate it to end this way...” But “all I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”

That didn’t last long. Trump didn’t change. But Graham changed. Again. Maybe he missed yukking it up with POTUS on the golf course. Who knows? But five months later, Graham rejoined the Trump choir. “Can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no,” he said in May 2021. And he remained an effusive Trump acolyte until the end. Just last month, after thanking God for his primary victory in South Carolina, Graham joked: “Mr. President, you’re not far behind God.”

There are some who believe Lindsey Graham represented the best of Washington. I think they’re wrong. In fact, I think Graham represented the worst of Washington, because he believed in nothing. He was willing to sell out everything he’d once believed in and everything his party once stood for. Why? Only because he loved the thrill of feeling important by hanging out with the big fish himself in the Oval Office and on the golf course. As Graham once gushed to the New York Times’ Peter Baker, “He allowed me into his world. That’s great.”

No doubt, history will judge Donald Trump harshly. But history will judge even more harshly his enablers. People like Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, JD Vance, and others, who went from denouncing Trump to kissing his butt, even after he sent a mob to invade the Capitol, destroyed the East Wing of the White House, launched trigger-happy ICE agents into American cities, and added $10 trillion to the national debt. Starting with Lindsey Graham, they must forever be held accountable for all the damage Trump has done.

========

(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: “From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire.” His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.)

©2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.