How Lindsey Graham Went From Trump Skeptic to Trump Sidekick
What happened to me? the senator asks. Not a damn thing.
'As the luncheon dishes were placed down, the master of ceremonies kicked off a boisterous round of Lindsey Graham trivia. What is the senators middle name? . .
When it came Grahams time to speak, he started out in this long-ingrained lounge-act mode. Im from the federal government; Im here to help, he said a Ronald Reagan joke that has been Grahams preferred icebreaker for years. But after a few minutes of breezy repartee, his tone assumed an edge. To every Republican, if you dont stand behind this president, were not going to stand behind you, he said. As the room fell silent, Grahams voice grew soft, even grave. This is the defining moment of his presidency, he said. Its not just about a wall. Its about him being treated different than any other president.
He continued: This is a fight between the people who are so smart and the rest of us. Heads bobbed over unfinished plates of function-room meat drowned in barbecue sauce. The continuing debate over the border wall, he went on, was not just over funding for a barrier, in the same way that the brawl over Brett Kavanaugh, whose Supreme Court appointment had been delayed over allegations of sexual assault, was not merely about a judge.
Nothing of late has enhanced the senators standing as a Trump loyalist, or disgust with him among former Democratic collaborators, more than his showstopping speech at the September hearing where Christine Blasey Ford, a high school acquaintance of Kavanaughs, accused the future justice of sexually assaulting her at a party. What you want to do is destroy this guys life, Graham exploded at Senate Democrats, many of whom he had worked with closely for years. Senator Chris Coons, the Delaware Democrat, told me that his longtime colleague is hysterically funny and personally engaging. But the personal nature of Grahams outburst at the hearing left him stunned. It was unprecedented, Coons said, adding that he and Graham did not speak for several weeks afterward. I am still struggling to renew my working relationship with Senator Graham, he added. . .
Grahams rush to Trumps side is particularly baffling because not long ago, he was best known for his bipartisan deal-making on issues like climate change and immigration. He subscribed, at least theoretically, to the country-over-party credo of his departed Senate co-conspirator John McCain. McCains diagnosis of brain cancer and eventual death coincided approximately with Grahams emergence as Trumps most prominent Senate defender and whisperer. This combination of factors gave rise to the What happened to Lindsey Graham? question, which has become synonymous enough with the South Carolinians national political identity that he felt compelled to own it on the stump.
What happened to me? Graham asked in Greenville. Not a damn thing. The crowd gave him a standing ovation. . .
Well, O.K., from my point of view, if you know anything about me, itd be odd not to do this, he said.
I asked what this was. ?This,? Graham said, is to try to be relevant. Politics, he explained, was the art of what works and what brings desired outcomes. Ive got an opportunity up here working with the president to get some really good outcomes for the country, he told me. . .
But after Trump became president, Graham said, forging a relationship with him served his conjoined interests of staying relevant in Washington and getting re-elected in South Carolina. Graham told me that McCain understood his willingness to make peace with Trump, though the extent of Grahams ingratiation bothered him a bit especially Grahams over-the-top praise for Trumps golfing abilities.
But McCain, more than anyone, knew the value of reconciliation. . .
And McCain, he said, understood better than anyone that few things are more potent in politics than having access to a president, regardless of which one.
Relevance, Graham said, returning to the word as if it were a mantra. That was John McCains word. . .
But to this point, he and Trump have been able to work together. Hes asked me to do some things, and Ive asked him to do some things in return, Graham said. . .
At the intersection of all this theater is that he wants to be a successful president, Graham said of Trump, and I want him to be successful under terms that I think are good for the country. Understood, but unspoken, was that these terms would also be good for Lindsey Graham.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/magazine/lindsey-graham-what-happened-trump.html?
C_U_L8R
(45,002 posts)That says it all.
calimary
(81,238 posts)You mean the people who live in the real world and the citizens of Dumbfuckistan, correct?
Its about him being treated different than any other president!!!
Lindsey!?!?!?!!!!!!!????? WTF?!?!?!?!!!?!?
What on earth do you mean by that? Youre upset by that? Well, so am I! He actually IS being treated differently than any other president. Differently than any other DEMOCRATIC president, that is. Hes been allowed to get away almost literally with murder. Treason, certainly. Which of his many high crimes and misdemeanors IS he facing now? For which is he being held accountable? Hell, the CONS tried to hold Bill Clinton accountable for a fucking rain storm and moldy bread! All they could find after CHILD SEXUAL PREDATOR JEFFREY EPSTEIN LAWYER Ken Starr did everything but hire a proctologist to search for dirt. For what? Four years? And 60-70-some-odd million taxpayer dollars, and all he could come up with was a stained blue dress owned by a consenting adult.
calimary
(81,238 posts)I will be referring to Ken Starr from here on as CHILD SEXUAL PREDATOR JEFFREY EPSTEIN LAWYER. Dershowitz too.
TlalocW
(15,381 posts)Using some of the latest jargon from their own supporters - Lindsey is a Beta male that need to hang around Alphas to feel like he has worth. Unfortunately, what constitutes an Alpha to conservatives normally involves their being a dick and getting away with it so he was McCain's lapdog for a while, and he's gone full-on bitch for Trump.
Looney Tunes gave us an example of this kind of relationship back in the 40s. Lindsey is the small dog.
TlalocW
AZ8theist
(5,459 posts)What happened to him??
I'll tell ya................$800K and his accounts hacked. Both provided by Russia.
Nuff said.