Lindsey Graham’s Death Marks the End of an Era

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Lindsey Graham, the longtime Republican senator, died last week. Graham was perhaps the last institutionalist in the U.S. Senate; he loved the game of politics, and he was willing to play it wherever it led. Graham strongly opposed Donald Trump at first, but after Trump entered the White House, he adapted to him and figured out how to flatter the president to advance his policy priorities.

Graham had authentic convictions. He was an interventionist. He had a passion for the U.S.-Israel relationship, he hated America’s Cold War enemies (especially Russia), and he was a war hawk.

In their reactions to Graham’s death, what I’ve seen from the Left and some on the Right is an inability to accept that the late senator was simply a very good institutional operator; they can’t grasp his game, so they need to construct a fantasy to attempt to understand him. From the Left, there is the usual sick celebratory attitude along with twisted psychosexual fantasies. From some on the Right, it’s a conspiratorial fantasy that Graham was operating on behalf of a foreign power. The truth, however, is much simpler.