The Choice That Lindsey Graham Made

The sudden death of the South Carolina senator brings into relief his decision to aid and abet Trump and the march toward fascism

Lindsey Graham made a deal with the devil. (Photo by Drew Angerer via Getty Images)

Lindsey Graham died Saturday night after “a brief and sudden illness.” I wish I could tell you the story of a life well led. I cannot. Lindsey Graham made the terrible decision to serve Donald Trump even though he knew better, thereby aiding and abetting a corrupt and hateful operation to destroy our beloved country.

We are all the poorer for the dishonorable choices Graham made. His death at 71 is a reminder that life is but temporary; and each of us can choose whether we want to add something enduring that genuinely makes our world better—or grasp for some short-term advantage that will cheapen the promise that life affords.

I know in these moments that the typical thing is to search for reasons to praise the dead. But Lindsey Graham was a public figure with the power that accrues to a U.S. Senator who served for over 23 years. There are many who knew him closely and worked with him who see this moment as an opportunity to remember, for example, his friendship, his humor and his commitment to building global alliances.

But Graham, like so many of his Republican peers, knew that Donald Trump was a danger to our country. And, despite this, he chose to closely ally himself, to revel in his proximity to maximum power, indeed to stay relevant.

He did so despite his famous comment in 2016, “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed... and we will deserve it.” He did so despite his accurate observation in 2015, that Trump is a"race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot” who is “unfit for office” and that he should be rejected or “we’ve lost the moral authority, in my view, to govern the country.” He did so even after the violent insurrection at our nation’s capitol on Jan. 6, which he condemned at first and later backtracked as Trump’s power persisted.

I will leave it to others to judge the full range of interests that likely motivated Graham. The list would surely include his desire to influence Trump on foreign policy, such as his staunch support for Israel, for the war with Iran and regime change, and for Ukraine in its battle against Russian aggression. He was a frequent global traveler and a war hawk who was a close friend of another war hawk, Sen. John McCain. One might argue that Lindsey needed another powerful man to latch onto after McCain’s passing in 2018. Others might question—and many have—whether Trump possessed some compromising material about Lindsey that ensured his complicity, possibly concerning his sexual preferences that the never-married senator never publicly addressed.

Whatever his reasons, Lindsey Graham made the choice to boost Trump, despite everything that was not just knowable but that he himself had previously recognized. A lawyer by training and a member of the judiciary committee, he surely had read the U.S. Constitution…and he surely could grasp the reckless lawlessness of the man that he extolled. Rather than remain faithful to the Constitution and the rule of law, he assisted Trump and his regime’s march into autocracy.

This ultimately exposed his lack of principle, the emptiness at his core, the craven desperation to matter even if it meant making a pact with the devil. This is and always will be unforgivable, ensuring his legacy in history as a man who was willing to end the American democratic project by bowing down to Donald Trump.

Tragically, he is one of many.

Lindsey Graham’s unexpected death came the day that he returned from Ukraine after meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. After this visit, he reportedly told Trump in a phone call that he was “tired.” He later reportedly suffered cardiac arrest before being taken to a hospital.

Graham would have been gratified to know that Trump called him “a true American patriot,” “like a member of the family” and “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known.” But then, Trump also called the violent and convicted Jan. 6 insurrectionists “great patriots.”

Lindsey Graham may now find peace in death, but many millions of Americans will continue to struggle to overcome the horrors that he helped create.

One more thing: Trump is continuing his campaign to try and kill free speech in America and particularly to stem the responsibilities and rights of a free press. On Friday, Trump’s Justice Department issued subpoenas to four New York Times journalists for their reporting on security problems with the new Air Force One gifted to Trump by Qatari royals. The Times reported that some of these subpoenas were delivered by federal agents to reporters at their homes.

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” said Times lawyer David McCraw in a statement. “This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.”

A statement from the National Press club added that federal prosecutors’ “decision to subpoena journalists at The New York Times should alarm every American because it threatens the public’s constitutional right to an independent press…a free and independent press serves the people, not the government.”

The November midterms arrive in 112 days. The work of all of us who value free speech, free press and a commitment to democratic governance continues.

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