Graham was one of the more revolting specimens we have of why converts make for the most dangerous propagandists. Gabriel Lenz’s work on elite cues suggests that when leaders flip, a lot of their supporters update with them instead of treating the flip as a betrayal. So when the man that appropriately called 47 "a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot" later converted to the cult... it was a tribal signal that was devastating for democracy. It's hard to come up with a recent death, aside from the (for-all-intents-and-purposes) late Mitch McConnell, that gives us a better moment to reflect on the repugnance of these sycophants. This is no time for politeness. Good fucking riddance.
Thank you for an honest accounting of this traitorous man. He was a hypocrite and as awful as the felon in his support of cruel policies. Some of the fawning statements touting his great sense of humor, for instance, are nauseating.
If one wishes to have a eulogy that is full of praise, one has to actually live a life worthy of it. Lindsay Graham did not.
If there is any hope for the American mainstream media to regain their souls, they must cancel the upcoming White House Correspondents Dinner. That's for starters. Then they can start calling things like they actually see them, not hedge and mumble in headlines or in their stories. No both-sidesism when the truth knows better. When the press fears a loss of access over their commitment to free, hard-hitting, untrampled reporting, they defeat the very purpose of freedom of the press. The dinner is apostasy and they should be ashamed if they go through with it.
This is an important, honest, eloquent and balanced assessment of a public life that could have been well-lived, but was not. We can’t really hope to understand what motivated this man…and what changed him so profoundly that he leaned into everything he said he despised. Thank you.
Every week is filled with a firehose of physical and political attacks. I assume the elections will be unfair snd that results will be disregarded. And I assume Trump family isnt leaving office at end of term.
Thank you Steven, for your honest accounting of a life lived for opportunity and obeisance to a felon who is out to destroy everything that made this country great. I actually felt a sense of relief when I first heard of his death. I felt guilty, but what you have written here is true.
"Tragically, he is one of many." This, 100%. Right now we focus on Graham because he just passed, but the entire Republican Party caved to Trump in 2016, with a handful of exceptions who became Never Trumpers, went on to start the Lincoln Project, and/or have done other valuable pro-democracy work. What happened?
In THE DESTRUCTIONISTS: The 25-Year Crack-up of the Republican Party (which I'm citing a lot these days), Dana Milbank traces it to the rise of Newt Gingrich but acknowledges that Gingrich didn't come out of nowhere either. We can trace it back to Reagan, back to Nixon's "Southern Strategy," back to the Republican Party that helped crash the world economy in the late 1920s (and then fought tooth & nail against the New Deal), and maybe back to the Tilden-Hayes compromise of 1877, at which point the Republican Party ceased to be "the party of Lincoln" and was well on the way to becoming, in effect, a white people's party.
I want to know more about how it happened so we can work double-time to prevent its happening again.
Graham was one of the more revolting specimens we have of why converts make for the most dangerous propagandists. Gabriel Lenz’s work on elite cues suggests that when leaders flip, a lot of their supporters update with them instead of treating the flip as a betrayal. So when the man that appropriately called 47 "a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot" later converted to the cult... it was a tribal signal that was devastating for democracy. It's hard to come up with a recent death, aside from the (for-all-intents-and-purposes) late Mitch McConnell, that gives us a better moment to reflect on the repugnance of these sycophants. This is no time for politeness. Good fucking riddance.
Thanks for your thoughtful addition flagging Lenz’s work.
“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” Marc Antony’s speech in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
That line has taken up residence in my head. It was never far away, but now it's front and center.
Thank you for an honest accounting of this traitorous man. He was a hypocrite and as awful as the felon in his support of cruel policies. Some of the fawning statements touting his great sense of humor, for instance, are nauseating.
If one wishes to have a eulogy that is full of praise, one has to actually live a life worthy of it. Lindsay Graham did not.
He left the world a far worse place than when he entered it. Good riddance.
If there is any hope for the American mainstream media to regain their souls, they must cancel the upcoming White House Correspondents Dinner. That's for starters. Then they can start calling things like they actually see them, not hedge and mumble in headlines or in their stories. No both-sidesism when the truth knows better. When the press fears a loss of access over their commitment to free, hard-hitting, untrampled reporting, they defeat the very purpose of freedom of the press. The dinner is apostasy and they should be ashamed if they go through with it.
Lindsey chose what was expedient to remain relevant in proximity to power rather than integrity.
This is an important, honest, eloquent and balanced assessment of a public life that could have been well-lived, but was not. We can’t really hope to understand what motivated this man…and what changed him so profoundly that he leaned into everything he said he despised. Thank you.
And hes used his position to illegally take 2 billion in gifts, insider trading, etc. He'll likely take another 20 billion.
Every week is filled with a firehose of physical and political attacks. I assume the elections will be unfair snd that results will be disregarded. And I assume Trump family isnt leaving office at end of term.
Thank you Steven, for your honest accounting of a life lived for opportunity and obeisance to a felon who is out to destroy everything that made this country great. I actually felt a sense of relief when I first heard of his death. I felt guilty, but what you have written here is true.
The real question is how is Trump going to find another butt plug?
Today’s essay motivates me to find ways to do the opposite of “go along to get along.”
"Tragically, he is one of many." This, 100%. Right now we focus on Graham because he just passed, but the entire Republican Party caved to Trump in 2016, with a handful of exceptions who became Never Trumpers, went on to start the Lincoln Project, and/or have done other valuable pro-democracy work. What happened?
In THE DESTRUCTIONISTS: The 25-Year Crack-up of the Republican Party (which I'm citing a lot these days), Dana Milbank traces it to the rise of Newt Gingrich but acknowledges that Gingrich didn't come out of nowhere either. We can trace it back to Reagan, back to Nixon's "Southern Strategy," back to the Republican Party that helped crash the world economy in the late 1920s (and then fought tooth & nail against the New Deal), and maybe back to the Tilden-Hayes compromise of 1877, at which point the Republican Party ceased to be "the party of Lincoln" and was well on the way to becoming, in effect, a white people's party.
I want to know more about how it happened so we can work double-time to prevent its happening again.