Lindsey Graham Tweet on May 3, 2016
Remember when Donald Trump was rightly seen as a joke, even by members of his own Republican party? Remember when Republicans were outright expressing horror at the idea of Trump being their nominee for the White House, and what an awful liability that would be? Remember when they saw Trump and his complete lack of values, intelligence, and dignity with very clear sight, when it appeared to be in their political interest to do so?
Well, all of that has changed, of course.
Suddenly, Republicans who had a lot to say about just how uniquely unqualified Donald Trump was to serve as the nation's commander in chief are now tripping over themselves, trying to defend him, almost in tears at the apparently undeserved criticism that Trump receives from his many, many detractors.
This, of course, is nothing new, and has been well-documented. What is perhaps especially amusing is that one man in particular, who has been one of now President Trump's staunchest supporters and virulent defenders, was actually one of his biggest critics just a few short years ago.
In case you have not guessed, I am referring, of course, to Lindsey Graham, the noted Republican Senator from South Carolina, who many had proclaimed to be a "moderate Republican" until very recently.
Nowadays, Graham is better known for his angry ranting and raving, and for his shamelessly doing an about-face that would be quite laughable, if it were not so pathetic and did not have tragic consequences for the nation.
Some moderate.
Yet, as staunchly, and even violently, as Graham now defends a man who himself seemed to defend Nazis after Charlottesville (and Trump just recently reaffirmed his belief that he was right in his handling of Charlottseville), and a man who has bragged about being "greedy, greedy, greedy" and boasted of his lusting after women and acting on it (things that would appear to contradict Graham's own supposed beliefs based on the Bible), it was not always the case that Graham was so completely taken with his ambiguous crush of Donald Trump.
In fact, he still has left up the formerly very critical tweets of Trump that he first posted when Graham, like most of the rest of us, viewed Trump as a very unfunny joke, and one in bad taste, at that.
Don't believe me?
Take a look for yourself at some of Graham's tweets:
Thought I might start off with this one. As Graham, and plenty of other Republicans, dismiss the evidence that members of the Trump campaign seemed very willing to meet and work with Russians to throw dirt on Hillary during the 2016 presidential campaign, it should be pointed out that Graham himself was less than thrilled, and vocal about it, when he saw that Trump seemed to be a little too friendly with Putin for his tastes:
Suddenly, Republicans who had a lot to say about just how uniquely unqualified Donald Trump was to serve as the nation's commander in chief are now tripping over themselves, trying to defend him, almost in tears at the apparently undeserved criticism that Trump receives from his many, many detractors.
This, of course, is nothing new, and has been well-documented. What is perhaps especially amusing is that one man in particular, who has been one of now President Trump's staunchest supporters and virulent defenders, was actually one of his biggest critics just a few short years ago.
In case you have not guessed, I am referring, of course, to Lindsey Graham, the noted Republican Senator from South Carolina, who many had proclaimed to be a "moderate Republican" until very recently.
Nowadays, Graham is better known for his angry ranting and raving, and for his shamelessly doing an about-face that would be quite laughable, if it were not so pathetic and did not have tragic consequences for the nation.
Some moderate.
Yet, as staunchly, and even violently, as Graham now defends a man who himself seemed to defend Nazis after Charlottesville (and Trump just recently reaffirmed his belief that he was right in his handling of Charlottseville), and a man who has bragged about being "greedy, greedy, greedy" and boasted of his lusting after women and acting on it (things that would appear to contradict Graham's own supposed beliefs based on the Bible), it was not always the case that Graham was so completely taken with his ambiguous crush of Donald Trump.
In fact, he still has left up the formerly very critical tweets of Trump that he first posted when Graham, like most of the rest of us, viewed Trump as a very unfunny joke, and one in bad taste, at that.
Don't believe me?
Take a look for yourself at some of Graham's tweets:
Thought I might start off with this one. As Graham, and plenty of other Republicans, dismiss the evidence that members of the Trump campaign seemed very willing to meet and work with Russians to throw dirt on Hillary during the 2016 presidential campaign, it should be pointed out that Graham himself was less than thrilled, and vocal about it, when he saw that Trump seemed to be a little too friendly with Putin for his tastes:
Lindsey Graham ✔ @LindseyGrahamSC Just when you think it can’t get worse: A leading American candidate for President praising Putin. 3,178 7:06 PM - Dec 17, 2015
Graham did not merely take exception to Trump's seemingly close ties with Putin, however. He saw Trump for what he was, and always has been, prior to Trump winning the Republican nomination. Here, in the first of two tweets from 2015, Graham takes exception to Trump making that ridiculous ly immature and classless "blood coming out of her...wherever" comment towards Megyn Kelly. Graham does not pull any punches here, calling it what it a "stupid statement." Then, in the next tweet, Graham clearly pokes fun at Trump's intelligence (or complete lack thereof) by insinuating that he must have gotten his foreign policy while watching the Cartoon Network:
Lindsey Graham ✔ @LindseyGrahamSC If there was ever any doubt that @realDonaldTrump should not be our commander in chief, this stupid statement should end all doubt. 459 1:19 PM - Jul 18, 2015
Lindsey Graham ✔ @LindseyGrahamSC Donald Trump gets his foreign policy from watching television - the Cartoon Network. #CNNDebate #ReadyToLead 193 8:34 PM - Sep 16, 2015
Obviously, Graham came around to eventually like Trump. Now, he is trying to be a loyal lapdog to the president.
But let us remember that he not only saw Trump's classlessness and cluelessness, as evidenced by the above tweets from 2015, but more generally, saw that Trump was completely unqualified to hold the highest office in the land. He clearly had a negative impression of Trump throughout 2015 and even well into 2016. In the first tweet from February of that year, Graham suggests that Trump is merely an "opportunist" who is "not fit to be President of the United States":
Lindsey Graham ✔ @LindseyGrahamSC Donald Trump is not a conservative Republican. He's an opportunist. He's not fit to be President of the United States. 17.5K 10:25 AM - Feb 17, 2016
And even when it was becoming clear that Trump was likely to indeed be the Republican nominee for the White House in 2016, Graham was desperately trying to wake up his GOP party members to please not make this mistake. As late as May, Graham was suggesting that nominating Trump would effectively destroy the party and that, moreover, the Republicans would deserve it for having nominated the clown in the first place:
Lindsey Graham ✔ @LindseyGrahamSC If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it. 131K 5:03 PM - May 3, 2016
That last one proved to be quite prophetic, actually. The United States itself is indeed now being destroyed, slowly but surely. It turned to an opportunist, exactly like Graham warned about, and it is now seeing blatant corruption on an unprecedented scale for a modern, supposedly democratic and free society, and that is saying something! The United States is burning bridges with former allies, especially in Europe, where leaders announced mere hours after meeting with Trump that they no longer felt that the United States was a reliable and trustworthy partner. Other countries are working together to come up with treaties and trade deals, simply working around the United States. Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, on the grounds that he was skeptical about the science, was universally condemned, and was seen as an opportunity by some other major nations - particularly China and India - to try and fill the vacuum left open by the absence of the United States. He clearly never had a plan to defeat ISIS within a month, as he promised during the campaign. Everywhere, Trump is regarded as a clownish figure, ridiculed and not taken seriously, and he is a poor representation for the country, the face of the very worst that Americans have to offer.
As for what is happening domestically, Trump lied about being able to make Mexico pay for the wall like he repeatedly promised, he has opened old wounds by fostering the flames of polarization and making out in the open racism fashionable again. He has given the wealthiest Americans - of whom he ranks among - yet more huge tax breaks and incentives, and in two short years, he added two trillion dollars to the national debt that he promised he could pay off in eight years. Trump lied about creating a quality national healthcare program that would cover all Americans and make it all more affordable, and he lifted not a finger towards trying to create one. He has lied literally thousands of times, even often about petty things that seemed to serve him no benefit lying about, and which are easily proven false. And he and his administration have repeatedly attacked the balance of power and the Constitution and Bill of Rights, making a habit of so doing. Through it all, he has broken yet another promise by playing golf, something that he swore he would not have time to do once in the White House.
It is bad enough that so much of the country - somewhere around 60 million loyal Trump supporters - forgive this pathetic man and so-called "leader" for all of his literally countless trespasses. That, in and of itself, reflects very poorly on Americans the world over, as the world watches the nation voluntarily hurling itself off a cliff by putting their trust in possibly literally the most untrustworthy man in the entire nation. Clearly, it does not speak well of our collective intelligence to have such a man in charge.
As for what is happening domestically, Trump lied about being able to make Mexico pay for the wall like he repeatedly promised, he has opened old wounds by fostering the flames of polarization and making out in the open racism fashionable again. He has given the wealthiest Americans - of whom he ranks among - yet more huge tax breaks and incentives, and in two short years, he added two trillion dollars to the national debt that he promised he could pay off in eight years. Trump lied about creating a quality national healthcare program that would cover all Americans and make it all more affordable, and he lifted not a finger towards trying to create one. He has lied literally thousands of times, even often about petty things that seemed to serve him no benefit lying about, and which are easily proven false. And he and his administration have repeatedly attacked the balance of power and the Constitution and Bill of Rights, making a habit of so doing. Through it all, he has broken yet another promise by playing golf, something that he swore he would not have time to do once in the White House.
It is bad enough that so much of the country - somewhere around 60 million loyal Trump supporters - forgive this pathetic man and so-called "leader" for all of his literally countless trespasses. That, in and of itself, reflects very poorly on Americans the world over, as the world watches the nation voluntarily hurling itself off a cliff by putting their trust in possibly literally the most untrustworthy man in the entire nation. Clearly, it does not speak well of our collective intelligence to have such a man in charge.
Yet, it is worse when supposedly responsible and intelligent leaders like Graham, who clearly saw Trump for exactly the con man that he always was and continues to be, suddenly completely turn around and defend this pathetic man's every word and action.
Obviously, Graham came around to eventually like Trump. Now, he is trying to be a loyal lapdog to the president, perhaps obtaining some unknown (to the public) gain.
But what the public can clearly see and knows - at least those of us with an ounce of objectivity left - is the staggering levels of sheer hypocrisy and intellectually and moral dishonesty that men like Graham now are showing in going to such lengths to defend a man not worth defending, and a man who, frankly, cannot legitimately be defended.
That is something that will not soon be forgotten, even if voters in his political district will give Graham a pass on this, as they are likely going to do. Because regardless of how Graham tries to paint a new picture of Trump and what is happening in this country now, we all can see too clearly the far more accurate picture that he first painted of Trump as a huckster, as a classless, clueless, immature idiot who is capable, and even likely, to destroy whoever is pathetic enough to support him, whether that be the Republican party, of the nation. Donald Trump always has been and always will be concerned only about Donald Trump, and he seems more than willing to take the entire country down with him if he feels it is in his interests to do so. We are seeing divisions and horrors in this country like never before, and the real people to blame are those who could have stood up and showed bravery by opposing a tyrant in trying to preserve the country, and putting country before party.
Graham's complete, abject failure to do so means that he himself is now unqualified to speak with any measure of sincerity or integrity on any substantive issue this country now faces. It also means that he will be remembered as a major part of the problem, rather than contributing to the solution, for what ails this country. A man like Trump can only do so much by himself, because he is merely one man. But when other men, like Graham, enable a tyrant, they should be remembered, and their memory should be cast out and deservedly cursed in future generations.
This will be the sad legacy of Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's key enablers. So much of the weight from the horrors now visiting this country are on his shoulders.
But what the public can clearly see and knows - at least those of us with an ounce of objectivity left - is the staggering levels of sheer hypocrisy and intellectually and moral dishonesty that men like Graham now are showing in going to such lengths to defend a man not worth defending, and a man who, frankly, cannot legitimately be defended.
That is something that will not soon be forgotten, even if voters in his political district will give Graham a pass on this, as they are likely going to do. Because regardless of how Graham tries to paint a new picture of Trump and what is happening in this country now, we all can see too clearly the far more accurate picture that he first painted of Trump as a huckster, as a classless, clueless, immature idiot who is capable, and even likely, to destroy whoever is pathetic enough to support him, whether that be the Republican party, of the nation. Donald Trump always has been and always will be concerned only about Donald Trump, and he seems more than willing to take the entire country down with him if he feels it is in his interests to do so. We are seeing divisions and horrors in this country like never before, and the real people to blame are those who could have stood up and showed bravery by opposing a tyrant in trying to preserve the country, and putting country before party.
Graham's complete, abject failure to do so means that he himself is now unqualified to speak with any measure of sincerity or integrity on any substantive issue this country now faces. It also means that he will be remembered as a major part of the problem, rather than contributing to the solution, for what ails this country. A man like Trump can only do so much by himself, because he is merely one man. But when other men, like Graham, enable a tyrant, they should be remembered, and their memory should be cast out and deservedly cursed in future generations.
This will be the sad legacy of Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's key enablers. So much of the weight from the horrors now visiting this country are on his shoulders.
Some bumper stickers reflecting the statesman-like, responsible mindset of Trump supporters:
I added this because none of what is mentioned in the sticker was actually invented in America, yet in some respects, you can make the argument that all of them have played a prominent role in defining the country's history, although not necessarily in the flattering way that this redneck believes.
Lindsey Graham forgot to hide these virulently anti-Trump tweets by Aldous J Pennyfarthing (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.) Friday May 03, 2019:
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