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I continue to maintain that Graham is not being blackmailed because someone acting under duress would be at least a little reluctant.
Somebody who is being blackmailed would also fear anyone finding out they're being blackmailed, lest their taskmaster conclude it was a deliberate betrayal.
Graham is going whole hog (so to speak) for Trump for the same reason he was against him: it's where the wind is blowing.
Graham is going whole hog (so to speak) for Trump for the same reason he was against him: it's where the wind is blowing.
When he was sure Trump was a novelty candidate who would ultimately be forced to step aside, he made a bold stand against him and thought that he would look prescient and principled.
And when Trump won, and then especially when the other half of Graham's double act in the Senate was gone... he had to reposition himself quickly or lose all relevancy.
The famous golf trip? That was his chance to kiss the ring, to throw himself on Trump's mercy and beg a chance to prove himself, make sure that his overtures would be accepted in the spirit he meant them.
Does Putin probably have something on him? *shrug* Putin's got whatever he can find on anybody of importance, but they're not all acting like Graham.
Graham's big weakness is that he wants to be someone. He wants to be Righteous. He wants to be Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. He got to play at that being McCain's partner in maverickdom. Being Trump's impassioned defender gives him ample opportunities to do so.
Once he started doing it for Trump... okay, yes, now he's thoroughly compromised, but he's compromised by his previous public actions in defense of Trump.
Because how does he pivot from that? Come back from it? Even move on from it? He can't, not while Trump is i nthe public eye
Because how does he pivot from that? Come back from it? Even move on from it? He can't, not while Trump is i nthe public eye
So Graham's just going to get more and more histrionic and ridiculous in how far he'll go to defend Trump, what he'll accuse Trump's enemies of, how red in the face indignant he'll get over it, as his image... his self-image, which he cares about more than public... demands it.
If it's *really* crashing then he's dead already but if on chance it lands safely anyway he'll land in style.
Anyway. Graham is in this so deep I don't see him ever getting out. He might be Trump's last defender, long past any point where Trump can help him, long past the point he has any reputation to ruin.
This is his time. It is his sick, sad hero fantasy, and he's committed to it.
This is his time. It is his sick, sad hero fantasy, and he's committed to it.
This is at once exactly what young Lindsey imagined when he first went into public service, and a hollow nightmare mockery of it. He gets to be the southern gentleman who puts principles above reputation. He gets to talk about honor and yell untl his voice breaks.
Or, to put it another way, he bought a real monkey's paw in a poke here, didn't he?
