There are some GOP insiders who are rumored to long for the days when former President Donald Trump finally cedes center stage, even if they are doing little publicly to push him aside. Chief among those suspected of secretly holding this view is Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Despite a cordial (and loyal) relationship on the surface, Graham has had his ups and downs with Trump, who has taken numerous potshots at the South Carolina legislator, recently calling Graham a “RINO” and a “progressive Senator from South Carolina.”
Trump, not known as the forgiving sort, likely doesn’t forget, nor let Graham forget, that during the 2016 presidential campaign, Graham was a very vocal critic of Trump and called him a “kook” and a “crazy person.” That said, the two men play golf together — a lot, evidently — and Graham has been a vehement defender of Trump when it comes to investigations by Trump antagonists like Robert Mueller and Alvin Bragg.
Yet Graham hasn’t gone all the way for Trump, meaning the Senator doesn’t argue that the 2020 election was “rigged” and “stolen” from Trump, claims that Trump never fails to repeat, even at his recent rally in Waco, Texas.
Graham’s failure to go full MAGA in that sense seems to come from the surviving DNA of the old establishment Republican that lives in Graham. Indeed, a number of inconvenient truths keep Graham from subscribing to Marjorie Taylor Green‘s rote ‘America First’ agenda, not least that Graham is no isolationist and still believes the U.S. has a critical role to play on the world stage in places like Ukraine and the Pacific Rim.
More fuel for the Trump-be-gone suspicions about Graham? Graham was also good pals with his late senate colleague John McCain, and regretted that Trump treated McCain with such disrespect.
Graham also, way back in 2016, called Trump the “most flawed candidate in the history of the Republican Party.”
That is pretty much the opposite of what Graham said today about his “friend and colleague Tim Scott,” the South Carolina senator who announced his “exploratory committee for President of the United States.”
Graham was full-hearted in sharing his approval of Scott, who in declaring the intent to explore a run becomes a Trump rival for the GOP nomination.
Tim is a thought leader for conservatism on all fronts.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 12, 2023
His knowledge of the American economy and belief in the benefits of capitalism make him uniquely prepared to move our country forward.
Tim is also a steady, strong voice for social conservatism.
“When it comes from Tim Scott,” Graham wrote, “it comes from the heart. My friend and colleague Tim Scott has one of the most compelling stories in American politics and the country as a whole.”
That’s not technically a Tim Scott endorsement from Graham, but it is support — and a strong nod to Scott’s candidacy as one which demands consideration.
Graham continued his effusive praise: “Tim is a thought leader for conservatism on all fronts. His knowledge of the American economy and belief in the benefits of capitalism make him uniquely prepared to move our country forward. Tim is also a steady, strong voice for social conservatism.”
Characterizing Scott as “uniquely prepared to move our country forward,” Graham shows one way the GOP — should it decide to dump Trump — can move on.
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