On Monday, Rolling Stone published a profile of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), detailing how he went from a close friend of the legendary Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and a strong conservative voice who did his own thing, to an across-the-board pro-Trump sycophant.
Speaking to writer Mark Binelli, former McCain strategist and Never Trump conservative Steve Schmidt pulled no punches when criticizing Graham's change of heart.
“We see more examples of this in film and literature, but there are instances of principled men and women laying down their careers in service of what is right. Clearly, that person will never be Lindsey Graham," said Schmidt. "With regard to the cruelty and abuse that was directed at John McCain by Trump, I think Lindsey’s flaccidity in defending him says a lot about his character. Nobody wants to be in a bar fight when they go out on Friday night. But when someone walks up and punches your best friend in the face, you’ve got to do something. Lindsey has demonstrated he’s the guy who runs out the door."
Once upon a time, Graham was a lot more critical of Trump, calling him a "race-baiting xenophobic bigot" who will "destroy" the Republican Party if allowed to lead it. He has never been particularly interested in doing anything tangible to fight Trump, however, voting with him nearly 90 percent of the time, and has lately dropped even the pretense of criticizing Trump. He is open about the reason for this switch: Because his constituents like Trump and he wants their support.
