Lindsey Graham gets taken to task by a columnist for flip-flopping all over the place
If there's one thing that is predictable about Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), it's his willingness to avail himself of political humiliation, Los Angeles Times columnist LZ Granderson explained.
In a column, Granderson cited the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, which is expected to be finalized this week, no thanks to Graham, who was previously willing to support her. Graham ranted in the Senate Judiciary Committee about a list of grievances, but all of those issues existed the last time he voted to confirm Jackson to the Appeals Court.
"Some GOP senators will say it’s her judicial philosophy. Others claim she’s soft on crime. But at the end of the day we all know the criticism has nothing to do with her," wrote Granderson. He noted that President Joe Biden could have put up someone in the image of Justice Scalia and Republicans would have found a book read in a school he attended in the third grade that they opposed.
One minute Graham says he “cannot in good conscience support Donald Trump because I do not believe he is a reliable Republican conservative, nor has he displayed the judgment and temperament to serve as commander in chief.” But days later he switches to “Donald Trump was my friend before the riot, and I’m trying to keep a relationship with him after the riot," noted Granderson. It's like watching two completely contrasting people exist in the same body.
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Granderson cited Oct. 28, 2013, when Graham tweeted that he would fight every appointment by President Barack Obama sent to the Senate until he got more information on Benghazi. It took 48 hours for him to say he was looking forward to confirming Obama's Homeland Security nominee, Jeh Johnson.
In another incident, Graham defended the Confederate flag flying over the state capitol. One week he said “it works here.” The following week he said, “I hope that, by removing the flag, we can take another step towards healing and recognition — and a sign that South Carolina is moving forward.”
In one minute, Graham is telling the press how disgusted he is with Trump, but over the weekend he's seen golfing at Mar-a-Lago.
Granderson listed off the history of South Carolina from secession to Strom Thurmond and the battle over the Confederate flag. "And Graham takes all of this history, douses it with gas, and lights it up in a very performative way," he wrote.
It isn't merely the Times columnist who can't quite understand Graham's split personality.
“I don’t know what happened to Lindsey. We used to be great friends. I mean, we traveled together with the [Senate] foreign relations committee, we had dinner, you know … And now he’s changed," first lady Jill Biden told CNN in Feb. 2020.
"People around the president would tell him that he couldn’t trust Graham, but Trump seemed to like him for whatever reason and I often wondered if he sought Lindsey’s approval. And Lindsey Graham? Well, it struck me that he was using Trump to mop up the freebies like there was no tomorrow (seems that he still is)," wrote former White House communications chief Stephanie Grisham in her tell-all book.
She goes on to describe him as a "snake" who was always looking out for himself.
ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl wrote in his book "Betrayal" that when he interviewed Trump, the former president "ridiculed" the South Carolina senator. Graham had said he was "done" with Trump after Jan. 6, 2021, but then came back after Trump supporters accosted him at an airport.
"That’s Lindsey," Karl wrote Trump said. He smiled and said that Lindsey's split lasted “maybe a few hours” until he was “attacked at the airport.”
Granderson closed by saying that if South Carolina actually wanted to move forward, they should lose Graham, "because for nearly 20 years, the only movement to which he’s been truly committed is talking in circles."
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