Following President Donald Trump’s announcement Wednesday night that he’d be holding off on striking Iran amid its crackdown on protesters, a sullen-looking Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News Thursday he remained “optimistic” about regime change, drawing swift ridicule from critics for appearing “legitimately depressed.”
“There are a lot of headlines out there that are in my view not accurate,” Graham said, referencing reports that suggested Trump had decided against striking Iran. “When we do an operation like this, should it be bigger or smaller? I’m in the camp of bigger. Time will tell, and I’m hopeful and optimistic that the regime’s days are numbered.”
Trump has escalated threats against Iran over its crackdown on protesters, pledging to intervene militarily on Tuesday, but reversed course after being told “that the killing in Iran is stopping.” Graham, who excitedly encouraged Trump to authorize strikes on Iran in the preceding days, appeared visibly unhappy with Trump’s decision, and to such an extent that some critics labeled him as a “broken man.”
“His life force is being drained in front of us by the lack of bombing,” wrote journalist Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site News and former bureau chief for the Intercept, in a social media post on X.
Another, Ali Alizadeh, an Iranian political analyst, mockingly wrote that Graham appeared to be suffering from “Post-Non-Bombing Depression (PNBD),” and X user “A Newsman,” a political commentator on X with nearly 13,000 followers, wrote that Graham appeared “absolutely devastated” at the lack of military strikes.
“OK....who's been up all night boozing and crying?” asked Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute, referencing Graham’s well-documented love for alcohol. “Two guesses and it's not me.”
“Sounds like he threw up in the fish tank last night,” wrote journalist Dave DeCamp, news editor at Antiwar.com, referencing Graham’s alleged tendency to “vomit in the fish tank,” as shared by his own GOP Senate colleague Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).His life force is being drained in front of us by the lack of bombing. https://t.co/KOnxai6ZgB
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) January 15, 2026