Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted an impression of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Monday during a ceremony to rename Joint Base Charleston in the South Carolina Republican's honor — but quickly admitted he'd botched it.
“I’ll never forget his accent. He sat there and he said, ‘gentlemen,’” Hegseth said at the ceremony, shifting into a gruff voice in an impression that he quickly abandoned. “I can’t do a Lindsey Graham's accent. It always devolves into a Trump accent.”
Graham spoke with what’s been labeled a typical “South Carolina drawl,” one that Charleston City Paper previously noted often dropped “R-sounding syllables.” With Hegseth admitting his impression sounded nothing like Graham, independent journalist Aaron Rupar unofficially dubbed the Defense Secretary’s bit as “the worst Lindsey Graham impression of all time.”
Hegseth went on to thank Graham for his help in “breaking recruiting records, for taking back the department from the ‘wokesters,’ and making sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon,” though his last remark was recently contradicted by President Donald Trump, who reportedly told senior aides – privately – that he was willing to abandon securing a nuclear deal with Iran to end the war.
Graham died suddenly in July 2026 after suffering an aortic dissection related to hardening of his arteries, according to a preliminary medical finding. His office had initially described the incident as a "brief and sudden illness.”
He was one of the most influential voices in Washington on foreign policy, having advised Trump on the Iran war and Russia, and was among the war's chief architects, having pushed for years for direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran.
Pete Hegseth just did the worst Lindsey Graham impression of all time pic.twitter.com/iRLtJL3GJi
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 10, 2026