Trump might not have anything specific on Graham, butI would not be at all surprised if he didn’t make threats along the line of “If you aren’t with us you’re against us, and if you don’t get on board we’ll make it our mission to dig through your life until we find something and we’ll ruin your life and career.
Sure, politicians change their tune all the time, but Graham did a complete 180 after one private meeting with Trump, and I refuse to believe they just talked about the weather.
And this is not delusional, it’s delusional to think otherwise. Trump has done this before. He tried to do it to Joe Scarborough and Scarborough called his bluff. Of course, what was released was a nothing burger because his relationship with Mika was public by then. The National Enquirer ran their little story, the one Trump offered to kill in exchange for more favorable reporting, and no one cared.
And at a crucial point during the 2016 primary season, The National Enquirer ran a story about Ted Cruz’s alleged extramarital affairs. I think this barely remembered event was significant, it was a shot across the bow targeting not just Cruz but anyone that might oppose Trump, just letting the world know the lengths to which they’d go to bring down anyone that dared oppose him. Then there was the thing with the Enquirer and the Bezos dick pics and the WaPo coverage of Saudi Arabia……which took down Pecker’s ownership of the Enquirer and deprived Trump of his prime source of compromising materials but left Trump otherwise unscathed.
But at the time of Graham’s turnaround, the Enquirer was still actively engaged in pursuing harassing investigations of Trump’s opponents and I don’t think it’s at all delusional to think they might have had Lindsey Graham in their sights.
Graham is like the majority of long-time pols who have been feeding at the public trough for so long. He can’t get enough of it, and the illusion of vast power helps pump up his ego. He’ll say or do anything at this point to remain in office. It’s his only goal in life, public service having taken a back seat decades ago.
Something else I didn’t see mentioned on a quick skim through the thread… Graham was BFFs with John McCain. Graham’s about-face on Trump happened almost immediately after McCain died. Graham didn’t even bat an eye when Trump started trash-talking McCain after his death. You would have thought he’d stick up for his best bud, but as mentioned above Lindsay is just a plastic bag moved by whichever way the wind is blowing.
It wasn’t just Trump. The entire GOP went after McCain’s legacy like sharks being chummed, including censuring his widow despite the fact that she has expressed no political ambitions of her own. If you need any evidence of the fascistic tendencies of the current GOP look no further, because attacking former leadership and anyone associated is a hallmark of fascist movements.
70-post thread in P&E from 6-7 months ago on the very same topic:
Not criticising the OP for starting this one, just providing some historical context. In that thread several theories were advanced, with “gay Kompromat” being the favorite.
Folks here now might enjoy trawling (not trolling) through that one.
I’m with Chefguy - the man just can’t imagine life not being U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. And really what else is there for someone like him moving on?
He’ll say and do what it takes to keep it like that.
Since Trump is simply delusional, it fits. If you wrote a fictional story about a candidate that pulled all that Trump has pulled no publisher would touch it.
I think that, as often is the case, that it’s both.
Trump very possibly has evidence of some peccadillo (perhaps not just the gay sex, but one in which LG is perceived as weak / x-dressing / anything other than the dominant which would be “worse” from the Republican POV). While LG might survive, as Cawthorn eventually proved, if the Republican party pushes against you, rather than supporting you, the allegations blow up much faster and tend to stick. And this would have happened as the Republicans were rallying around Trump.
Especially given the above, he’s a canny enough to keep his place by showing his newly empowered loyalty. And it did bring up his popularity, securing his political place. So he continues to prove his position, so that he is much less likely to be cast aside.
Both factors combine to be more effective than any one possibility.
Or maybe it’s FOBTUTB? Fear Of Being Thrown Under The Bus?
I can easily see Trump claiming he did certain criminal acts because he was advised, by Graham for example, that it was perfectly legal, and Trump, not being a professional politician, relied on lifelong pols like Graham for their sound advice.
My money would go to Trump just had a sit-down with Graham and told him that if he didn’t support Trump, Trump would find someone who would and also wanted to be a Senator from South Carolina.
All the Don would have to do is attack Lindsey publicly. If Lindsey fought back, he is done since he wouldn’t win. At least, Trump could easily convince Graham that he couldn’t win that fight. If Lindsey didn’t fight back, he is done since that would just show he is weak and, given his predilections, what else would anyone expect? Trump’s hand-picked candidate would easily win in either case.
He has a majority of the Republican electorate, which Lindsey Graham needs to keep his job. During the periods in which he said bad things about Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham thought that Trump was a sure loser. Losers are, if not completely rejected, at least abandoned by their parties. But Trump didn’t lose the first time, and he wasn’t abandoned when he did lose.
This isn’t unique to Lindsey Graham–remember all of the Fathers Of Daughters who tearfully retracted their endorsements of Trump after the Access Hollywood tape came out, then immediately re-endorsed when the polls rebounded–but Graham is simply more demonstrative of his feelings at any given moment. If Trump is a loser, Lindsey Graham is on TV yelling about it; if Trump is a winner, Lindsey Graham is on TV yelling about it.
But: he’s worse than a mere attention-whore. They’re happy as long as they’re getting attention. Lindsey has got to be out there first, and the loudest, and the most enthusiastic of all the Trump attention-whores on the planet, except for Trump himself and sometimes he beats Trump.
His sudden switch is very fishy. It’s not like Trump played a round of golf and happened to tell him, “Look, I’ve got a lot of supporters, so you’re losing some potential supporters yourself by denouncing me as a kook and an idiot” and a flashbulb went off over Lindsey’s head. He knew all that going in. Trump must have told him something that scared him white.
If we’re going to use Lindsay’s two faced hypocrisy as evidence of anything, then we’d also have to ask what justice kavenaugh has on Lindsay, since he also went 180 degrees on a supposed principle then.
Lindsay’s an opportunist, same as the other surviving republicans.
The only difference is, he really tries to sell it. Somehow he can conjure tears when he’s saying something he knows to be pure bull. Whereas gaetz, Cruz etc can’t lose their smirk (let alone the boeberts of the world).
It’s almost as if Graham’s friendship with John McCain was insincere and superficial opportunism, as opposed to genuine affinity.
I think we need to begin with the understanding that Lyndsey Graham has no scruples or integrity.
Yes, he’s also gay and just barely closeted, but the simplest and easiest way to explain his current support of Trump is simply that he’s craven and feckless and has decided that Trump support - at this time and in this moment - is to Lyndsey Graham’s advantage.
The reality is probably stupider than you think. Lindsey enjoys being friends with the baddies (in this case Trump) and he likes being asked questions about it. He just likes the attention is all. Hanlon’s Razor applies.
If this were an SNL skit, Trump would have something on Graham and yet not blab about it by getting coached to say “you have a primary coming up; get on my good side, or I’ll endorse your opponent — and you know who’s already ready to follow my lead? One of your biggest donors, Joey Clay.”
Graham’s eyes would go wide at that, knowing that Joey Clay is, uh, the opposite of a donor; but Trump wouldn’t know that, and Graham wouldn’t know that Trump doesn’t know it…