Grahams early life was difficult.
He was orphaned by the age of 21. His mother died of Hodgkins lymphoma when he was 19. His father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died two years later of a massive heart attack just as Lindsey was entering law school. After the deaths of his parents he became the legal guardian of his young sister Darline, relying on Social Security benefits to help support them. Against tremendous loss and adversity, Graham experienced great success in the military, the Congress, and on the world political stage. His accomplishments prior to his allegiance to Trump were:
● Air Force Career: Served on active duty as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) and became the Air Force’s chief prosecutor in Europe during the 1980s. He received a Bronze Star.
● Early Political Breakthrough: Elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1992, serving a single term before winning a U.S. House seat in 1994.
● Won a U.S. Senate seat in 2002 to succeed the retiring, long-serving Strom Thurmond.
● He established himself as a prominent foreign policy hawk, bipartisan dealmaker and worldwide respect from foreign leaders.
Many recall Graham had a low opinion of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign
Initially, he was a staunch opponent of Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency. He made that clear in many public comments by calling Trump ” the world’s biggest jackass who is unfit to be commander- in- chief”, and ” a race- based bigot/ xenophobe”. Additionally, Trump viciously attacked Graham during the 2016 presidential campaign, calling him ” a disgrace, a nut job, and one of the dumbest human beings.”
Many opponents of Graham’s are not mourning. They are celebrating the end of his deification of Trump, his hunger for foreign wars, his indifference to the killings innocent people, his rubber-stamping Trump’s autocratic disregard for the Constitution, and his complicity in the spreading of disinformation that degraded truth, morals, and the rule of law in our politics.
Much will be speculated and written about Senator Lindsey Graham’s transformation from a traditional, conservative to a MAGA supporter of an autocratic president that decimated the freedoms that Graham fought for while serving in the military for 33 years. We will wonder if Trump was blackmailing him or bribing him to use the collaborative, civil relationships he had with Democrats to gain more power for Trump. Now, Lindsey Graham is gone and we will never know how this friend of war hero Senator John McCain ever lowered his standards to befriend the most hated, corrupt person and president in U.S. history.
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The post Senator Lindsey Graham Is Dead At 71: His Legacy Before And After His Trump Transformation. appeared first on Baby Boomer Resistance: A Pro-Democracy Blog.