A hawk who flew on political winds: Lindsey Graham
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Who was Lindsey Graham and why is his death significant for U.S. politics?
The Economist. Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. I'm Jason Palmer.
Today on the show, a glimpse into the values that Frontier AI models hold and the new enthusiasm for the old masters.
But first
Since two thousand three, Lindsey Graham held a Senate seat in South Carolina and was cruising to another term in November. But early on Sunday, mister Graham's office announced he had died suddenly at age seventy one. Many words have been used to describe him over his long congressional tenure, perhaps the most consistent being hawkish. He was a power broker, stalwart committee member. Man who had the ear of presidents and the trust even of the Democrats he railed against. A Southern Republican of the old kind, and more recently, of the new one.
Lindsey Graham represented how the Republican Party has shifted over the course of a couple of decades from being a party of the twentieth century that was looking to some extent to be moderate and to cooperate with the Democrats to a party that is really quite radical and quite on its own. Adam Roberts is our foreign editor. So the surprising news that Lindsey Graham had died throws a spanner in the works for quite a lot of interesting foreign policy reasons. So if you look at the situation in Ukraine and Israel, this will have ramifications.
Before we get into all that, give me a little sketch. Who was Lindsay Graham?
Lindsey Graham was a long serving politician. He began as a member of the House of Representatives, did four terms there, and then became a very long serving Senator. He had been a military man, he'd been a lawyer, who had served short stints even when he was a politician in Afghanistan and Iraq, and I think that would colour the views he took in foreign policy later on as well.
And you said he represented something of the arc of the party as regards Donald Trump. What do you mean by that?
Well the pivotal turning point was the Trump election in twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. When Donald Trump came down the escalator and first appeared on the Republican political scene, Lindsey Graham had no time for him at all. He saw him as a very hostile force, someone who was not good for the party, not good for America, and was very outspoken in saying that he should be shunned and should be pushed into history.
And you know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.
When Donald Trump proved to be electorally successful and was able to consolidate power, then Lindsey Graham discovered that what he really wanted was influence and therefore pivoted and became one of the most stalwart supporters of Donald Trump.
Mr. President, when you endorsed me early on, it changed everything.
How did Lindsey Graham’s foreign‑policy philosophy differ from the traditional “America‑first” stance?
Uh you're the gold standard in the Republican world. The most consequential endorsement I think in the history of politics.
Following his death, Donald Trump, who genuinely was very affectionate towards Lindsey Graham. Graham was a funny man, he was a good conversationalist and a very skilled golfer who apparently was very careful to always lose to Donald Trump. Trump was very straightforward in his sorrow that Lindsey Graham had died.
And you mentioned there would be foreign policy implications here.
Lindsey Graham's philosophy when it came to foreign policy was that you should intervene, you should not be America first and defensive, you should be reaching out, intervening in the world because it's a lot cheaper, it's a lot smarter to reach out and intervene early on and confront your enemies than let them get stronger and confront you at home. Lindsay Graham had just been on a trip to Kyiv on Friday night. He'd been speaking to the press and explaining how, in his support for Vladimir Zelensky and for the Ukrainian government, that is something that he'd been very principled on throughout the period of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and had actually held the line against Trump, saying that the US should keep supporting Ukraine.
And Graham had been rather pleased that he believed he was about to get a pack.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who was Lindsey Graham and why is his death significant for U.S. politics?
0:03–3:10
2
How did Lindsey Graham’s foreign‑policy philosophy differ from the traditional “America‑first” stance?
3:10–6:05
3
What impact does Graham’s death have on the Senate balance and upcoming mid‑term elections?
6:05–8:19
4
How do frontier AI models reflect the values of wealthy, secular societies?
8:19–11:09
5
Do AI models align more with Biden‑voters or Trump‑voters on social and economic issues?
11:09–14:16
6
Why do Chinese AI models refuse to answer questions about Tibet, Taiwan or Tiananmen?
14:16–17:26
7
Why are Old Master paintings experiencing a surge in popularity and price?
17:26–19:11
8
What does the renewed interest in Old Masters tell us about taste in the AI age?
19:11–19:59