204. Why Lindsey Graham’s Death Will Change Trump’s Agenda
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Restless Politics US. I am Anthony Scaramucci with Katty K. Katty, how are you? You look like you're in a television studio.
Yeah, I've just stepped right out of a television studio, but I'm a little disappointed in your t-shirt, Anthony, because you have a t-shirt saying world. The only t-shirt anyone can be wearing right now is this t-shirt. I have an England t-shirt. I was just wearing it on Morning Joe.
Well, I have a vintage jersey from 1992.
then you need to be putting that on and you do not need to take it off between now and Wednesday. You're now with us. You're on Team England, Anthony.
I got bullied a little bit by Alistair Campbell, but I'm going to put it on next time you see me. So here's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about Lindsey Graham and the unfortunate and untimely tragic death of Lindsey Graham, but also what it means for the party, but who Lindsey Graham was and actually what he represented to the Republicans and what the arc of his political career was. 31 years in the Senate. And then we'll talk a little bit about ICE, Katty. I want to talk about the situation where we've got a lot of immigrant communities in intense scrutiny. And even though it's dialed down from a media perspective, the president and his team are still going after people.
And it's put the United States on the human rights watch list. So those are going to be the two big topics we're going to talk about. And of course, for members only, we'll be addressing things like the New York Times subpoenas and some of the things that are going on around the world. But Katie, let's start with Lindsey Graham. You knew Lindsey Graham. I saw you interview Lindsey Graham. I saw him on Morning Joe with you. You've been to parties with Lindsey Graham. Who was and who is Lindsey Graham?
Okay.
I've known and worked with Lindsey Graham for years and interviewed him many times. I mean, dozens of times in my career in Washington. And I've interviewed him because he was one of the senators who was interested in the rest of the world. So when I was working with the BBC on the news side, BBC was a useful outlet for Lindsey Graham. as it was for Marco Rubio, our paths crossed because he always wanted to make sure that he was reaching audiences around the world. He wanted to be able to impact things in Ukraine. And so I had a lot to do with him. And in many ways, Lindsey Graham represents for me the arc of the Republican Party in the era of Donald Trump. He goes from somebody who was a hawk and a conservative from South Carolina, but who was an ally of John McCain, trying to make sure that they did things around torture in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stuck his neck out there, trying to get comprehensive immigration reform when he felt that that was popular in the era of Obama.
He tried to work across the aisle to get climate change policy on cap and trade, a tax on carbon emissions. Then Lindsey Graham sees the Tea Party coming. In the Obama era, he sees that America is changing, and he starts to become more conservative. He drops the immigration work, he drops the climate-related work, and he starts shifting himself. In 2016, of course, he runs against Donald Trump, but runs ferociously. I mean, he has some of the most excoriating things that anybody has said about Donald Trump. The way to make America great again is to tell Donald J. Trump to go to hell was his famous line. But then he becomes an ally of Donald Trump. But what's interesting, so he is a shapeshifter. He's a political shapeshifter.
But behind that shapeshifting, that what had brought me initially into contact with Lindsey Graham, his commitment to American leadership, his desire to get things done on the world stage, his antipathy towards Russia and his very strong support for the Ukrainians, that stayed there. And I think those people who are criticizing Lindsey Graham today and saying, listen, this is a guy who totally lost his values, they will quite quickly see how valuable he actually was in trying to maneuver Donald Trump around the edges to be more pro-Ukrainian, to do things to help the Ukrainians.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:08–4:21
2
What will Lindsey Graham’s death mean for the Republican Party and Washington influence?
4:21–9:02
3
How did Lindsey Graham’s career evolve from global hawk to Trump ally?
9:02–16:58
4
Why did Graham’s relationship with Trump damage his historical legacy?
16:58–35:18
Speakers
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