When Bad Men Die

Lindsey Graham made the world worse. His death makes it better.

Jul 14, 2026

*The last picture of Lindsey Graham alive. At a weapons factory, because of course.*

When bad men die, we’re commanded to forget they’re bad. Decorum decrees we overlook their moral failings and limit ourselves to the tragic moment. Context, history, and humanity are forcibly stripped from any conversation of the deceased’s legacy in favor of mandatory compassion and tears. ‘How dare you?’ the mourners ask the critic. As the critic, here’s how I dare.

Lindsey Graham was an evil man. His life’s work worsened the world for everyone except the privileged and powerful. Recent reporting says Graham’s final months were spent hyper-focused on furthering American imperialism and immiserating our neocolonial subjects and adversaries in the Global South. This isn’t surprising, given that bombing Muslims was Graham’s raison d'etre. The South Carolina Senator aggressively pushed Trump to go to war with Iran, to the point that it troubled his fellow Republicans. Graham’s bloodthirst has killed at least 3,500 Iranians and locked the United States in another forever war. His position on Gaza was very clear: “Flatten it,” the Senator told Israel. Morally, there’s no difference between Lindsey Graham and Osama bin Laden. They didn’t pull the trigger or fly the plane. But their planning and provocation killed thousands and destabilized nations in pursuit of a psychotic and self-centered worldview. The two terrorists differ only in their capacity. The circumstances of Bin Laden’s birth forced him to direct hijackings from an Afghan cave. Lindsey Graham was more fortunate. With the help of his close friend and segregationist Strom Thurmond, he waltzed into the House of Representatives and began naming countries he wanted to topple. Iraq, Libya, Palestine. For the most part, Lindsey Graham got his wish.

So focused on furthering American slaughter, Lindsey Graham disregarded the duties of a public servant. When Hurricane Helene killed over a hundred Carolinians, Graham dismissed his constituents' suffering to valorize Israel. Unsurprisingly, one former constituent told reporters Graham would be missed more in Tel Aviv than in Seneca.

Throughout his seventy-one years, Lindsey Graham challenged the English language to create a word more derogatory than “pathetic.” In 2015, Graham condemned Donald Trump as a racist demagogue. The Senator earned a brief moment of liberal praise for likening the 2016 GOP primary between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump to a Sophie’s Choice between being “shot or poisoned.” When Trump won the presidency, Graham shed his Trump-critical skin like the snake he is. Within months, he was Donald’s biggest sycophant. No shit was too large for Graham to swallow. From rape allegations to coup attempts, Graham was Trump’s go-to defender, tongue-washing the slide to speed America’s descent into its current hell. When E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, Graham called her a liar. When Trump was indicted, it was a “crock.” Meanwhile, the Senator protected himself behind the scenes at all costs, even “throwing Trump under the bus” to save his own skin. Somehow, Lindsey Graham’s personal life was even more craven than his professional one.

The secret of Lindsey Graham’s homosexuality was kept as well as the secret of Israel’s nuclear arsenal. That is to say, everyone in Washington, D.C. knew it, but didn’t talk about it because it raised uncomfortable questions. Since Graham’s death, a cascade of trans and queer sex workers, emancipated from their NDAs, have detailed their experiences with the currently decaying Congressman. Rather than grow a spine, Graham remained a closeted anti-queer crusader throughout his career. The first bill he ever introduced aimed to ban gay and lesbian Americans from serving in the South Carolina Army National Guard. It failed, but propelled Graham to GOP stardom. The rest of his years were spent campaigning against same-sex marriage and adoption.

S.C.'s Rep. Lindsey Graham enjoying convention spotlight Rep. Graham thinks his party's The everyday-guy approach, he leaders in Congress blinked too soon, says, led him to come up with, on the primarily out of fear that public opin- spot, the oft-repeated question, "Is this ion was turning against the shutdown. Watergate or Peyton Place?" He eventually was named in a group Monday, Rep. Graham visited Inof Republicans who tried and failed dependence Hall, birthplace of the to topple the speaker. U.S. Constitution. It provided a good Rep. Graham thrived on the label backdrop for him to talk about the of "maverick," even cultivating the im- role the House played in determining age. The media began to recognize whether Mr. Clinton committed "high his ability to deliver homespun humor crimes and misdemeanors." in quotes and sound bites. Mr. Graham concluded that the But the failed coup targeting Rep. president abused his office by lying Gingrich turned out to be a minor to the grand jury and manipulating episode in the public's mind. When witnesses. That sounds like Waterfolks from around the country ap- gate. But in the end, Rep. Graham reproach him in airports or here on a turns to the key piece of evidence that walking tour of Philadelphia, they was more like Peyton Place. want to talk to the Lindsey Graham "He was going to trash out his 22- who helped impeach President Bill year-old lover," Mr. Graham says of Clinton. Mr. Clinton. "If she hadn't kept the "Proud of you," or something sim- dress, he wouldn't have admitted anyilar, the greeting goes in a city that thing." this week is the center of the GOP Among political insiders and the universe. national media this week, Rep. GraBut accuse Rep. Graham of pos- ham is attracting the most attention turing for press during the impeach- for his support of Sen. John McCain's ment debate and he will argue. He failed presidential bid. says he was trying to think first like In interviews and speeches, Rep. a regular person at home and second Graham so often uses the phrase, like a lawyer prosecuting a case. "John and I," that you have to won- remembers, "said a little prayer, and I never looked back." Those were heady times to be a Republican. The Contract with America was new; its agents, such as Rep. Graham, ready to push for change. "We worked until 3 a.m. the day we were sworn in," he says. "We worked morning, noon and night. We were taking huge votes; we changed the Constitution on the first day. "I loved it," he remembers. "I thought, 'Man, we delivered.'" Rep. Graham was playing the perfect supporting role. That is, he says, until the leading man started acting funny. In his first year, Rep. Graham had a very public falling-out with thenHouse Speaker Newt Gingrich. Congress and the president were at odds over the budget; the federal government was shut down, and Rep. Graham believed Republicans should hang tough. Rep. Gingrich supported a plan to send furloughed federal employees back to work. Rep. Graham voted no, believing that step shouldn't be taken without a balanced budget agreement with the president. PHILADELPHIA - If you look at U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham's political career, you've got to wonder whether, instead of a speechwriter, he's got a scriptwriter working on the staff. Talk about drama. Legal intrigue. Sex. Attempts to overthrow powerful elected officials. And some of that doesn't even involve Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Today, Rep. Graham enjoys prime billing among GOP congressmen. At the Republican National Convention, he is in demand for interviews with the national media and snapshots with admiring delegates from around the country. It wasn't always that way. But when you look at Rep. Graham's steep rise to national political celebrity, you wonder if he planned this route - if he set out from the beginning to be the guy who's different, the one who captures the headlines. In 1993, Lindsey Graham was a face in the crowd, one of 43 freshmen in the S.C. General Assembly. In the state House, "I tried not to just be part of the carpet," Rep. Gra- NINA BROOK Associate Editor ham says. His first bill would have banned gays and lesbians from the National Guard. His plan didn't become law, but landed him on the front page. Mr. Graham was just warming up in the S.C. House when U.S. Rep. Butler Derrick, a Democrat, unexpectedly retired, leaving the 3rd Congressional District seat open. Colleagues told Mr. Graham to build credentials and experience before seeking higher office. He knew open seats in Congress can be rare, especially in South Carolina. The decision to run was made within 24 hours after hearing of Rep. Derrick's retirement. "I thought for a day," Rep. Graham der if he's set a long-term goal of being on a ticket with Sen. McCain someday. Rep. Graham insists his support of Sen. McCain was based only on philosophical agreement and the belief that Sen. McCain would be a good antidote to Clinton fatigue. Rep. Graham is backing Texas Gov. George W. Bush now and proposed the resolution Tuesday to make South Carolina's support of the nomination unanimous. As for his own political ambition, Rep. Graham will only admit to the hope that he'll be elected to the U.S. Senate when Strom Thurmond retires in two years. Ask him to predict what will happen to him in the next five years, and he won't. If his career is a political drama, Rep. Graham says it is live and unscripted. "If you had asked me five years ago where I would be by today," Rep. Graham says, "I would have missed it by a million miles." Write to Ms. Brook at P.O. Box 1333, Columbia, S.C. 29202, or by e-mail at nbrook@thestate.com. — *A glamorous profile of Lindsey Graham from 1993.*

Yearning for the death of Iranian kindergartners was Graham’s true passion. But he took great joy in his side hustle of stoking the trans panic. There’s only one word for a man who will voluntarily lead an international attack on trans rights while paying $10,000 to suck girl dick every Saturday night: coward. Too ashamed of himself to be honest with the world, Lindsey Graham used his power to punish those far braver than himself. He demeaned, degraded, and dehumanized openly queer Americans in hopes of differentiating himself as “one of the good ones” to his bigoted Republicans. It didn’t work. I’d bet every dollar to my name that Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Mike Johnson called Lindsey a Hard F as soon as he drifted away from the Mar-A-Lago table. (Laura Loomer even outed Graham during a deposition.) With his life now complete, all Graham’s performative hatred did was put him on the wrong side of history. He wasn’t just an opponent of human rights, equality, and dignity. He was worse: a traitor who actively persecuted those who dared to fight for the freedom he frequently enjoyed in private.

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Despite Lindsey Graham’s lifelong dedication to murder and bigotry, which are excused as “politics” through his position in the Senate, many have celebrated the late Senator. Corey Booker called him a “hero,” and Meghan McCain is scolding anyone who says he wasn’t a perfect angel. Just like Lindsey Graham used ‘politics’ to normalize and enact his serial killer instincts, Booker, McCain, and other so-called “respectable” figures are relying on hollow decorum to force sorrow upon those who judge Graham soberly and impartially. There is a peculiar tendency in liberal politics to prove you’re Above It All by lionizing dead Republicans. It drove Ezra Klein to eulogize Charlie Kirk, who bused rioters to the Capitol on January 6th, as “doing politics the right way.” This is an expected product of the cesspool that is American establishment politics, which Americans hate, and Lindsey Graham embodied better than most. Personally, I think if you’re valorizing a man who slaughtered thousands, it says more about you than him.

Lindsey Graham’s death was bittersweet. I’m glad he’s gone. But I’m tired of evil people dying free. A crucial aspect of building a better world is ensuring those who make it worse are punished for their crimes and spend their last days in a cell. Lindsey Graham escaped man’s judgment. But he left a legacy that will be scorned for centuries. Just like Osama Bin Laden, his name will be synonymous with cowardice, genocide, and a wasted life dedicated to wrecking the beautiful fabric that unites humanity, something he was too small to understand.

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