Special Projects by The Bulwark

Special Projects by The Bulwark

Home
Bulwark Home
Hellcat
Corruption of Lindsey Graham
The Corruption of Lindsey Graham
A case study in the rise of authoritarianism. Sen. Lindsey Graham is a central player in the Republican party’s capitulation to Donald Trump. We can…
 • 
Will Saletan
Chapter One: Graham’s Moral Clarity
Lindsey Graham immediately recognized how dangerous Donald Trump was—calling him “hateful,” a “kook,” a “demagogue,” and a “race-baiting, xenophobic…
 • 
Will Saletan
Chapter Two: A Trump’s Best Friend
A WEEK AFTER Trump’s election, Graham went on TV to start sucking up. He had congratulated the president-elect; now he wanted to build a relationship.
 • 
Will Saletan
Chapter Three: Power Shift
ON JANUARY 11, 2018, A YEAR INTO his presidency, Trump exploded during a White House meeting on immigration. Trump’s eruption and the scramble to cover…
 • 
Will Saletan
Chapter Four: Domestic Enemies
Graham had finally earned Trump’s love. He was earning the love of Trump’s voters, too. These were the voters Graham had shunned as haters in 2015. But…
 • 
Will Saletan
Chapter Five: The First Impeachment
To the president’s critics, his coercion of Ukraine was confirmation of his unfitness for office. But his supporters saw a pattern of persecution: Trump…
 • 
Will Saletan
Chapter Six: Insurrection Day
Graham had lost faith in the viability of a Trump-free Republican party. And he had convinced himself that Democratic-led government would be ruinous…
 • 
Will Saletan
Chapter Seven: Return of the Orange God-King
TRUMP’S DECLARATION OF WAR on RINOs—Republicans in name only—set the stage for the next two years. He could no longer control the party through…
 • 
Will Saletan
Epilogue: Lessons
I set out to research the story of Graham’s relationship with Trump because I wanted to understand how authoritarianism arose in the United States. I…
 • 
Will Saletan
Ep. 1: The Corruption of Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Graham was once one of Donald Trump’s fiercest critics—before becoming one of his most important collaborators.
 • 
Will Saletan
26:48
Ep 2: A Trump’s Best Friend
While Lindsey Graham spent most of the 2016 campaign excoriating Trump as a toxic demagogue, he began transforming into his chief apologist after the…
 • 
Will Saletan
27:57
Ep 3: Power Shift
After Trump’s first year in office, the power shifted in Washington.
 • 
Will Saletan
34:52
© 2025 The Bulwark
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture