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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…
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Will Saletan
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