Frenemies: Yet Another Bump In The Road For Donald Trump And Lindsey Graham

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The strange, belabored “friendship” of former U.S. president Donald Trump and U.S. senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is undergoing yet another stress test.

There’s no need to recount the entire tortured on-again, off-again bromance between these two – as doing so could fill several seasons worth of Pretty Little Liars. Suffice it to say, no high school love affair ever swung from hot to cold – and then back to hot again – with the mercurial frequency of this pair.

The most recent installment in their ongoing political soap opera started innocently enough a few days ago. Graham was enjoying one of the perks of his job that he loves best – holding forth on a Sunday morning television news show.

Graham had the audacity to say over the airwaves what countless Republicans are saying in private: “President Trump can win this election. Donald Trump, the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election… that’s what I would focus on. Policy. Policy is the key to the White House.”

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It was hardly a groundbreaking revelation. Many top Republicans, from GOP messaging guru Frank Luntz to South Carolina’s own Nikki Haley are saying the exact same thing.

But then Trump got wind of the diss and, in the words of The Big Bang Theory’s Leonard Hofstadter, “here we go.”

The notoriously thin-skinned ex-prez doesn’t like taking unsolicited advice from anyone, friend or foe. All too predictably, he responded by doing what Trump does best. He lashed out.

“I like Lindsey,” Trump told CBS News during an interview in Pennsylvania on Monday. “I don’t care what he says, okay?”

“Lindsey wouldn’t have been elected if I hadn’t endorsed him,” Trump added. 

Graham got in the last word, telling The Charleston Post and Courier “as always, I have tried to give President Trump my honest opinion. I am all in for President Trump.”

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And so there’s a new curve in the saga between these two, whose relationship has had more twists and turns than a Six Flags rollercoaster. They went from being blood rivals during the 2016 GOP presidential primary to strange bedfellows of political convenience during the first half of Trump’s term, to regular golfing buddies of late.

Graham said nice things at Trump’s South Carolina presidential primary victory party in Columbia last February (though he was booed as he stepped up to the podium). The two have talked frequently ever since.

It’s wise not to read too much into this latest dustup. At heart, Trump and Graham are political performers par excellence. (Remember Graham’s stellar performance during Brett Kavanaugh‘s contentious Senate confirmation hearing?)

Trump knows South Carolina is solidly in his corner, and he knows Graham knows it, too. So, as Graham gears up for reelection in 2026, he won’t say anything that would really rock the boat with Trump supporters. In other words, Trump can blow off Graham’s comment at little to no risk.

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But theirs is also a symbiotic relationship. Graham needs the occasional public dig from Trump to remind his Beltway establishment allies that while he’s pro-Trump at this moment – he’ll be singing a very different tune come the morning of November 6, 2024 if the voting doesn’t go Trump’s way. 

All of which means these spats are probably every bit as genuine as WWF Wrestling.

Nonetheless, it didn’t take long for a political action committee supporting Graham – a group dubbed “Security is Strength” – to start peppering Palmetto political airwaves with an advertisement praising him for “leading the fight against radical Biden-Harris judicial nominees.”

“Senator Graham has long fought for conservative judges like Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, who interpret the law, not radical liberals who legislate from the bench,” the advertisement stated.

(Click to View)

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Really?

How quickly these “conservative” special interests forget when Graham was the only “Republican” on the Senate judiciary committee who voted in favor of left-leaning Obama justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Graham’s chameleon nature notwithstanding, there is one aspect of this story that should be troubling to Republicans ahead of the fall election. An old saying reminds us that when enough people are saying the very same thing, it behooves you to stop and listen. Not so Donald Trump. Virtually everyone in the GOP orbit is frantically waving red flags and screaming, “danger ahead!” if he stays on his current campaign path. 

And Trump turns a deaf ear to each and every warning.

Policy, Graham urged – not personality – could likely be the key to winning in November.

Yet Donald Trump stubbornly keeps stamping “Return to Sender” in response to every such suggestion.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.

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