Sen Lindsey Graham was one of the rare senators who had Trump’s ear
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Senator Lindsey Graham is gone, and with him goes a voice that Washington cannot easily replace.
He was 71 and had just returned from Ukraine, one of many trips he had made since Russia’s invasion.
I’ve studied foreign policy long enough to understand how rare it is. At a time when most politicians spoke in slogans, Graham actually understood the complex nuances.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Graham “a great friend of Israel” and said he devoted his life to strengthening the US-Israel alliance. (Israeli Prime Ministry Press Office/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
LINDSEY GRAHAM, THE SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR WHO RISED FROM SMALL CITY ROOTS TO GOP POWER COMMAND, DIES AT 71
He knew the Middle East. He understood the Iranian regime and why they never gave up their weapons or reformed their thuggish rhetoric. He advocated supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. It could explain why the Abraham Accords were a strategic revolution that needed to be expanded and advanced.
He read intelligence reports, attended briefings, and then appeared on television Sunday morning and translated them in plain language for the American people.
He was one of the few MPs who could do this. This translation job is more important than most people think. American foreign policy generally suffers from the gap between what our intelligence community knows and what the average voter hears. Lindsey filled that void.
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham speaks to reporters with President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick aboard Air Force One on their way back to Washington, D.C., on January 4, 2026. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
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He was also one of the very few people who had President Donald Trump’s ear on national security, and he used it.
Presidents receive multiple different opinions every day. They only listen to a handful of voices. Graham was one of them, and he used this access on the people of Ukraine, Israel and Iran rather than for personal gain.
Iranian dissidents inside and outside the regime showed their appreciation for his advocacy when they admiringly called him “Uncle Lindsey.” He announced the names of political prisoners on the Senate floor.
He met with their families and exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to listen to and support the Iranian people while pushing for policies that prioritize American security. In a town full of people talking about civil rights, he did something about them.
Senator Lindsey Graham, R.S.C., reacts to a speech by President Donald Trump during an event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on August 13, 2025 (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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And then there was Israel. Graham’s support for the Jewish state was resolute and grounded in American foreign policy as a subject of strategic scholarship. He understood that Israel was America’s forward base of operations for Western civilization in the world’s most contested region.
A strong Israel would deter Iran, stabilize the Persian Gulf, protect shipping lanes, and signal to enemies from Beijing to Caracas that the United States will not abandon its friends.
This was his through line. In an age of narrative warfare when a TikTok video or campus chant can upend a generation’s understanding of a 3,000-year-old conflict in 90 seconds, Graham refused to negotiate with the mob.
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He believed that moral clarity was a national security asset in itself. Standing with allies and warning enemies was America’s DNA. This was the country that Ronald Reagan described, that John McCain fought for, and that Lindsey Graham defended for three decades in Congress.
He worked with Democrats when it mattered and fought them ferociously when it mattered more. He worked as a shepherd for the judges. He re-created the defense budget. He stood next to McCain in the desert, next to Trump in the Oval Office, and made both relationships work.
We’re about to find out what American foreign policy would be like without him. I suspect we will miss him more than we realize.
The Ayatollahs will not do this. The Kremlin will not do this. Hamas will not do this.
After all, this is the truest measure of a man.
