‘Unique and important relationship’: Lindsey Graham swayed Trump on striking Iran
US Republican Lindsey Graham gained the President’s trust after a relationship filled with ups and downs – here’s what’s next.
Senator Lindsey Graham wanted President Donald Trump to strike Iran. That desire was at sharp odds with many in the President’s orbit who were urging him to stay out of the conflict.
But the South Carolina Republican believed the US had a narrow window to cripple the nuclear ambitions of Tehran and stave off what he warned would be a catastrophic nuclear-arms race in the Middle East.
To help convince the President to make the call, Graham turned to one of the methods he has crafted over their tumultuous near decade of friendship: appeal to Trump’s desire for credit.
“One thing he was thinking about, and I kept talking to him about, is if you do this, you reset the damage done by [the] Afghanistan withdrawal” by then-president Joe Biden, Graham said in an interview.
“Israel’s done a magnificent job, but we need to have our fingerprints on this too. It’s in our national security interest to be part of this.”
Graham has a unique position in today’s Washington: He is one of Trump’s most influential advisers on national security while maintaining strong relationships with Democrats on supporting Ukraine and pushing against Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also exasperates Trump’s MAGA base and has had one of the most tortured – and at times humiliating – relationships with the President.
Yet after repeated splits with Trump, including a very public break after the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, Graham found himself back in his inner circle and able to convince the President to go against his domestic-focused inclinations and approve the high-stakes strike against Iran. He is also advising him on what could come next if Iran tries to restart its nuclear work.
“I am a dog with a bone on the things I care about,” Graham said.
Last weekend, Trump gave the order to target three nuclear sites in Iran, infuriating some of the President’s base, which called it a betrayal of Trump’s America First promise and feared it could drag the US into another foreign war.
Graham hailed it as “bold” and “brilliant.” By Monday evening, Trump said Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire that he said could lead to the end of the 12-day war. The administration said regime change wasn’t the goal, but Trump has hinted he would be open to it.
Graham, who served as a lawyer in the US Air Force, has spent years pushing a more aggressive approach to the authoritarian regime of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and he was one of the loudest voices to urge Trump to strike Iran. Graham’s hawkishness, including calls for regime change, has long put him on the enemies list of many in Trump’s orbit.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who lobbied the President against military action, including during lunch at the White House ahead of the strike, has said Graham should be arrested or have his passport cancelled so he can’t get involved in other countries’ affairs.
Graham’s “effect on the United States is so destructive,” former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said recently.
The senator brushes off the criticism. “The idea of not confronting the bad guy and hoping it gets better is pretty naive,” he said.
Graham is “an extraordinary ally of the administration,” said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly in a statement.
‘Use one more club than you need’
Trump is an avid golfer and has played frequently with Graham over the years, including on Saturday. Graham said that about a week before the attack, he told Trump that if he struck, to “use one more club than you need.”
Graham said he believes that Iran – unlike Russia or North Korea – would actually use a nuclear weapon to pre-emptively attack the US
“I told President Trump this: of all the things that can happen that would lead to disaster for the world would be Iran getting a nuclear weapon,” Graham said. “And I think he believes that.” Graham said Iran needs to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a prerequisite for negotiations.
Asked if the US would join Israel in any future military actions against Iran, Graham said it depends on the circumstances. Trump has said he would be open to striking Iran again if it made moves to rebuild its nuclear work, and Graham maintains Trump wouldn’t need permission from Capitol Hill.
That assertion has been actively disputed. Democrats unsuccessfully sought to bring up a resolution Friday forcing Trump to get congressional approval before US participation in hostilities in Iran.
“We should do a good job kicking the tires as Congress before we go into a war and not get lied into a war,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.).
The consensus view among US intelligence agencies is that Iran hasn’t made a decision to move forward on building a bomb, an assessment Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard repeated in congressional testimony in March before later aligning herself with Trump in a social-media post.
“Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalise the assembly,” Gabbard said. “President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree.”
Graham, 69 years old, has long been at the centre of shaping the US approach to the Middle East. Shortly before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Iran-backed Hamas on Israel, Graham had been working with a bipartisan group of senators and the Biden administration on a plan to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia in a bid to secure a durable peace in the Middle East.
“There was so much promise,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.), who worked on the plan, which had contemplated a defence pact with Saudi Arabia and an avenue toward Palestinian control over its own country.
After the Oct. 7 attack, Graham pulled together a group of five Republicans and five Democrats, including Booker and then-Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin (D., Md.), to travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel as a way to demonstrate US support for not just Israel but also reconciliation between Israel and the Arab world.
A tumultuous relationship
Graham and Trump’s relationship began when they both ran for president in 2016. Graham, who was first elected to the US Senate in 2002, built his campaign on his national security experience, a more aggressive US role in the Middle East and his strong opposition to the Iran Nuclear Deal.
He called Trump “the world’s biggest jackass” and accused him of being “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.”
Trump said Graham was “one of the dumbest human beings I’ve ever seen” and “you’ll end up starting World War III with a guy like that.”
Graham dropped out of the race early and Trump consolidated voters around his new vision for the GOP.
Graham then became a close ally in the Senate, even as Trump clashed with the late Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) – Graham’s close friend and mentor.
Graham fiercely defended Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing, and went to bat for the President during Trump’s first impeachment trial.
The relationship fractured again in 2021 after the US Capitol was overrun by a pro-Trump mob.
“All I can say is count me out, enough is enough, I’ve tried to be helpful,” Graham said on the Senate floor after the Jan. 6 riot. But two months later, Graham was back supporting Trump.
A tougher sell on Ukraine
Graham has a harder time getting the President to see his view on Ukraine. He is leading the charge in Congress to enact far-reaching trade sanctions on Russia and he remains in close contact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Graham coached Zelensky before he visited the White House in February. After the meeting with Trump went sideways, Graham publicly scolded Zelensky.
Still, Graham has kept at it. He said he had been playing golf with the President when they got to talking about Ukraine.
Graham laid out a map that showed Ukraine’s mineral resources. Within seconds, Graham said Trump responded: “’I want half.’”
The US and Ukraine signed a deal in April giving the US access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
Graham continues to have tensions with the GOP base. At a Trump rally in the summer of 2023, which Graham had helped plan, he was booed for a minute straight. Trump was privately amused by the incident, according to aides.
A former Graham aide described the relationship between Trump and Graham “sometimes like a hockey fight” where hits are exchanged and “then they’re golfing the next weekend”.
Ralph Reed, chairman of the conservative advocacy organisation Faith and Freedom Coalition, said Graham has a unique and important relationship with Trump.
“Access in Washington is the most valuable currency you can have, and Graham’s access is gold,” he said.
Dow Jones Newswires
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