{"id":138682,"date":"2026-07-12T10:25:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/from-staunch-critic-to-fierce-ally-grahams-long-strange-and-consequential-friendship-with-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T10:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:28:17","slug":"from-staunch-critic-to-fierce-ally-grahams-long-strange-and-consequential-friendship-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/from-staunch-critic-to-fierce-ally-grahams-long-strange-and-consequential-friendship-with-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"From staunch critic to fierce ally: Graham’s long, strange and consequential friendship with Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FILE
FILE – Former President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina Statehouse, Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 After the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021<\/a>, Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a> said he had finally had enough of the man who was championed by the mob that stormed the pillar of American democracy: President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump and I, we\u2019ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he\u2019s been a consequential president,” an emotional Graham said once authorities cleared the rioters and allowed senators to reclaim their chamber. “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn’t, of course.<\/p>\n

Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died unexpectedly<\/a> on Saturday night at age 71, realized that his party’s future was inextricably tied to Trump and quickly reverted back to being a staunch defender. The shift made what had once seemed like a final rupture into just another twist in the topsy-turvy relationship between the powerful senator and the president who came to dominate their party.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no,\u201d Graham said in May 2021, just four months after the Jan. 6 attack. \u201cI\u2019ve determined we can\u2019t grow without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, who called Graham a “true American Patriot\u201d in a social media post Sunday, appeared shocked by the lawmaker’s sudden passing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t believe it,\u201d the president told NBC’s \u201cMeet the Press.” \u201cHe was like a member of the family.”<\/p>\n

Graham often advised Trump on foreign affairs, particularly on matters pertaining to Israel, Ukraine and Iran. He was a frequent visitor at the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of a particularly thrilling and rollicking meeting in the Oval Office, Lindsey Graham turned to the room and said: ‘I\u2019ve never had this much fun in my life,\u2019\u201d deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote on X. He said such gatherings “were filled with camaraderie, kinship and uproarious laughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump recalled that during his last conversation with Graham, he told his friend, \u201cWe\u2019ll see you soon, come over anytime you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham once said Trump’s candidacy was like \u2018being shot in the head\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The senator and Trump first clashed while competing for the 2016 presidential nomination.<\/p>\n

Graham described Trump as \u201cunfit for office,\u201d and was angered when Trump denigrated the military service of Graham’s close friend, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Trump suggested, \u201cI like people that weren’t captured\u201d when talking about McCain’s years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Trump got mad enough at Graham to release the senator’s personal cellphone number. That prompted a viral video in which the senator dramatically destroyed a series of flip phones. He smashed one with a meat cleaver and another with a golf club, then used lighter fluid, a blender and toaster oven to pulverize others before tossing one off the roof.<\/p>\n

Graham eventually likened Trump’s winning the nomination to \u201cbeing shot in the head\u201d and said he refused to vote for Trump that November. But the pair later bonded over golf and what Graham described as a mutual and irreverent sense of humor.<\/p>\n

Trump and Graham began so frequently hitting the links together that the senator started seeing it as something of a career builder, leaning heavily into the kind of over-the-top flattery Trump relishes. In 2017, Graham joked that Trump had beaten him \u201clike a drum\u201d on the course \u2014 even worse than in the presidential primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir true friendship could only be seen behind the curtain,\u201d Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d Scott said that relationship was forged as political adversaries but also strengthened by spending 100-plus hours golfing together.<\/p>\n

During Trump’s first term, Graham helped advance Trump’s nominees to the Supreme Court, lent credibility to the White House’s legislative agenda and even at times became part of the president’s inner circle. He frequently said Trump was maturing in politics and growing on the job.<\/p>\n

Graham’s political divergence with McCain, who died in 2018, was never more clear than in 2017, when McCain voted against a Trump-backed plan to overturn Democratic President Barack Obama\u2019s signature health care law. The effort had been co-sponsored by Graham.<\/p>\n

A split that was short-lived, an alliance reignited <\/strong><\/p>\n

In his floor speech after the Capitol attack, Graham said \u201che\u2019d never been so humiliated and embarrassed for the country.\u201d But the break with Trump ended quickly.<\/p>\n

Weeks later, Trump invited Graham for golf and dinner at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, reigniting their alliance. During Trump’s 2024 campaign, Graham was a frequent Trump surrogate on television, promoting U.S. military strength that he said would advance \u201cAmerica First\u201d policies.<\/p>\n

Graham never shed his more traditional Republican foreign policy views, including outspoken support for Ukraine during the Russian invasion<\/a>. He was also a leading voice pushing the White House to more fully embrace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> and take a harder line against Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February, Graham remained hawkish, staunchly defending the action and working to counter many in Trump’s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d base who thought \u201cAmerica First\u201d meant avoiding such military conflicts.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those who say Iran is stronger now than before, that is an insult to the American military and it is delusional thinking because the Iranian economy is in shambles,\u201d Graham posted on social media June 19.<\/p>\n

But Graham’s admiration for Trump went far beyond Iran. When Graham clinched the South Carolina Republican primary last month, he suggested the president was just short of a deity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to start with a bunch of thank yous. I want to thank the big guy, God. Trump comes later,\u201d Graham laughed. \u201cMr. President, you\u2019re not far behind God, but we\u2019re gonna start with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE – President Donald Trump, left, exits Air Force One with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Feb. 28, 2020, on arrival to North Charleston, S.C., where he will attend a campaign rally. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – President Donald Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, play golf at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., as seen from the other side of the Potomac River in Darnestown, Md., July 18, 2020. (AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – President Donald Trump walks to the Oval Office with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Evan Vucci, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – President Donald Trump listens to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speak during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Nov. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FILE – Former President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina Statehouse, Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, File)(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, File) WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 After the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he had finally had enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-138682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138690,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138682\/revisions\/138690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138682"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=138682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}