In one of their last conversations, John McCain told Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) that he should continue trying to help President Trump, up to a certain point.
Help him where you can, the late Republican senator from Arizona told his longtime friend. Just dont get sucked into all this bull----.
Right, Graham responded.
Fourteen months later, Graham has been completely sucked into all the BS, all the theater and contradictions that come with flying in Trumps orbit. He is the presidents highest-profile defender in the Senate on everything from his demands for border wall funds to his opposition to the House impeachment inquiry.
Graham introduced a nonbinding resolution Thursday that would put senators on record about whether they support the process House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has launched for the impeachment inquiry. Despite his public clash with Trump over the withdrawal of troops from Syria, Graham led a group of about 10 Senate Republicans Thursday to a two-hour huddle with the president at the White House.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham plans to hold hearings when the Justice Departments inspector general finishes an investigation into surveillance warrants that were used in the inquiry into Russian interference to benefit Trumps 2016 election.
Thats just one of several probes the presidents allies have been pushing Graham to launch. They have urged him to investigate former vice president Joe Biden. Some have even pushed for Graham to try to force Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the leader of the impeachment probe, to testify before his panel.
He has come a long way from August 2018 when he reflected, three days after McCain died, on his final conversations with the 2008 GOP presidential nominee and the bitter fights McCain had with Trump.
Graham had told reporters he would take that advice in dealing with Trump. So Im going to help him where I can, and not get sucked into all the other drama, Graham said that day.
By that point, Graham had already begun his journey into Trumps inner circle after initially serving as his highest-profile critic during the 2016 campaign (at a time when McCain said he would support Trump).
About two years ago, Graham started talking to some of Trumps national security team, and the initial phase of becoming a presidential ally seemed to focus on trying to steer Trumps isolationist instincts closer to the traditionally hawkish Republican positions favored by McCain.
Graham still introduced legislation designed to shield Robert S. Mueller III, the former special counsel who spent two years investigating the president, from getting fired.
Grahams rip-roaring defense of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaughs confirmation last year made him a conservative hero, a status he last held 20 years ago when he served as a House impeachment manager in the Senate trial of President Clinton. Once he arrived in the Senate in 2003, he drifted into McCains orbit and became a target for a conservative primary challenge every six years.
By Thursday, however, Graham was fully in the Trump corner. And the reward for that loyalty is almost unlimited access to power.