Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) blows with the winds he perceives will give him the best political advantage. From hanging out on the greens with Donald Trump to praising President Joe Biden. Right after the January 6 attempted coup, the intrepid reporters from The New York Times, Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin, taped an interview with the South Carolinian politician and just released it.
The two journalists appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 to talk about what the senator said publicly and privately. And they attempted to discern Trump’s real feelings about the attempted coup.
In his interview with Graham right after January 6, Martin said the senator claimed that Trump was just “playing the TV game.” And then, Graham said on the audiotape, according to The Daily Beast:
‘[President Biden] was the best person to have [in the White House.] I mean, how mad can you get at Joe Biden?’
Graham told Martin that the deadly insurrection would mean a “reset.” The reporter asked him whether Biden could soothe the country after the violence. The senator responded “totally.”
So how did Trump react to Graham’s lost loyalty? The president responded:
‘[He] misjudged the passion. He plays the TV game and he went too far here.… That rally didn’t help, talking about primarying Liz [Cheney]. He created a sense of revenge.’
The reporter’s just-released book This Will Not Pass,” published by Simon & Schuster noted that Graham fawned over Trump, but privately he explained that he had called the White House during the riot. At that point, he claimed he threatened Trump with the 25th Amendment. That amendment allows for certain designated persons to vote to remove any president from office who proves unstable, among other reasons.
In the journalists’ audio, the senator indicated that he believed that all involved would “come out of this strong,” according to Yahoo News:”
‘Moments like this reset. People will calm down. People will say, “I don’t want to be associated with that.” This is a group within a group. What this does, there will be a rallying effect for a while, (then) the country says “We’re better than this.”‘
The publisher described the book as “the authoritative account of an eighteen-month crisis in American Democracy:”
‘This is the authoritative account of an eighteen-month crisis in American democracy that will be seared into the country’s political memory for decades to come. With stunning, in-the-room detail, New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns show how both our political parties confronted a series of national traumas, including the coronavirus pandemic, the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and the political brinksmanship of President Biden’s first year in the White House.’
Simon & Schuster wrote “this book exposes the degree to which the two-party system has been strained:”
‘From Donald Trump’s assault on the 2020 election and his ongoing campaign of vengeance against his fellow Republicans, to the behind-the-scenes story of Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate and his bitter struggles to unite the Democratic Party, this book exposes the degree to which the two-party system has been strained to the point of disintegration. More than at any time in recent history, the long-established traditions and institutions of American politics are under siege as a set of aging political leaders struggle to hold together a changing country.’
The book certainly tore into Graham.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
Three White Lions is Gloria Christie’s new serialized book available in episodes on Amazon. Go to Kindle Vella and insert her name. She also writes for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery. Find her here on Facebook.
