Former president Donald Trump held the first big rally of his comeback campaign over the weekend in a little town called Pickens, South Carolina. Reports of the crowd size vary, with Trump claiming 75,000, which is absurd, but it was a large and very enthusiastic crowd. He gave his usual spiel, whining, "I am being indicted for you." And he once again delivered his creepy new mission statement, declaring that this 2024 election is the "Final Battle" against the "communists," "globalists" "warmongers" and the "sick people" and "degenerates" who "hate our country." It was the usual cheery, positive vision of the future we've come to expect from Trump and it was especially uplifting on the 4th of July weekend. It makes you proud to be an American.
He was very well received, which isn't surprising since the district went for him in big numbers in both 2016 and 2020. The weather was very hot but the people were ready to party:
Woman at Trump rally is asked what Trump should do on day 1 if elected. She says he should put Biden in jail then round up people in the Deep State and “take them to the train station.” pic.twitter.com/5p0sIFL84e
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 1, 2023
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared as well and was her usual ray of sunshine. She even inspired a good old-fashioned "lock her up" chant, much to the delight of the gathered throng.
Then something very odd and somewhat inexplicable happened. The South Carolina crowd turned on their homeboy, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and I'm honestly not entirely sure exactly what it's all about.
6 minutes of Lindsey Graham being booed in his own state, by members of his own party, is better than coffee. pic.twitter.com/Unum7OqinB
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) July 2, 2023
It was brutal.
Later, when Trump tried to give Graham a shout-out, the jeers started all over again prompting Trump to make this weird statement:
You know, you can make mistakes on occasion. Even Lindsey down here, Senator Lindsey Graham. [more booing] We're gonna love him. We're gonna love him.
I know, it's half and half. But when I need some of those liberal votes, he's always there to help me get them, OK. We got some pretty liberal people, but he's good.He's there when you need him. We know the good ones. We know the bad ones too. We've got some real bad ones. But even he makes mistakes on occasion.
Trump seemed surprised by the vehement hostility, even laughing and muttering "Jesus" under his breath at one point.
This is an interesting question because it exposes how much Trump is influenced by his unruly mob.
But this has happened before. You may recall that Graham suffered a humiliating experience being heckled in an airport. Feelings were running hot in the aftermath of January 6 for his momentary lapse of MAGA supplication in failing to vote to challenge the electoral count after the insurrection.
Sen. Lindsey Graham was verbally harassed by about a dozen Donald Trump supporters at Reagan National Airport today after his public break with the president, according to a person at the scene who provided a video of the incident https://t.co/HrIX9gteIu pic.twitter.com/9VChbrsrEy
— POLITICO (@politico) January 8, 2021
Maybe they're still harboring a grudge even though Trump himself seems to have forgiven him.
One often cited reason in the Youtube comments is Graham's support for Ukraine. But is it so important to MAGA that they would boo him through an entire speech — in South Carolina, probably the most historically militant state in the nation? Perhaps, but if you listen to what Trump says on the issue he's not nearly as anti-Ukraine as some of the more vociferous opponents in the Congress. He evades saying what should be done by accusing Biden of "doing it wrong" and insisting that he has a secret plan that will end the war the day after he's elected. It's not as if he's been railing about the waste of money or proclaiming that it's all a NATO plot as Rep. Greene does.
This is an interesting question because it exposes how much Trump is influenced by his unruly mob. Graham is probably closer to him than any other senator and has been with him since the first days of Trump's presidency. It's true that from time to time he would stray and say something vaguely critical but over Trump's term he became progressively sycophantic to the point of embarrassing self-abnegation.
William Saletan at The Bulwark recently published a series of essays about Graham's abandonment of his will and his conscience since 2015 as he dedicated himself to serving Trump called "The Corruption of Lindsey Graham. A Case Study in the Rise of Authoritarianism." He had once fashioned himself as a "maverick" like his idol John McCain who loathed and despised Trump and during the 2016 campaign Graham breathlessly denounced him in colorful terms: "hateful," a "kook," a "demagogue," and a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot" who "represents the worst in America." That was just for starters. But once Trump won, Graham turned himself around quickly, seeing an opportunity to school the buffoon on foreign policy. It took some work but he made it into the "inner orbit" over the course of a few months and was soon spending time with him on the golf course and becoming a close confidant.
Over the course of Trump's four years in office, Graham went through the looking glass, abandoning himself to the emotional appeal of being a Trump courtier. His crucible was the hysterical speech he gave during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings in which a red-faced Graham seemed to completely come unhinged. The reviews from Trump and the MAGA faithful were rapturous, however, and Graham was hooked.
By the time the 2020 election came around, Lindsey Graham was so deeply attached to Donald Trump that he became one of his strongest surrogates, even involving himself in the attempts to get the election results overturned in the states. He made dozens of appearances on television spreading the Big Lie and stood by his man all the way up until January 6. At that point, if Graham had simply been an opportunist who was trying to deal with the situation in which he found himself, he could have written Trump off and moved on. He was out of power. Instead, Grham was among the first to tell Trump that he needed to immediately plan his restoration to the throne. He didn't want to let him go.
If Graham had simply been an opportunist who was trying to deal with the situation in which he found himself, he could have written Trump off and moved on.
Saletan's piece traces Graham's evolution from a man who believed that he could manipulate Trump to someone wholly in his thrall, stuck in the Trumpian vortex without any idea of exactly how he got there or any real desire to get out. He serves as a perfect example of how a demagogue, even one as ignorant as Trump, can seduce a party and its voters into authoritarianism.
It had to hurt to hear those boos after all he's done for their idol Donald Trump. It must be frightening to hear Trump give him such a tepid endorsement, agreeing that he's only "half and half" and that he's good for bringing liberals on board Trump's plans (suggesting that Graham is some kind of liberal symp, which is preposterous.) But that's how authoritarian systems work. Trump heard those boos and the writing is on the wall for Lindsey Graham. Trump will never trust or respect him again.
