Taxes, death and trouble...

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted”-Douglass

Senator Lindsey Graham was one of the most loathsome warmongering anti-worker bigots in the halls of the U.S. Congress. Graham was as vicious a proponent of imperialist war as they come. For decades, he was a hardened supporter of Israel’s ethnic cleansing and its apartheid state. He effectively called for Israel to use nuclear weapons on the Palestinian people, likened Palestinians to Nazi Germany, and urged that Israel “flatten” Gaza and the West Bank. He called for “regime change” in Iran and was an undying advocate of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. He described American funding for the bloody inter-imperialist proxy war in Ukraine as “the best money we’ve ever spent.” Graham was virulently opposed to social democracy and socialism anywhere, and especially hated the planned economy in Cuba and social democratic reforms in Venezuela. He celebrated a possible return to capitalism in Cuba by saying “their days are numbered.” He called Venezuela, Cuba, and Colombia “the drug caliphate.” As working and poor people lost the ground from under their feet in the Covid pandemic, Graham used his position to speak out repeatedly against the bare minimum stimulus. Graham claimed that the relief package would encourage working people to be “lazy” and unemployed. It apparently gnawed at his insides that the Covid relief bill would pay the equivalent of over $24/hour in South Carolina versus the state minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, as the world's richest people doubled their fortunes and the incomes of billions of working people plummeted and over 160 million more people were forced into poverty. Graham strenuously opposed abortion rights, introduced numerous anti-abortion bills, and voted for every bill he could to cut social assistance for working-class and poor families. He was a staunch opponent of trans and queer rights. He voted for the horrendous Defense of Marriage Act (scandalously voted for by a majority of Democrats and signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton), and called himself a “proud defender of traditional marriage.” He voted against repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and co-sponsored the bill against trans women in sports. So in summary, good fucking riddance to Lindsey Graham. Never forget the misery he helped create for hundreds of millions of people. Shame on Democratic Party politicians, including Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Joe Biden, who are eulogizing Lindsey Graham. We need to build militant mass movements of the working class and build our own party to defeat the right wing, the billionaires, and both their parties.

@MaryLTrump Hear, hear.

If you want to know what kind of person Lindsey Graham was, listen to what Capitol police officers have to say about him, not Democratic senators.

I fought with Lindsey more than I worked with him. But if there was a big issue before the Senate, one thing was true: you couldn't avoid him. He was a force of nature. I remember negotiating with him through the night, trying unsuccessfully to win his support for the 2024 bipartisan immigration bill. Without his consent, we knew it couldn't pass. I remember how winning his support for the 2022 breakthrough bipartisan gun bill essentially secured its passage through the Senate. In my time in the Senate, there have been few more powerful, more energetic Senators than Lindsey Graham. It's hard to imagine the Senate without him, and despite our differences, I will miss him greatly. As the Senate reconvenes this week without him, my thoughts are with his family, his many close friends, and his staff.

@CoryBooker If “Please clap” was a tweet…

I played football in college, so I’ve taken plenty of helmet-to-helmet hits. But few matched the force of my disagreements with Lindsey Graham on the Senate floor. We fought ferociously over the things that mattered. But I also worked to find common ground with him.

@_celia_bedelia_ I get it too, but it’s a failed anachronism for a bygone era they are clinging to in desperation. Who does like this? Who is it for?

@Progressive_Lee I mean, I don’t like it, but I get it

I don’t think any politician is gonna comment on Lindsey Graham’s passing the way any of us want them to or how they actually feel about them 🤷🏻‍♀️

@JoJoFromJerz @StephenM I have nothing to say that tops this.

@StephenM Try as you may, they’re not going to give you the fresh cadaver, Nazferatu.

At the end of a particularly thrilling and rollicking meeting in the Oval Office, Lindsey Graham turned to the room and said: “I’ve never had this much fun in my life.” I cannot describe to you how much joy President Trump’s leadership and friendship brought to Lindsey. Meetings with Graham at the White House were filled with camaraderie, kinship and uproarious laughter. As heartbreaking as his sudden passing is, I hope it will bring some measure of comfort to those who cherished him to know just how much he was living his dream every day. Very rarely in life do you get to be exactly where you want to be, when you want to be there, with who you want to be with, doing precisely what you want to do — that was every moment for Lindsey. When President Trump won in Nov 2024, Lindsey was exultant. Elated. And determined. He couldn’t wait to spearhead work, as the Budget Chairman, on the reconciliation bill that would cement President Trump’s most important campaign promises. I’ll never forget the senate lunch, when a couple Senators were a tad off the program, and Lindsey — in his inimitable way — made sure everyone was onside by the time we left. It was a glorious thing to witness. He knew how to move a room. Lindsey was a senator’s senator. The job was everything to him. Truly did he believe in the splendor of the office and the noble lineage behind it, of which he was the worthy heir. He was a senator in the mold of those who fashioned the institution, someone who still had the ability, in a heated exchange, to use rhetorical power to change the course of events. Which is why we will never forget his legendary Kavanaugh moment. We rarely think that we are out of time with our friends, so while there is a lot more I wish I could have said to Lindsey, I am glad that more than once I told him what that moment meant to the whole nation and why he was the only Senator who could have done it with such utter perfection. Most importantly, I had the chance to tell him on many occasions what his friendship meant to me and to us all. There was never once a time he didn’t answer a phone call and lend whatever assistance was required. It was never a question with Lindsey. He believed deeply in the code of friendship and loyalty. The fact that Lindsey started out as a political opponent only to become one the President’s most steadfast and faithful supporters underscores that Lindsey believed emphatically in the voice of the people. There is a lot more I would like to say. His passing, at a time when he had never been more dynamic, is as unexpected as it is shocking. In many respects, Lindsey was the last of a breed of American Senator whose like we may not yet see again for a long time. He lived every minute in the arena, a political gladiator to the very last. More than anything now, our thoughts are with his Sister, nieces and loved ones. We pray that God will ease their sorrow and heal their pain. Lindsey can never be replaced and will never be forgotten. Godspeed, my friend.

MAGA has lost all standing or credibility to lecture anyone about decency, politeness and civility. You worship Trump, a ghoul who elevates ghoulish people like Lindsey Graham. Graham chose to abandon his principles to suck up to Trump for power. He was a genocidal warmonger who had no compassion for Palestinians and Iranians. Was it worth it? Now he's dead and the majority remember him for the coward that he was.

@keithedwards Well done.

31 years in office. 0 sexual assault allegations from women. RIP king

Pro tip: Contrary to conventional wisdom, when powerful people who ruined the world die, you aren’t obligated to valorize them. You aren’t obligated to dunk on them, either (although I personally think a factual/critical recitation of their record is totally fine!). But you definitely can choose to just say nothing. That’s a choice you can make. There is no rule that says you have to retroactively cast villains as a great people just because they died.

I am deeply saddened by the passing of my colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham. He was a man of great faith who served the people of South Carolina with passion and tenacity. I am praying for his family and his loved ones as they mourn this tremendous loss.

@SenWarren With respect, I submit if you deeply unpacked the “much” you disagreed with him on, you’d see how inane it is to praise his humor and wit. Normalizing fascists is how we got here.

I got to know Senator Lindsey Graham traveling with him abroad in Afghanistan and Ukraine. We had just met to renew the fight for our Big Tech bill. Even though we disagreed on much, he was always willing to negotiate, with humor and wit. My heart goes out to his loved ones.

@piersmorgan This should tell you that the “woke left” are not the feckless doormats you paint us to be. We want bad things for bad people. Just like you say you do, Piers.

Seeing the despicably cruel, heartless and abusive way that many people in UK and US have responded to the deaths of conservative politicians, Ann Widdecombe and Lindsey Graham, reminds me that the least kind people on earth are ironically those on the #BeKind woke left.

@mjfree @piersmorgan Came here to say this. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

@piersmorgan Check this out:

This is where people get willfully obtuse about @hasanthehun pointing out that 9/11 was something America summoned upon itself. If someone bombed a school in America and over 100 (white) girls died, America would lose its collective mind. How do we think Iranians feel now?

@atrupar Da fuq?

Sen. Roger Marshall on Lindsey Graham: "Did this really happen to one of my besties? ... I'll especially miss him in the cloak room."

@morganpicarelli @KamalaHarris “Rabid animals”…like the one you voted for? Are you really trying to take a moral high horse with this whole ass disqualifying admission?

The hate you’re receiving from both left and right for this gracious post is enough to turn one’s stomach. I don’t agree with you politically - I voted for the other ticket - but you’ve demonstrated class and grace that puts you far above the rabid animals biting at your heels. Thank you, Madam Vice President.

I am saddened to learn of the passing of my former colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham. He was full of wit, energy, and charm, and he cared deeply about the Senate and the people of South Carolina. Doug and I are sending our thoughts and our prayers to his friends and loved ones.

@KamalaHarris @AmoneyResists And here I was, mentally preparing myself to consider voting for you again. This man has caused so much suffering, spoke with such hate, and you choose to lift up his “wit and charm?” I think you are just not up to this moment and what we are facing, which makes me sad.

@HunterBiden You remember an illusion. Character is what shows in moments of inconvenience. Whatever you choose to remember, his legacy will be as handmaiden and cheerleader to suffering in this nation and across the world.

When I heard about Senator Graham’s death last night, the first thing I thought about was not all the things he said and did in service of Donald Trump. I thought of the time before Donald Trump when he was a brother to Senator John McCain. A time when senators from different parties could fight about politics and still be friends. A time when a conservative Republican from South Carolina could say of my father: “If you can’t admire Joe Biden as a person, you’ve got a problem. He’s the nicest person I’ve ever met in politics. As good a man as God ever created.” That is the Senator Graham I will remember today. Not because I have forgotten what came after. Because in that memory there is hope. Hope for a country where brothers can fight like hell over policy and still share a meal, and a laugh, and the loss of the people they love. I will choose to remember the time before Trump. Because I believe in an America after Trump.

@VickieforNYC Please take your medicine and have a nap.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. We are in a soft secession under Zohran. He considers New York an independent city-state with its own foreign policy, immigration policy, and economic policy. He does not recognize the authority of the federal government except to the extent he can extract money or political wins from it. The intent is to use the resources and authority of New York City to wage war against the federal government and the rest of the country. The DSA is quite open about it. They're telling us what they plan to do, and Zohran is executing. Colluding with the Iranians was just another means to that end. They will collude with any and all of our enemies, because the stated goal of the DSA is to dismantle the country from within. Again, they say all of this out loud. No inferences necessary here. In this particular case, the meeting with the Iranians was sidelined by the State Department. But the intention is crystal clear, and just because a high-profile meeting was stopped doesn't mean there isn't back channel communication and cooperation happening between the DSA/Mamdani admin and the Iranians. Obviously there is. Meetings like this don't just materialize out of thin air, and ties between the DSA and Iranian-linked fronts like the People's Forum are too many to count. Now what are we actually going to do about this? We're WAY past the point that it can honestly be argued that the DSA isn't an insurgency determined to bring down the country. I really think it requires a military solution now; take this out of the corrupt civil court system and use the military to roll up the DSA and charge them as revolutionary insurgents. Do it while we still can and avoid inevitable future bloodshed.