“HE NEVER SAW A WAR THAT HE DIDN’T LIKE.” “Never speak ill of the dead” is almost always good advice. It is even followed in Washington, at least some of the time. But what to make of President Donald Trump‘s remarks on the day of the Washington funeral for his friend and key political ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham?
In an appearance on Fox News Tuesday morning and at the National Cathedral funeral that afternoon, Trump said a lot of good things about Graham. But Trump also said something apparently based upon the many, many times Graham recommended that Trump pursue this or that military action, and certainly the times Graham urged Trump to attack Iran.
“Lindsey liked war,” Trump said on Fox & Friends. “He liked war. I jokingly say — and nothing funny about it — he’s never seen a war he did not like.”
It was a striking moment in which viewers might have been expecting an anecdote about, say, playing golf with Graham. They got that when Trump said Graham loved to play the game and worked hard at it, but “he wasn’t born to be a golfer.” Still, Iran and the issues of the moment — two wartime leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, traveled to the United States to attend the funeral — were always top of mind.
In his remarks at the funeral, Trump gave Graham fulsome praise. “In a city where politicians often become jaded and cynical, Lindsey Graham never lost the old-fashioned American idealism that brought him to the highest levels of government and life,” Trump said. “He took his duty seriously without taking himself too seriously. He was unwavering in his principles but always willing to listen.”
But Trump, with world events weighing heavily on his mind, returned to the subject of war. This time, he put Graham’s enthusiasm for war in the context of patriotism. “Lindsey Graham believed in a strong America,” Trump said. “He wanted a strong America. He had unwavering faith in the righteousness of American power and prayer. And he was extremely hawkish. I will tell you, he never saw a war that he didn’t like. Only his true friends would understand that. But he wanted it for the good of our country.”
Still, even in that context, saying someone “never saw a war that he didn’t like” is just not a terribly positive observation. In the past, Trump used it to describe onetime national security adviser John Bolton, who Trump said “has never seen a war he doesn’t like.” He did not mean it as a compliment.
Tuesday in Washington was filled with talk of Lindsey Graham. After all, Netanyahu and Zelensky were at the White House on that day only because of Graham. And most tributes to Graham spoke well of him, as befits the occasion. But Graham’s most consequential achievement in his many years in the Senate — successfully pushing for a U.S. war in Iran — has not, so far, worked out as he told Trump it would. And that fact was visible all day on Tuesday, even as Washington paid tribute to one of its most powerful lawmakers.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
