By Stephen Dinan (The Washington Times)
Washington bade farewell Tuesday to a rare partisan peacemaker, with memorial services celebrating the exceptional life of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.
With his coffin draped in the American flag, congressional colleagues gathered in the Capitol’s rotunda to remember the man who made them rethink positions, made them laugh and, most of all, made them connect with one another.
Later, at a funeral service at Washington National Cathedral, President Trump hailed Mr. Graham as “a true American original.”
“For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it,” the president said. “Nothing of significance happened anywhere in the world without Lindsey Graham having a view on it. And no bill became a law in the most exceptional republic in human history without Lindsey Graham having a say in it.”
“There was no one that took a job more seriously than Lindsey Graham,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican. “But also, no one was more capable of cracking up a room.”
Mr. Graham, 71, died on July 11 from a heart emergency, ending more than three decades in Congress, including more than 20 years as a senator from South Carolina.
His seat has been filled by his sister, Darline Graham, but colleagues said his presence in the chamber cannot be replaced.
“Lindsey was a towering figure here in the Senate and on the international stage,” Mr. Thune said.
Mr. Trump recalled that he and Mr. Graham forged an unlikely friendship after the two men battled for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential campaign. At one point, Mr. Trump, furious at Mr. Graham, publicly revealed the senator’s personal cellphone number.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump acknowledged it was “something I shouldn’t have done.”
“I remember the number — 202-228-0292 — if anybody wants to give it a shot,” he said, drawing laughter from the congregation. “It was Lindsey who had the last laugh because while I blew up his phone for one day, we became great friends, and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years.”
Mr. Graham was an acolyte of Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican and fellow defense hawk. They shared a willingness to buck their party and an ability to forge legislation across party lines, with campaign finance, immigration legislation and military policy as particular interests for both men.
In the second term of President George W. Bush, it was McCain and Mr. Graham who pushed the administration into the troop surge in Iraq, which helped stabilize the troubled nation’s security situation.
After McCain’s death, Mr. Graham emerged as the most prominent hawk in the Senate.
Mr. Graham also gained a reputation as a sort of Trump whisperer, able to reach the mercurial president despite some very public disagreements.
He was among the proudest of pro-life lawmakers, staking out positions and pushing policies that thrilled the party’s conservatives, even as Republican strategists worried about the politics.
He also drew the ire of conservatives for his work on bills to legalize illegal immigrants and his willingness to vote for nominees of Democratic presidents.
Justice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointment to the Supreme Court, credited Mr. Graham with securing her confirmation, both with his vote and a classic Graham-induced moment that humanized her during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Graham had asked Justice Kagan what she was doing on Christmas — a question she took as a predicate for asking him about the intricacies of the criminal case against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the “underwear bomber,” who had attempted to bring down a plane on Christmas Day 2009.
Mr. Graham had other ideas.
“I just asked you where you were at on Christmas,” he said, smiling.
“You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant,” she replied.
Justice Kagan, in an appearance before Congress this month, said Mr. Graham accomplished a hard thing: He made her seem funny.
“People said to me afterward that exchange with Sen. Graham was the moment my confirmation was sealed,” she said.
Vice President J.D. Vance said Tuesday that Mr. Graham sealed the confirmation of another justice, Brett M. Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee who was struggling after unsubstantiated accusations of a decades-old sexual assault arose.
Mr. Graham, who had made a point in the past of supporting nominees from Democratic presidents, unleashed all his considerable rhetorical fury on Justice Kavanaugh’s opposition, calling him a clearly qualified legal mind who was being ambushed by character assassination.
“I believe that he saved that nomination,” Mr. Vance said. “Lindsey didn’t just earn a lot of headlines, he actually persuaded people.”
Justice Kavanaugh was in attendance at the cathedral funeral along with much of the rest of official Washington, including Cabinet members and senior White House staff.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were also present, as a testament to Mr. Graham’s deep support for those nations in their wars with neighboring countries.
The memorials will be followed by public ceremonies in Columbia, South Carolina, on Wednesday, and then a private burial in Pickens County.
This article was made available to WMAL via The Washington Times.
