Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes

“Let the bodies hit the floor”[i]– Drowning Pool

 “We’re killing all the right people, and we’re cutting your taxes.”[ii]– Lindsey Graham

“War is necrophilia. And this necrophilia is central to soldiering, just as it is central to the makeup of suicide bombers and terrorists. The necrophilia is hidden under platitudes about duty or comradeship. It awaits, especially in moments when we seem to have little to live for and no hope, or in moments when the intoxication of war is at its pitch, to be unleashed. When we spend long enough in war it comes to us as a kind of release, a fatal and seductive embrace that can consummate the long flirtation in war with our own destruction. The ancient Greeks had a word for such a drive. They called it ekpyrosis – to be consumed by a ball of fire. They used the word to describe heroes.”[iii]– Chris Hedges

The bloodthirsty and illiberal Senator Lindsey Graham has died. According to reports, he died from an aortic tear.[iv] Right before he died, he was in Ukraine, not America, and his death was reported by some as not a blow to America, but to Ukraine and Israel.[v] CNN reported that “Ukraine lost one of its most vocal supporters”, and Benjamin Netanyahu said on X that “Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable. He devoted his life to defending America, strengthening our alliance and standing up for the free world. Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend.”[vi] Mark Rutte, the NATO General Secretary, said of Graham that “He was a powerful advocate for America who believed strongly in the Nato Alliance and was actively working to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine,”[vii] This is absurd, and Graham spent more time in other places, from Israel to Taiwan, than he did in America. If he was not reported as a Senator in South Carolina, you would not know, as he has never advocated for Americans, not even anyone in his state who elected him for a quarter of a century. He spent all his time fighting for “freedom” in every state except his own.

Graham briefly ran for president in the 2015/16 GOP primaries, though he polled so low that he quickly dropped out, and after the Indiana primary where Trump’s last two opponents, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, had been knocked out, he said on X that “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it.”[viii] Yet, he soon became one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in the Senate and had been in Trump’s ear persuading him intervene in Iran, to keep sending weapons to Ukraine and Taiwan, to support Israel, and not to adhere to the true promise of America First.

Graham is a symbol of two massive problems in US politics. Firstly, he represented the gerontocracy, as he was 71 years old, and had served in the Senate for 25 years, which only adds more insult to the fact that he never once advocated for the American people, as he supposedly did so for decades. It is true that he was elected repeatedly, but his age, together with the elderly Mitch McConnell, who is missing in action right now, and many other politicians in both parties symbolize a generation that is completely out of touch with whom they purport to fight for. Nancy Pelosi is a chief example. She served in Congress for decades, enriched herself through stock trading and serving the permanent regime, as well as pretending to vehemently oppose Trump while passing legislation that gave him spying powers and bombs to play with. Graham was no different in that he did not fight on behalf of his voters, he fought on behalf of whoever lined his pockets.

The second problem is what plagues the Trump movement. Instead of become what he promised to be, an America First political movement that would make America the priority, not other countries. In the Senate, there is currently a push to impose more sanctions on Russia in Graham’s honor.[ix] Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire is leading the push, and she said that “There can be no more fitting memorial to Lindsey, his legacy, or the causes he fought for, than to pass this legislation and realize his long-held dream of an independent and secure Ukraine,”[x] Although the sanctions bill they are trying to pass was created before Graham’s death, his death is being used to posit the bill as a fitting tribute to his legacy and his avid and fervent support for Ukraine. This is disgusting. The very war that Trump said he would halt in 24 hours before he was elected in 2024 is continuing it, in honor of the type of politician that Trump was supposed to be a break from.

However revolting Graham and his politics are, he was undoubtedly savvy and cunning. He was often called the “Trump whisperer”, as he wormed his way into Trump’s inner circle, despite spending the entire 2016 GOP primary decrying him, and ultimately succeeded in getting Trump on his side, and to transform into the antithesis of what he said he would be.[xi] Name any war in the arduous war on terror, and Graham supported and cheered it. In his mind, the only mistake the US made was not warring enough. For example, he blamed the Obama regime for not being hawkish enough in Iraq, which they declared over. Both Graham and John McCain lobbied Obama to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq to ‘finish the job’, and Graham said, “At the end of the day, I blame President Obama for the mess in Iraq and Syria, not President Bush.”[xii] He of course saw Obama as soft for not abiding by the red line he drew in Syria, despite the dropping of so many bombs on Syria that the US had run out of bombs.[xiii] Graham cackled and reveled in death and destruction. He was the epitome of a callous, reptilian political class hell bent on retaining the empire at any cost.

What made Trump interesting and for the permanent regime, dangerous, in his first presidential campaign were exactly what politicians like Graham reviled in him. His grotesque character was attacked and declared the sole reason he was unfit for office; however, it was his blasphemies against Washington orthodoxy that drove their hatred. Graham embodied this orthodoxy. He lived to defend it by any means necessary. Consider that what most outraged the illiberal liberal class about Trump’s first term in office was when he tried to avoid war, not when he went to war. His summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2017 was met with hair on fire, not hope for peace.[xiv] We saw a similar reaction to his meeting with Putin in Alaska in 2025.[xv] In the case of Iran, conservative elites like Graham and Mark Levin were indignant at the thought of peace, not war. Newt Gingrich, on Levin’s FOX News show, said that since people like him and Levin were often referred to as warmongers, so called isolationists should be seen as “diplomacy mongers”[xvi] The most twisted people in the illiberal liberal class, now that Iran is being turned into an inferno, are ecstatic. The war horny cretins in Washington have the ear of the president, not the non-interventionists who came to define his political movement. There are these idiots, like Levin, Gingrich, and Trump himself. Then there are the slicker, well-spoken idiots who, despite being presenting themselves as knowledgeable and insightful, are peddling the same senseless, war hungry nonsense that they and their ilk have been peddling for decades.

While there are a few think tanks and analysts/commentators who deviate from the Western establishment, US think tanks are mostly full of bloodthirsty warmongers, sometimes having served in previous administrations. Whether it is the educated and erudite or the oafish and clownish, society and civilization as we know it will be destroyed by idiots who only know how to destroy, not to build. The Iran war and its avid defenders illustrate this perfectly, as well as its critics who often dislike the execution, not the end goal, which is the continuation of empire, not anything noble like the freedom of the Iranian people or the removal of a tyrannical government in Tehran. Graham was a head cheerleader for the war. In his final days, he would make many television appearances, sputtering about the necessity to bomb Iran and free its people.

What we are witnessing in Trump’s war on Iran is naked brutality, a savagery once disguised by humanitarian imperialism and liberal jargon. Trump’s threats against the Iranian regime, and its civilization, as well as the bloodthirst of the likes of Graham, Loomer, and Levin, are disgusting and reprehensible. Their inhumanity is matched only by those they claim to be the opposite of. The Iranian regime is proclaimed irredeemably evil, thus any means, even nuclear Armageddon, is justified in ridding the world of such a dire threat. Trump is likely not serious about such egregious action, but even making such threats is horrible and warrants impeachment, however, the illiberal liberal class, from the hawks in the Democratic party to the warmongering pundits in the media, have no moral high ground when it comes to catastrophic wars. All these people, including Graham, mourned Dick Cheney, rehabilitated key figures from the Bush regime, voted for or cheered for each disastrous war, from Iraq to Syria, and will never admit that the Obama regime, as are several other, is complicit in the imperial war powers the president wields. After all, what Graham hated most about the Obama regime was their alleged softness.

Now US strikes in Iran are seen as part of Washington’s daily routine. Iran has been added to a roster of numerous other countries that are constantly battered by the US empire. Instead of waging a war to end all wars, or to at least end a 47-year long war that until recently was not even declared, Trump and his minions have begun yet another endless war, the exact opposite of what he promised.

Graham, above all else, embodied the necrophilic obsessions of the illiberal liberal class. His initial disavowal of Trump was undoubtedly driven by contempt for any deviation from American empire. However, when it became clear that Trump was malleable and easily manipulated by flattery, Graham wormed his way into his orbit and slowly but surely steered Trump’s foreign policy in the direction of Reagan, whom Graham deeply admired and sought to emulate.[xvii] Now Trump’s foreign policy is an exact replica of Bush.

The war against Iran that Graham and his ilk have fought for over decades has finally happened. It is fitting that around the same time he died, the Iran war has reignited, and Trump has scrapped any last hopes of a peace deal or negotiation. It is as Graham would want it, and what excited him was calling for bombings and massacres. What outraged him was peace and ceasefires. It is despicable that many in the conservative elite, in the outpouring of tributes to Graham, have decried those who dare to celebrate his death. Ben Shapiro tweeted that:

“All the worst people you know agree on one thing. The far Left, the groyper Right, and Iranian state television are all celebrating the death of Lindsey Graham. Same posts. Same glee. The horseshoe has become a wedding ring. Lindsey Graham spent 33 years in uniform, half a century in public service, and his last 48 hours on earth in Kyiv standing up for the free world. His enemies spent the day proving exactly why he fought them. RIP.”[xviii]

Yes, his last 48 hours on earth were spent, not in America, where he was elected to serve, but in Ukraine. This perfectly captures what Graham dedicated his life to. He was not a public servant; he was a servant to the permanent regime and globalism- the complete antithesis of what Trump presents himself as. Graham embraced Trump like a virus. With him in his clutches, he infected Trump with Bush era neoconservatism, which Graham never disowned despite warming to Trump. Now Trump is what he long claimed to despise. Shapiro’s tirade reflects the inability and unwillingness of the old guard of the GOP to grapple with why Trump rose to power in the first place, and why many of the figures and forces that backed him early on now oppose him.

Before people like Shapiro hated Trump and refused to vote for him, chastising conservatives who did. Now this has flipped, as people like Carlson and Greene are against Trump, and the conservative elite that was initially anti-Trump have essentially sworn loyalty to him. Shapiro said that Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was the most courageous thing a US president has done in his lifetime. Graham was part of this conservative elite who had first opposed Trump but then moved to exploit him and his hold on GOP voters to reinforce establishment foreign policy views in Washington.

To point any of this out is not to celebrate Graham’s death, as death is not joyful, however, those who do celebrate and even most who are critical but not celebratory of Graham following his death do not talk enough about his lust for death, and how this drives the illiberal liberal class. Graham was only ever animated by war and death. He never went on television to rave about poverty in South Carolina or the needs of Americans.

Most people see beauty in art and other humans. Graham saw beauty in bombing and slaughter, and yet, many across the political spectrum pretend that he was moral, cooperative, and overall, a good man who strived to work across the aisle. They commend his fight for Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel, and other US allies; however, he was the total opposite of this. His lifeblood was destruction. His death is not gleeful, nor is it sad. It is not a time for mourning. It is a time for reflecting on the monstrousness of the illiberal liberal class. Until we do, we will not get better leaders.

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[i] Drowning Pool, Sinner, Wind-up, June 5, 2001.

[ii] Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Lindsey Graham Has Bonkers Defense for GOP Not Denouncing Nick Fuentes | The New Republic,” The New Republic, November 4, 2025, https://newrepublic.com/post/202606/lindsey-graham-republican-party-nick-fuentes-ties.

[iii] Chris Hedges, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, 1. Anchor Books ed (Anchor Books, 2003).

[iv] Tim Lister, “Ukraine Loses a Champion in Washington with Death of Lindsey Graham Who Visited Kyiv Hours before His Death,” CNN, July 12, 2026, https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/12/europe/ukraine-reaction-nato-lindsey-graham-intl.

[v] Lister, “Ukraine Loses a Champion in Washington with Death of Lindsey Graham Who Visited Kyiv Hours before His Death”; David Smith, “Lindsey Graham Tributes from Israel and Ukraine Point to Complicated, Often Bloody Legacy,” US News, The Guardian, July 12, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/12/lindsey-graham-israel-ukraine-foreign-policy-legacy.

[vi] Ankita Rao and Edward Helmore, “‘The Fiercest of Fighters’: Lindsey Graham Remembered by Politicians and Foreign Leaders after Sudden Death,” US News, The Guardian, July 12, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/12/lindsey-graham-death-tributes.

[vii] Rao and Helmore, “‘The Fiercest of Fighters.’”

[viii] Lindsey Graham [@LindseyGrahamSC], “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it.,” Tweet, Twitter, May 3, 2016, https://x.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/727604522156228608.

[ix] Ashleigh Fields, “Senators Push for Russia Sanctions Bill in Graham’s Honor,” Text, The Hill, July 12, 2026, https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5964754-russia-sanctions-bill-graham-legacy/; Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing, “Senators Vote to Advance Russia Sanctions Bill in Graham’s Name,” POLITICO, July 28, 2026, https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/28/senators-advance-russia-sanctions-bill-lindsey-graham-01014368; Lindsey [R-SC Sen. Graham, “S.1241 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025,” Legislation, US Congress, April 1, 2025, 2025-04-01, https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1241.

[x] Fields, “Senators Push for Russia Sanctions Bill in Graham’s Honor.”

[xi] Trevor Hunnicutt, “NEWSLETTER: Republicans Reflect after the Death of a Trump Whisperer,” United States, Reuters, July 30, 2026, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/who-can-sway-trump-2026-07-30/; Jordain Carney et al., “‘A Key Link’: Trump’s Senate Whisperer Is Gone,” News, POLITICO, July 12, 2026, https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/12/trump-lindsey-graham-senate-whisperer-00994269.

[xii] Steve Benen, “Put Iraq Blame Where It’s Due,” MS NOW, May 20, 2015, https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/put-iraq-blame-where-its-due-msna599851; Molly O’Toole, “Lindsey Graham Gets Specific: We Need 20,000 U.S. Troops in Iraq and Syria,” Defense One, July 8, 2015, https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2015/07/lindsey-graham-gets-specific-we-need-20000-us-troops-iraq-and-syria/117274/.

[xiii] Bradford Richardson, “Republicans Blast Obama’s Syria Policy,” Text, The Hill, November 1, 2015, https://thehill.com/policy/defense/258786-GOP-criticizes-obama-for-syria-policy/.

[xiv] In 2017, Graham was together with many others in the illiberal liberal class when he lambasted Trump for being too cozy with Putin: Kailani Koenig, “Graham Slams Trump’s ‘Disastrous Meeting’ with Putin,” NBC News, July 10, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/graham-slams-disastrous-meeting-putin-calls-russia-trump-s-blind-n781096.

[xv] In 2025, Graham was hopeful that Trump would be tough on Putin, in contrast to how he was in his first term. Ashleigh Fields, “Lindsey Graham Commends Trump for Agreeing to Meet Putin,” Text, The Hill, August 9, 2025, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5444615-lindsey-graham-donald-trump-vladimir-putin-alaska-summit/.

[xvi] Mark Levin and Newt Gingrich, “Newt Gingrich: Every Day the Iranian Dictatorship Is in Power, It Is a ‘Threat to the World’ | Fox News Video,” Fox News, May 11, 2026, https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395181725112.

[xvii] Michael Warren, “Lindsey Graham’s Tenacious Pursuit of Influence,” The Dispatch, July 12, 2026, https://thedispatch.com/article/lindsey-graham-obituary-trump-foreign-policy-senate/.

[xviii] Ben Shapiro, “Ben Shapiro on X: ‘All the Worst People You Know Agree on One Thing. The Far Left, the Groyper Right, and Iranian State Television Are All Celebrating the Death of Lindsey Graham. Same Posts. Same Glee. The Horseshoe Has Become a Wedding Ring. Lindsey Graham Spent 33 Years in Uniform, Half a https://T.Co/0glTSrPPiI’ / X,” X (Formerly Twitter), July 13, 2026, https://x.com/benshapiro/status/2076672652702269908.

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References

Ben Shapiro. “Ben Shapiro on X: ‘All the Worst People You Know Agree on One Thing. The Far Left, the Groyper Right, and Iranian State Television Are All Celebrating the Death of Lindsey Graham. Same Posts. Same Glee. The Horseshoe Has Become a Wedding Ring. Lindsey Graham Spent 33 Years in Uniform, Half a https://T.Co/0glTSrPPiI’ / X.” X (Formerly Twitter), July 13, 2026. https://x.com/benshapiro/status/2076672652702269908.

Drowning Pool. Sinner. Wind-up, June 5, 2001.

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling. “Lindsey Graham Has Bonkers Defense for GOP Not Denouncing Nick Fuentes | The New Republic.” The New Republic, November 4, 2025. https://newrepublic.com/post/202606/lindsey-graham-republican-party-nick-fuentes-ties.

Fields, Ashleigh. “Lindsey Graham Commends Trump for Agreeing to Meet Putin.” Text. The Hill, August 9, 2025. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5444615-lindsey-graham-donald-trump-vladimir-putin-alaska-summit/.

Fields, Ashleigh. “Senators Push for Russia Sanctions Bill in Graham’s Honor.” Text. The Hill, July 12, 2026. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5964754-russia-sanctions-bill-graham-legacy/.

Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing. “Senators Vote to Advance Russia Sanctions Bill in Graham’s Name.” POLITICO, July 28, 2026. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/28/senators-advance-russia-sanctions-bill-lindsey-graham-01014368.

Hedges, Chris. War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. 1. Anchor Books ed. Anchor Books, 2003.

Hunnicutt, Trevor. “NEWSLETTER: Republicans Reflect after the Death of a Trump Whisperer.” United States. Reuters, July 30, 2026. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/who-can-sway-trump-2026-07-30/.

Jordain Carney, Sophia Cai, Alex Gangitano, and Daniel Lippman. “‘A Key Link’: Trump’s Senate Whisperer Is Gone.” News. POLITICO, July 12, 2026. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/12/trump-lindsey-graham-senate-whisperer-00994269.

Kailani Koenig. “Graham Slams Trump’s ‘Disastrous Meeting’ with Putin.” NBC News, July 10, 2017. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/graham-slams-disastrous-meeting-putin-calls-russia-trump-s-blind-n781096.

Lister, Tim. “Ukraine Loses a Champion in Washington with Death of Lindsey Graham Who Visited Kyiv Hours before His Death.” CNN, July 12, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/12/europe/ukraine-reaction-nato-lindsey-graham-intl.

Mark Levin and Newt Gingrich. “Newt Gingrich: Every Day the Iranian Dictatorship Is in Power, It Is a ‘Threat to the World’ | Fox News Video.” Fox News, May 11, 2026. https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395181725112.

O’Toole, Molly. “Lindsey Graham Gets Specific: We Need 20,000 U.S. Troops in Iraq and Syria.” Defense One, July 8, 2015. https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2015/07/lindsey-graham-gets-specific-we-need-20000-us-troops-iraq-and-syria/117274/.

Rao, Ankita, and Edward Helmore. “‘The Fiercest of Fighters’: Lindsey Graham Remembered by Politicians and Foreign Leaders after Sudden Death.” US News. The Guardian, July 12, 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/12/lindsey-graham-death-tributes.

Richardson, Bradford. “Republicans Blast Obama’s Syria Policy.” Text. The Hill, November 1, 2015. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/258786-GOP-criticizes-obama-for-syria-policy/.

Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC. “S.1241 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025.” Legislation. US Congress, April 1, 2025. 2025-04-01. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1241.

Smith, David. “Lindsey Graham Tributes from Israel and Ukraine Point to Complicated, Often Bloody Legacy.” US News. The Guardian, July 12, 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/12/lindsey-graham-israel-ukraine-foreign-policy-legacy.

Steve Benen. “Put Iraq Blame Where It’s Due.” MS NOW, May 20, 2015. https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/put-iraq-blame-where-its-due-msna599851.

Warren, Michael. “Lindsey Graham’s Tenacious Pursuit of Influence.” The Dispatch, July 12, 2026. https://thedispatch.com/article/lindsey-graham-obituary-trump-foreign-policy-senate/.