The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was a courageous Republican when he took on rival presidential hopeful Donald Trump in 2016. Then, in 2019, Graham became a spineless specimen because he learned how to work with Trump — at least according to his detractors.
I know because I’m on Twitter, where tweeps frequently hail the like-minded for their breathtaking bravery in taking a stand with which the tweeter agrees, while denouncing those with different views as quivering curs.
There’s something called the Courage Campaign that is fighting for more progressive politics. It issues “courage scores” on what’s called “the People’s Report Card of California.” Surprise: The report card pretty much awards A’s to every progressive state lawmaker, C’s to the rare moderate Democrat and lousy grades to conservatives.
We all know the amazing courage one must have to support liberal policies in California.
As the impeachment proceeding continues and the prospect of a Senate trial looms, the usual scolds are sharpening their dull knives and lamenting the lack of Republicans who have the backbone to support impeachment.
Do these same virtue signalers laud the pluck of Reps. Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, the two Democrats who bucked their party and voted against holding House impeachment hearings? Not so you’d notice.
Does anyone really believe that only two House Democrats think impeachment is a bad idea — even though it’s almost assured that the GOP Senate will not convict?
I should hope that having seen what happened after Bill Clinton’s impeachment — Clinton’s poll numbers remained high, the Senate did not convict, and Democrats gained five seats — there are more than two House Democrats who see impeachment as a losing proposition.
Figure the rest are true believers who want to punish Trump for doing wrong, or they’re realists who understand that in 2019, few voters want nuance.
During the 2016 primary, Graham was a sharp Trump critic. And he didn’t vote for Trump in November. For that reason, never-Trumpers are sorely disappointed that he found a way to work with Trump, even to tee off with him at a Trump property.
They apparently think it’s nobler to sulk in a corner, call POTUS names and not listen to the voters who put him in the Oval Office.
But as Graham told The New York Times Magazine, “If you don’t want to get re-elected, you’re in the wrong business.”
For the record, I think it was wrong — inexcusable — for Trump to suggest that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy look for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who somehow made some $50,000 a month working for a well-connected Ukrainian energy company.
I also don’t think the former vice president should have styled himself as the American enforcer ready to take on Kyiv corruption while his son was living large Kyiv-style.
But after 2 1/2 years watching the left bet it all on a Russian scandal that never paid off, I’m all for leaving Trump’s fate to the voters in 2020.
Graham probably saw his finest moment last year when he challenged Senate Democrats’ effort to sink Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by sliming the new justice’s reputation with unsubstantiated accusations that went back to his high school years. It was a dark moment, as Democrats forgot the very basic American tenet that the burden of proof is on the accuser, not the accused.
It didn’t take courage for Graham to change the atmosphere in the Senate that day. He’d just had enough.
And he’s not alone.
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