For many years, Lindsey Graham was one of Donald Trump’s most devoted supporters.He became a common target for Democrats, late-night comedians, and even some editors who were amazed by how the once-independent South Carolina senator changed into someone who seemed to flatter Trump without question.
But Hunter Biden remembered Graham differently.
After news of Graham’s passing, Hunter shared a message about a different version of Graham — one who could fight Democrats on the Senate floor but still remained their friend and enjoyed a drink with them afterward.
Graham once said about Hunter’s father, Joe Biden: “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.”
Hunter wrote, “That is the Senator Graham I will remember today, not because I have forgotten what came after.
Because in that memory there is hope.”
It was a surprisingly graceful tribute in a political world that rarely values grace, and even seems to mock it.
Hunter didn’t ignore Graham’s “Trump years” or ask people to forget the many times Graham defended things that were hard to justify or tried to explain away behavior that would have shocked his younger self and his old friends McCain and Joe Lieberman.
Instead, he chose to remember that another Lindsey Graham existed before Trump took over the senator’s life.
Whether you supported Graham on policy or not, it was hard to miss the change in him after being under Trump’s influence.
Once, Graham was almost willing to disagree with his own party, when friendships were more important than headlines, and senators from different parties could argue all day and still have dinner together that night.
That was before Trump’s administration of fear took control of American politics.
The outspoken Graham was just one of many, though one of the most visible, victims of the humiliation-based style of leadership that Trump promoted — similar to the tactics of Roy Cohn.
Hunter wrote, “I will choose to remember the time before Trump.
Because I believe in an America after Trump.”
This feeling goes beyond Lindsey Graham.
More than the loss of one person, Hunter is mourning a political culture that many Americans, from both sides, think may never come back.
In this deeply divided time, he reminded us that the people we argue with are often more complex than the simple images we create about them.
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