Emil Amok Guillermo: Even In Death, Lindsey Graham Shows He Was a Political Master.
What does an Asian American Think?
My sympathies to the friends and family of Lindsey Graham (R.-South Carolina).
Sincerely.
Death is when we’re supposed to stop telling the truth for a few days.
It’s a courtesy.
I know, he’s the guy who succeeded Strom Thurmond.
But history can wait until after the funeral.That’s why the Sunday shows were filled with people finding nice things to say about Graham.
He was funny. He loved the Senate. He had friends across the aisle.
It’s amazing what death can do for your résumé.
But Lindsey Graham’s death was different.
Even dead, Graham won the news cycle.
I’m not saying he planned it.
I’m saying if there were one politician capable of getting one last booking advantage from the great beyond, it would be Lindsey Graham.
The master politician.
Still bumping Democrats from the top of the show.
RO KHANNA’S BIG MOMENT
Congressman Ro Khanna was supposed to be making worldwide news.
Khanna—D-CA, or maybe DSVC, Democratic Socialist Vetting Committee—had just returned from Israel with an extraordinary story.
He said armed Israeli settlers stopped and detained his delegation.
American citizens.
An American congressman.
Khanna was ready for his exclusive on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Israel. Palestinians. Armed settlers. The IDF. An American congressman fearing for his life.
Sunday show crack.
Then Lindsey Graham died.
Sorry, Ro.
Breaking news.
For nearly 45 minutes, Graham dominated the show. Donald Trump weighed in. Benjamin Netanyahu weighed in.
Khanna waited.
Even absent, Lindsey Graham had better political timing.
KHANNA’S DETENTION
Khanna had been in Israel looking into Palestinian schools and the treatment of Palestinians when his delegation was stopped.
“What happened was unprecedented,” Khanna told NBC. “They were kicking the tires of our van, laughing at us, mocking us, videotaping us. We were detained for 20 minutes, fearful of our lives. Then the IDF comes.”
The IDF denied wrongdoing.
Netanyahu said Israel is “a country of laws.”
Khanna wasn’t buying it.
“The IDF is lying,” he said.
According to Khanna, it took calls to the American embassy before his group was allowed through.
“How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way,” Khanna said.
There’s a line people of color understand.
The passport was supposed to matter.
The title “Congressman” was supposed to matter.
American citizenship was supposed to matter.
Ask Black Americans how often the paperwork, the title, the degree or the nice car makes you instantly safe.
Sometimes authority sees the person before the credentials.
On Saturday, Khanna’s detention was an international incident.
By Sunday, it was Segment B.
That’s television.
Death isn’t just the end of life.
In Washington, it’s a programming decision.
And Graham got the A-block.
THE OTHER GRAHAM
By the time Khanna got his moment, Israel wasn’t even his only problem.
There was Graham Platner.
The other Graham.
Khanna had backed the Maine Democrat and stayed with him until allegations of sexual assault surfaced.
Now Khanna had to explain himself.
“When I make a mistake, I take accountability,” Khanna said. “And I think what people want is the humility to take accountability, if you make a call that’s wrong.”
Accountability.
Humility.
In today’s Washington?
Brother, you’re doing politics wrong.
Ask Donald Trump.
Trump’s handbook goes from accusation to denial to victimhood.
Skip accountability.
Never admit error.
If caught, blame a Democrat, an immigrant, DEI or a trans person.
Khanna did something almost quaint.
He admitted he was wrong.
Maybe honesty helps him in the long run.
But his international incident had fizzled. Now he was explaining his political judgment.
And Lindsey Graham was still at the top of the rundown.
Dead.
But winning.
THE POLITICS OF SURVIVAL
That’s Graham’s real legacy.
Survival.
When Graham ran against Donald Trump in 2016, he said, “You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.”
Ten years later, Graham was one of Trump’s most dependable Senate allies.
After January 6, Graham stood on the Senate floor.
“Count me out,” he said. “Enough is enough.”
It wasn’t enough.
Apparently “enough” has an expiration date in Washington.
Power is intoxicating.
Access is addictive.
Relevancy is a hell of a drug.
Graham came back to Trump.
Again.
And again.
The man who once told Trump to go to hell eventually seemed willing to hold the elevator door for him.
That’s not evolution.
That’s ambition with a GPS.
Recalculating.
Recalculating.
You have arrived at Mar-a-Lago.
And here’s where people of color should pay attention.
Because we’re always told character matters.
Work twice as hard.
Be twice as good.
Don’t make mistakes.
Don’t embarrass the family.
Black folks know that speech.
Asian folks know that speech.
Immigrant families practically have it embroidered on a pillow.
Meanwhile, Washington rewards people who discover principles are negotiable if you’re close enough to power.
Graham didn’t just survive his contradictions.
He thrived because of them.
That’s privilege, Washington-style.
WAS GRAHAM WITH US?
Was Lindsey Graham with Black people? Filipino Americans? Asian Americans? Immigrants? Other people of color?
Look at the policies.
Graham backed Trump’s tax agenda and Big Beautiful Bill. He opposed DEI and affirmative action. He supported aggressive immigration enforcement.
He enabled Trump.
And enabling Trump isn’t a personality quirk.
It’s policy.
Policy determines who gets hired.
Who gets health care.
Who gets stopped.
Who gets deported.
Who gets the benefit of the doubt.
And who is told, once again, to wait their turn.
That’s why Graham’s obituaries should be complicated.
Death deserves humanity.
It doesn’t require amnesia.
So yes.
Condolences to Lindsey Graham’s friends and family.
Sincerely.
But history gets a vote, too.
Graham was called a “creature of Washington.”
Perfect.
Because even on the Sunday after his death, Washington’s machinery worked in his favor.
Ro Khanna’s international incident became secondary.
Khanna’s bad endorsement became the story.
Trump got airtime to remember a loyal ally.
Netanyahu got airtime.
And Lindsey Graham led the show.
I’m not saying Graham planned it.
I’m not that callous.
I’m just saying somewhere in the great green room in the sky, Lindsey Graham may be looking at the rundown.
Khanna?
Segment B.
Graham?
A-block.
Still relevant.
Still above the fold.
Still winning the news cycle.
Lindsey Graham.
Master politician.
To the very end.
Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, news analyst, and comic monologist. See him perform at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, Venue 24; Ace Art Gallery, July 16-July 26. Tix:https://www.winnipegfringe.com/performer-detail.aspx?kw=Emil+Amok+Productions
See and subscribe to his channel on YouTube.com/@emilamok1