Fate must be listening to the exhausted American people. One Senator, "Lady" Lindsey Graham (a closeted gay radical republican whose White Supremacist Christian family values prevented him from coming out of the closet) of the backward and formerly slavery state of South Carolina has just died. Good riddance. May he go 9-feet under.
A radical pro-Trump right-wing extremist, Graham has plagued the country with his extremist positions. Early in the 2016 elections, he warned the country against Trump's candidacy, but then patriotic principles and America took a back stage to narrow-minded right-wing partisanship and Trump sycophancy and he submitted himself to the Trump dictatorship, but everyone knew he didn't think much of Trump. He always advocated violent militaristic policies, including on Iran for the sweet eyes of his Zionist lovers, though he admitted that Trump made a fool of himself with his yo-yo "strategic imbecilic ambiguity" in waging a reckless and poorly-thought-through war.
On a day like today when such good news graces our depressing world, I can only say that hope is always around the corner.
Good bye, Lady Lindsey, and good riddance.
... and by the way, Trump ass-kissing right-wing senator from the terrible state of Kenfucky Mitch McConnell appears to be next on the stairway to the exclusive whites-only heaven.
Also, some idiot republican dude by the name of Reid Rasner, from the wilderness of Wyoming, is - listen to this - BOTH OPENLY GAY AND REPUBLICAN - and is running for Wyoming's single House seat. What "family" and "Christian" values does this guy believe in? At least Lady Lindsey had the hypocritical smarts to pretend, like all the pro-Trump reverends, preachers and other religious creeps who shout these values from the roof while fornicating, adultering, and pedophiling, and keeping their gay skeleton in the closet.
On the other hand, maybe Rasner is a closeted Democrat, like John Fetterman is a closeted Republican. (Read about him further below).
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Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, dies suddenly at 71
The South Carolina lawmaker died after a "brief and sudden illness," his office said on Sunday.
Alan McGuinness
Updated Sun, July 12, 2026
Graham pictured on Saturday during a trip to Ukraine(REUTERS / REUTERS)
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent ally of President Trump, has died at the age of 71. Graham died after a "brief and sudden illness," his office posted on X on Sunday, without providing further details.
Media reports said emergency personnel responded to a call for cardiac arrest at the South Carolina lawmaker's Capitol Hill home on Saturday night. Graham had just returned from a trip to Ukraine and was due to appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning, according to the network.
The South Carolina lawmaker died after a "brief and sudden illness," his office said on Sunday.
Alan McGuinness
Updated Sun, July 12, 2026
Graham pictured on Saturday during a trip to Ukraine(REUTERS / REUTERS)
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent ally of President Trump, has died at the age of 71. Graham died after a "brief and sudden illness," his office posted on X on Sunday, without providing further details.
Media reports said emergency personnel responded to a call for cardiac arrest at the South Carolina lawmaker's Capitol Hill home on Saturday night. Graham had just returned from a trip to Ukraine and was due to appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning, according to the network.
President leads tributes
Graham, who turned 71 on Friday, had been a senator since 2003 and ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Shortly after news of his death emerged, President Trump hailed Graham as "one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known" in a post on his Truth Social account.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said, "My heart is heavy this morning to learn the passing of my friend and colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham."
"He was a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe. He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world and dedicated his life to advancing that cause," Thune said.
President Zelensky meets with Senator Graham in Kyiv on Saturday(via REUTERS / REUTERS)
Graham was a prominent supporter of Israel and Ukraine and an opponent of Iran.
"Lindsey Graham has earned a reputation as a conservative problem-solver and one of the strongest proponents of a robust national defense," his website said, adding that he "consistently pushed for outcomes in the War on Terror that protect our long-term national security interests."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "deeply saddened" by the news, describing the senator as a "true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer."
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, also paid tribute. "Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend," he said in a statement.
Graham, who turned 71 on Friday, had been a senator since 2003 and ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Shortly after news of his death emerged, President Trump hailed Graham as "one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known" in a post on his Truth Social account.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said, "My heart is heavy this morning to learn the passing of my friend and colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham."
"He was a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe. He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world and dedicated his life to advancing that cause," Thune said.
President Zelensky meets with Senator Graham in Kyiv on Saturday(via REUTERS / REUTERS)
Graham was a prominent supporter of Israel and Ukraine and an opponent of Iran.
"Lindsey Graham has earned a reputation as a conservative problem-solver and one of the strongest proponents of a robust national defense," his website said, adding that he "consistently pushed for outcomes in the War on Terror that protect our long-term national security interests."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "deeply saddened" by the news, describing the senator as a "true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer."
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, also paid tribute. "Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend," he said in a statement.
Trump critic turned ally
While Graham was a staunch supporter of President Trump in recent years, that had not always been the case. During his brief run for the presidency in 2016 — Graham withdrew his candidacy before the primaries began — he said the GOP would "get destroyed" if it nominated Trump, adding: "And we will deserve it."
Graham told CNN in 2015 that Trump was "a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot." "He doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for," he said.
Graham also used a profanity to describe Trump following disparaging comments he made about the late former Sen. John McCain, Graham's closest ally in the Senate and a Vietnam War veteran.
Shortly afterward, Trump read out Graham's personal cellphone number during a South Carolina campaign rally.
Senator Graham and President Trump aboard Air Force on in January(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Trump continued to criticize Graham throughout the 2016 campaign, even though Graham made it clear he would not support him, despite Trump being the Republican candidate.
But after Trump became president, Graham became a loyal supporter and frequent golf partner.
Graham explained his change of position in a 2018 interview with the Associated Press, saying McCain taught him that the country must move forward after elections and this meant "you have an obligation" to help whoever is president.
He publicly disagreed with Trump's decision upon returning to the Oval Office last year to pardon around 1,500 of his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol in 2021, saying it could lead to more violence.
'A powerful advocate for America'
Graham was well known on the international stage, with many of the U.S.'s NATO allies paying tribute to his commitment to the alliance and transatlantic friendship. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Graham 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."
Graham advised Trump on foreign policy matters, including Iran and Russia. As part of his trip to Ukraine, he announced on Friday an agreement with the Trump administration to proceed with a package of sanctions against Russia.
President Zelensky said Graham, whom he met twice in the past week, had visited Ukraine 10 times since Russia's 2022 invasion and "was here with our people when it was most needed."
Graham had long supported policies aimed at isolating Iran and curtailing its missile and nuclear programs. He backed Trump's decision to strike nuclear sites last year and was a supporter of the latest conflict with Iran.
An anchor on Iranian state television announced Graham's death during a live broadcast, saying: "I congratulate the great nation of Iran on Lindsey Graham, the warmongering and anti-Iranian U.S. senator, having gone to hell."
Veteran senator was seeking fifth term
Graham was recently chair of the Senate Budget Committee and a member of the Committee on Appropriations, the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
A former Air Force lawyer and member of the South Carolina Air National Guard, Graham was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 for South Carolina's 3rd congressional district before entering the Senate.
He never married and lived in Seneca, South Carolina.
Graham was set to face Democrat Annie Andrews in November's general election as he sought a fifth term in office.
Under South Carolina law, Republican Governor Henry McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement who will serve until January.
Republicans currently have a narrow 53-47 majority in the Senate ahead of the midterm elections.
Graham was recently chair of the Senate Budget Committee and a member of the Committee on Appropriations, the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
A former Air Force lawyer and member of the South Carolina Air National Guard, Graham was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 for South Carolina's 3rd congressional district before entering the Senate.
He never married and lived in Seneca, South Carolina.
Graham was set to face Democrat Annie Andrews in November's general election as he sought a fifth term in office.
Under South Carolina law, Republican Governor Henry McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement who will serve until January.
Republicans currently have a narrow 53-47 majority in the Senate ahead of the midterm elections.
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Gay Wyoming Republican sues members of his own party for ‘pedophile’ slur
David Weigel
Fri, July 10, 2026
Gay Wyoming Republican sues members of his own party for ‘pedophile’ slur
Reid Rasner, an openly gay Republican running for Wyoming’s House seat, is suing members of his own party for defamation, including an Iowa man who called him a “pedophile” on Facebook.
Reid Rasner, an openly gay Republican running for Wyoming's sole House seat, is spending the final stretch of the campaign on a project he didn't expect: suing members of his own party for defamation.
On Friday morning, Rasner will settle one case against an Iowa man who called him a "pedophile" under several of his campaign's Facebook posts. Rasner is pursuing another case against a former GOP Wyoming state senator who he alleges led a whisper campaign accusing him of sexual misconduct.
"I've never experienced anything like this in my entire life," said Rasner, 42, who came out when he was 20. "This just isn't the Wyoming I knew or thought I knew. The state needs to come to terms with the hate and ignorance that's fueled death threats and violence against me, all because of my sexuality."
Rasner, a financial adviser who ran for Senate in 2024, has spent $1.2 million of his own money on his campaigns. He's run as a loyal Trump Republican each time; in 2025, he got some national attention for publicizing a personal $47 billion bid to buy TikTok, offering a "clean break from China" on the president's terms.
The attention had downsides. Rasner said that rumors about sexual misconduct started after the TikTok bid and continued into 2026, damaging his reputation and campaign; in May, a poll for Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray's campaign informed respondents that Rasner had "married his gay husband in New York."
That poll showed Rasner — who won 24% of the vote in his 2024 challenge to now-Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso — trailing Gray by single digits, but losing support after voters were informed of his sexuality. Rasner said in an interview that he was frustrated by that, but had only decided to sue over posts that spread a pedophilia rumor.
"Everyone told me: Don't file lawsuits," he said. "I should have filed them on Day One."
In an affidavit, the Iowa man whom Rasner is settling with said that he had shared the pedophilia accusation based on "multiple social media posts and news articles accusing Reid Rasner of serious sexual misconduct," without specifying what they were. As the rumor spread, Rasner put out a short video endorsing "the ultimate punishment" for "anyone convicted of pedophilia."
Ross Hemminger, the president of the LGBTQ group Log Cabin Republicans, praised Rasner for suing. The suggestion that an openly gay candidate was a pedophile, Hemminger said, struck him as the sort of discriminatory rhetoric he thought both parties had moved past.
"I am surprised, because Reid is a very, very conservative person," he said. "Policy-wise, he probably outflanks most people who hold office in Wyoming."
Rasner told Semafor that he had also been kept out of some candidate forums since the rumors started, including one organized by the Wyoming Family Alliance, which is officially opposed to same-sex marriage.
A representative for the WFA said that his exclusion occurred for another reason; forum organizers were worried that the candidate was overly litigious.
Tolerance of LGBTQ Americans and support for same-sex marriage have declined over the last few years, most sharply among Republicans.
According to PRRI's American Values survey, support for same-sex marriage in Wyoming — which did not enshrine it as a legal right until the 2014 Supreme Court decision that overturned state-level bans — is 58%, lower than the national average, and lower among Republicans.
Most people who look at the dip, like Hemminger, credit it to the rise of transgender rights advocacy and the conservative backlash to it. Rasner's position on trans rights is to the right of Trump's; he calls gender medicine for children "child abuse" and says that parents who allow it should "lose their parental rights."
And he got some viral attention for a gag video where he pretended to kick a man (his political rival Gray) out of a women's bathroom. The decline of pro-gay sentiment among Republicans hasn't manifested in many attacks on individual people. Yes, the party marks less celebration of Pride; Trump hasn't commemorated it since 2019, when he was running for reelection the first time. He also took gay icon Harvey Milk's name off a Navy supply ship.
But the administration has kept most commemorations of lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans while removing commemoration of trans rights, as seen in its reboot of the Stonewall monument.
Direct antigay sentiment has generally lived online, not in Trump's White House. The worry among gay conservatives like Rasner is that it's gaining more traction.
Room for Disagreement
The explosive intraparty backlash to Tennessee GOP Rep. Andy Ogles' claim that "homosexuality has no place in America," led by blue-state Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., suggests there is still some willingness to contain antigay speech on the right.
But that political instinct has not always translated into GOP policy. The White House's anti-DEI orders, for example, have had the practical effect of hamstringing efforts to end HIV, and the administration's report last year on "eradicating anti-Christian bias" condemned Biden-era interpretations of labor law that banned workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Reid Rasner, an openly gay Republican running for Wyoming's sole House seat, is spending the final stretch of the campaign on a project he didn't expect: suing members of his own party for defamation.
On Friday morning, Rasner will settle one case against an Iowa man who called him a "pedophile" under several of his campaign's Facebook posts. Rasner is pursuing another case against a former GOP Wyoming state senator who he alleges led a whisper campaign accusing him of sexual misconduct.
"I've never experienced anything like this in my entire life," said Rasner, 42, who came out when he was 20. "This just isn't the Wyoming I knew or thought I knew. The state needs to come to terms with the hate and ignorance that's fueled death threats and violence against me, all because of my sexuality."
Rasner, a financial adviser who ran for Senate in 2024, has spent $1.2 million of his own money on his campaigns. He's run as a loyal Trump Republican each time; in 2025, he got some national attention for publicizing a personal $47 billion bid to buy TikTok, offering a "clean break from China" on the president's terms.
The attention had downsides. Rasner said that rumors about sexual misconduct started after the TikTok bid and continued into 2026, damaging his reputation and campaign; in May, a poll for Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray's campaign informed respondents that Rasner had "married his gay husband in New York."
That poll showed Rasner — who won 24% of the vote in his 2024 challenge to now-Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso — trailing Gray by single digits, but losing support after voters were informed of his sexuality. Rasner said in an interview that he was frustrated by that, but had only decided to sue over posts that spread a pedophilia rumor.
"Everyone told me: Don't file lawsuits," he said. "I should have filed them on Day One."
In an affidavit, the Iowa man whom Rasner is settling with said that he had shared the pedophilia accusation based on "multiple social media posts and news articles accusing Reid Rasner of serious sexual misconduct," without specifying what they were. As the rumor spread, Rasner put out a short video endorsing "the ultimate punishment" for "anyone convicted of pedophilia."
Ross Hemminger, the president of the LGBTQ group Log Cabin Republicans, praised Rasner for suing. The suggestion that an openly gay candidate was a pedophile, Hemminger said, struck him as the sort of discriminatory rhetoric he thought both parties had moved past.
"I am surprised, because Reid is a very, very conservative person," he said. "Policy-wise, he probably outflanks most people who hold office in Wyoming."
Rasner told Semafor that he had also been kept out of some candidate forums since the rumors started, including one organized by the Wyoming Family Alliance, which is officially opposed to same-sex marriage.
A representative for the WFA said that his exclusion occurred for another reason; forum organizers were worried that the candidate was overly litigious.
Tolerance of LGBTQ Americans and support for same-sex marriage have declined over the last few years, most sharply among Republicans.
According to PRRI's American Values survey, support for same-sex marriage in Wyoming — which did not enshrine it as a legal right until the 2014 Supreme Court decision that overturned state-level bans — is 58%, lower than the national average, and lower among Republicans.
Most people who look at the dip, like Hemminger, credit it to the rise of transgender rights advocacy and the conservative backlash to it. Rasner's position on trans rights is to the right of Trump's; he calls gender medicine for children "child abuse" and says that parents who allow it should "lose their parental rights."
And he got some viral attention for a gag video where he pretended to kick a man (his political rival Gray) out of a women's bathroom. The decline of pro-gay sentiment among Republicans hasn't manifested in many attacks on individual people. Yes, the party marks less celebration of Pride; Trump hasn't commemorated it since 2019, when he was running for reelection the first time. He also took gay icon Harvey Milk's name off a Navy supply ship.
But the administration has kept most commemorations of lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans while removing commemoration of trans rights, as seen in its reboot of the Stonewall monument.
Direct antigay sentiment has generally lived online, not in Trump's White House. The worry among gay conservatives like Rasner is that it's gaining more traction.
Room for Disagreement
The explosive intraparty backlash to Tennessee GOP Rep. Andy Ogles' claim that "homosexuality has no place in America," led by blue-state Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., suggests there is still some willingness to contain antigay speech on the right.
But that political instinct has not always translated into GOP policy. The White House's anti-DEI orders, for example, have had the practical effect of hamstringing efforts to end HIV, and the administration's report last year on "eradicating anti-Christian bias" condemned Biden-era interpretations of labor law that banned workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
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