“He’s running for president.”
That was how Washington Examiner editor David Freddoso reacted to comments from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Thursday afternoon and then Friday morning.
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On Friday, Graham promised Democrats that he would not forget their treatment of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Graham had made waves on Thursday when he lambasted Democrats for what he described as their slandering of Kavanaugh and his family.
I think Freddoso is right. I think Graham will run for president in 2024, and I think he’ll have a very good chance of winning the GOP nomination.
First off, Graham has the rare ability to unify the Trump and the traditionalist wings of the Republican party. As a longtime senator at the heart of the old consensus-driven wing of the GOP, Graham is held in high regard by his fellow Republicans in Washington and in more moderate local Republican parties in big cities. He’s also respected by Democrats: Graham won a higher percentage of South Carolina voters in his last Senate election than Trump did in 2016.
But by gradually aligning himself with Trump, Graham has managed to win the president’s favor and straddle the thin red line between team Trump and his conservative skeptics. Still, Graham’s furious and forceful defense of Kavanaugh is the key here. Because whatever conservatives think of Trump, they are in relative consensus that Kavanaugh is a fine judge who has been treated unfairly.
Graham stood in the center of what has now become a very bitter partisan battlefield, and by doing so, he showed team Trump and conservative traditionalists that he is a loyal warrior for the president and for the cause. If there is any lesson from Trump’s acrimonious campaign strategy, it is that voters like fighters.
Ted Cruz — also on the committee and also a longtime presidential aspirant — might have liked to give a speech that fiery and impassioned, but it would have been risky. He happens to be in the midst of an uncomfortably close re-election battle.
Anything could happen between now and 2024, but Graham has the ambition and he isn’t shying from the limelight now. His foreign policy credentials are well-established and exceptionally well-regarded by foreign allies, and Graham’s mix of former President George W. Bush’s folksy style and Trumpian red-faced fury gives him a persona with which to unify Republicans and potentially attract an array of donors.
In short, Graham’s Wikipedia page might be far from completion.
