Lindsey Graham is a hawkish Republican senator and close ally of Donald Trump. He has sponsored bipartisan bills threatening to impose tariffs on countries buying Russian oil and to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. A draft of the National Defence Authorisation Act in late 2025, which he helped shape, preserves a symbolic $400m a year in military aid to Ukraine and demands notice of any plans to stop intelligence-sharing. It also requires congressional approval to reduce American troop numbers in NATO and South Korea below certain levels.
In February 2026 he weighed in on the Saudi-UAE rift, telling Saudi Arabia to "knock it off" on February 13th—reflecting the UAE's lobbying strength in Washington, where its alignment with Israel is a source of support.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Graham coached Binyamin Netanyahu in how to lobby Trump for the American-Israeli war on Iran that began in February 2026—making him, in the eyes of those who suspect undue influence, a more consequential figure than Netanyahu himself in drawing America into the conflict.
It's hard not to like a man of many qualities, even if most of them are bad.