Quote:Trump’s Final Humiliation of Lindsey Graham

The ink was barely dry on the law named for the late senator when Trump broke it.

Mona Charen, October 14


Your body had not been long in the grave when your pal Donald Trump made the anti-Russia legislation that carried your name a nullity. Wondering how you’d feel about this if you were around to see it. The whole point of your last decade of life was the belief (or was it a rationalization?) that by truckling to Trump you could do more good than you could have by opposing him.

In your final hours, you reportedly joked that “I can’t die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out, and do Israeli–Saudi normalization.” That was the Graham optimism! You were getting big things done. You were making a difference. You could torque Trump toward the light.

The Russia sanctions did indeed become law after your passing. They named the legislation after you in tribute. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 gave the president new authority to impose tariffs on countries importing Russian oil and gas. It commands sanctions, for example, against banks or brokers who transfer funds,

(1) to or from the Government of the Russian Federation, including any entity owned by the Government of the Russian Federation; or

(2) for the direct or indirect benefit of officials of the Government of the Russian Federation

It further prohibits investment by “United States persons” in the Russian Federation, and imposes tariffs on countries that import Russian energy.

Belated congratulations. It must have felt, for a brief shining moment, as if you were back in the Bush years. And then, less than a month after signing that bill, Trump turned around and proclaimed a deal that would make the United States a major purchaser of Russian diesel.

Trump’s supposedly “massive” diesel deal with Vladimir Putin, as David Frum notes, is trifling as an economic matter. The 2.2 million barrels of diesel he proposes to buy from Russia amount to what the United States consumes in less than a day.

But the purchase is massive in another way. It is a massive betrayal of everything you once stood for. It empowers the nation that has been committing war crimes in Ukraine and arming Iran (a nation with whom we are currently at war) with TNT and drone components. Every dollar we spend on Russian diesel can be spent on missiles and drones aimed not only at Kyiv and Kherson, but at the American naval base in Bahrain and at U.S. Navy ships at sea. It empowers China, which is in alliance with Russia. And it undermines America’s moral authority vis-à-vis international aggressors (if anything is left of it). In one fatal stroke, Trump has confirmed the suspicion that absolutely nothing the United States says—even in law—can be relied upon by friend or foe. Oh, and by the way, in his desperation to reduce diesel prices (which rose due to his decision to launch the Iran war), Trump could have simply imported the fuel from Canada.

But then, you had every reason to know this was possible, even likely, before you died.



You were around when Trump said that Ukraine had started the war, and when JD Vance and Trump teamed up to insult and humiliate Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025.
....

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was the clearest moral and strategic story of the twenty-first century. Open and shut. You must have rejoiced when Sweden and Finland joined NATO, no? That is how the world of conservatives like Lindsey Graham worked. We united with our allies against aggression. But then, you had to know that Trump essentially halted American arms deliveries to Ukraine after that Oval Office disgrace (though Trump was willing to sell arms to the Europeans that would go to Ukraine), and provided only intelligence support.

And then there is the matter of personal comportment. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States, like all other democratic nations, made Putin a pariah. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in March 2023 for the war crime of kidnapping Ukrainian children. The European Union imposed sanctions, froze Russian assets, and began to phase out Russian oil and gas imports. You were still in the Senate then.

In the spring and summer of 2025, Trump repeatedly issued ultimata to Russia about the Ukraine war. They had two weeks, he kept saying, to prove they weren’t just “tapping us along.” The two week deadline in April came and went, as did the deadline in May, and another in July. Trump kept saying he was going to do something severe. Au contraire. In August, Trump announced that he was meeting with Putin in Alaska. It was the first such meeting between the leader of a democratic nation and the Russian despot since the invasion. Trump not only rolled out the literal red carpet for Putin and arranged a military flyover, he also stood at the foot of the plane and applauded as Putin approached. The perversity is glaring. What the hell was he applauding? And of course, he never applauded for Zelensky.

You knew all of that, and you knew that Trump’s followers were taking to the project of inverting morality with gusto. Tucker Carlson was hosting Holocaust deniers and “revisionist” historians who said that Hitler was misunderstood and Churchill was actually the villain of World War II. That fits perfectly with making Zelensky the villain in the Ukraine war and recasting Putin as a great potential ally.

Lindsey Graham, I hope you are at peace now, but at the risk of speaking ill of the dead, I cannot refrain from saying that you came to embody the moral cowardice and self-delusion of an entire political party. You all convinced yourselves that some good could come of being a water carrier for such a fool. If you ever really cared about America’s values or even its basic welfare, you made the worst possible bargain.

(10-14-2026 01:39 PM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  This idiot actually thinks he’s irritating us doesn’t he? Lol

(10-15-2026 12:41 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  As much as I hate to admit it----importing Russian diesel would violate the 2022 law passed by Congress. If Trump were to go through with his alleged Russian diesel fuel deal---that likely would be the very first thing he gets impeached for if the Democrats take the House this fall. If Im honest, I dont even think there really is a Russian diesel deal---I suspect it was just something mentioned in the talks as a possibility---and Trump ran with it hoping the mere mention would push the price of diesel down a bit. That said, as long as nothing actually gets imported---Im not sure there would be any violation of the law. Furthermore, I dont see the Russians---who barred diesel exports many months ago---having any spare diesel to send---not to mention any Russian company exporting it would have have their own domestic legal issues due to the Russian ban on diesel exports. I honestly think the whole thing will basically amount to nothing. Like I said, I suspect it was just Trump throwing something against the wall hoping it might temporarily settle the domestic fuel market a bit.

(10-15-2026 01:15 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-15-2026 12:41 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  As much as I hate to admit it----importing Russian diesel would violate the 2022 law passed by Congress. If Trump were to go through with his alleged Russian diesel fuel deal---that likely would be the very first thing he gets impeached for if the Democrats take the House this fall. If Im honest, I dont even think there really is a Russian diesel deal---I suspect it was just something mentioned in the talks as a possibility---and Trump ran with it hoping the mere mention would push the price of diesel down a bit. That said, as long as nothing actually gets imported---Im not sure there would be any violation of the law. Furthermore, I dont see the Russians---who barred diesel exports many months ago---having any spare diesel to send---not to mention any Russian company exporting it would have have their own domestic legal issues due to the Russian ban on diesel exports. I honestly think the whole thing will basically amount to nothing. Like I said, I suspect it was just Trump throwing something against the wall hoping it might temporarily settle the domestic fuel market a bit.

We would not be importing russian diesel because we refine more diesel than we consume. We are net exporters of diesel.

The problem with diesel is the worldwide supply, not american supply. Because some US production was cut (due to the Obama and finally Biden*s crackdowns and green new scam), coupled with russia's diesel no being used due to the Ukraine war, worldwide diesel supply is tight.

To fix this temporarily, until the US can get more refining capacity online, Trump told the G7 to release diesel from their SPR's. They had balked at this for a while. But then Trump threatened to stop exporting diesel, and they were forced to capitulate. Then Trump is going to allow Russian diesel into the worldwide market. All of this will get diesel price down because it will increase the supply on the world market so it isnt as tight.

And anyone hyperventilating about russia diesel coming onto the world market needs to remember that the bellyaching the european allies are making over this needs to be taken with huge grain of salt in that they themselves have spent a quarter trillion dollars on russian energy since the war began.

(10-15-2026 01:15 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-15-2026 12:41 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  As much as I hate to admit it----importing Russian diesel would violate the 2022 law passed by Congress. If Trump were to go through with his alleged Russian diesel fuel deal---that likely would be the very first thing he gets impeached for if the Democrats take the House this fall. If Im honest, I dont even think there really is a Russian diesel deal---I suspect it was just something mentioned in the talks as a possibility---and Trump ran with it hoping the mere mention would push the price of diesel down a bit. That said, as long as nothing actually gets imported---Im not sure there would be any violation of the law. Furthermore, I dont see the Russians---who barred diesel exports many months ago---having any spare diesel to send---not to mention any Russian company exporting it would have have their own domestic legal issues due to the Russian ban on diesel exports. I honestly think the whole thing will basically amount to nothing. Like I said, I suspect it was just Trump throwing something against the wall hoping it might temporarily settle the domestic fuel market a bit.

We would not be importing russian diesel because we refine more diesel than we consume. We are net exporters of diesel.

The problem with diesel is the worldwide supply, not american supply. Because some US production was cut (due to the Obama and finally Biden*s crackdowns and green new scam), coupled with russia's diesel no being used due to the Ukraine war, worldwide diesel supply is tight.

To fix this temporarily, until the US can get more refining capacity online, Trump told the G7 to release diesel from their SPR's. They had balked at this for a while. But then Trump threatened to stop exporting diesel, and they were forced to capitulate. Then Trump is going to allow Russian diesel into the worldwide market. All of this will get diesel price down because it will increase the supply on the world market so it isnt as tight.

And anyone hyperventilating about russia diesel coming onto the world market needs to remember that the bellyaching the european allies are making over this needs to be taken with huge grain of salt in that they themselves have spent a quarter trillion dollars on russian energy since the war began.

(10-15-2026 05:01 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-15-2026 01:15 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-15-2026 12:41 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  As much as I hate to admit it----importing Russian diesel would violate the 2022 law passed by Congress. If Trump were to go through with his alleged Russian diesel fuel deal---that likely would be the very first thing he gets impeached for if the Democrats take the House this fall. If Im honest, I dont even think there really is a Russian diesel deal---I suspect it was just something mentioned in the talks as a possibility---and Trump ran with it hoping the mere mention would push the price of diesel down a bit. That said, as long as nothing actually gets imported---Im not sure there would be any violation of the law. Furthermore, I dont see the Russians---who barred diesel exports many months ago---having any spare diesel to send---not to mention any Russian company exporting it would have have their own domestic legal issues due to the Russian ban on diesel exports. I honestly think the whole thing will basically amount to nothing. Like I said, I suspect it was just Trump throwing something against the wall hoping it might temporarily settle the domestic fuel market a bit.

We would not be importing russian diesel because we refine more diesel than we consume. We are net exporters of diesel.

The problem with diesel is the worldwide supply, not american supply. Because some US production was cut (due to the Obama and finally Biden*s crackdowns and green new scam), coupled with russia's diesel no being used due to the Ukraine war, worldwide diesel supply is tight.

To fix this temporarily, until the US can get more refining capacity online, Trump told the G7 to release diesel from their SPR's. They had balked at this for a while. But then Trump threatened to stop exporting diesel, and they were forced to capitulate. Then Trump is going to allow Russian diesel into the worldwide market. All of this will get diesel price down because it will increase the supply on the world market so it isnt as tight.

And anyone hyperventilating about russia diesel coming onto the world market needs to remember that the bellyaching the european allies are making over this needs to be taken with huge grain of salt in that they themselves have spent a quarter trillion dollars on russian energy since the war began.

Then if that's the case (and it would seem it is) then wouidnt the easiest way to accomplish lower US pricing be to do like the Russians----just block (or at least limit) US exports below current levels---which would increase the supply in the US and somewhat artificially de-link the US market from the worldwide market. Seems to me there are levers that could be pulled domestically, including emergency measures---that could be used to avoid spiking diesel costs in a nation that produces enough diesel to export.