LOS ANGELES.–Saying 81-year-old President Joe Biden has “screwed up the world in every way you can,” 68-year-old Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) didn’t pull any punches on NBC News “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker, expressing his disgust over the State-of–the-Union Speech. Graham was furious hearing Biden say he regretted using the term “an illegal” to describe Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal alien that crossed the border and brutally murdered Laken Riley. Graham said Biden “really pissed me off,” refusing to call Ibarra “an illegal,” but, more importantly, for abandoning the border for over three years creating the biggest border crisis in U.S. history. Graham wanted Welker to know that whatever support he’s given in the past to support the Ukraine War, he no longer share’s Biden view of giving Ukraine a blank check to prosecute its war with the Kremlin.
Graham sat biting his tongue at the State of the Union listening to Biden say if only Hamas returned the Israeli hostages, they could essentially stay in power. Biden knows that Hamas is chartered in 1987 by is founder Sheikh Ahmed Nassin to destroy Israel. It’s has a single-mined focus of destroying Israel, regardless of the Israeli government. Graham can’t believe that Biden thinks 87-year-old West Bank chief Mahmoud Abbas can possibly run Gaza. Hamas seized Gaza in 2007 by force from the West Bank-ruled Palestinian Authoriy. Biden still thinks Abbas has a strong enough government to control the Gaza Strip and West Bank. At any time, Hamas could poison Abbas like they did in 2004 to Palestine Liberation Founder Yasser Arafat. Biden’s national security team knows they have no peace partner with Hamas or the West Bank Palestinian Authority.
Graham gave Biden all the support he wanted to prosecute his proxy war with the Kremlin but sees clearly a failed mission. When Biden was Vice President under former President Barack Obama he waged proxy war in Syria against the Kremlin. When Russian President Vladimir Putin joined the war in 2015 to defend Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he ruined the proxy war against al-Assad. Biden carries his grudge against Putin into Ukraine thinking, this time around, he’ll finally beat Putin. But things haven’t panned out with Ukraine’s 46-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky losing to the Kremlin. Even Pope Francis begged Zelensky to wave the white flag and go to the peace table to end the deadly, destructive and costly conflict. Graham has finally come around to former President Donald Trump who wants to end the Ukraine War at the earliest possible time.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of Trump biggest critics, said what’s the point of meeting as a Senate if Trump calls the shots. “The point is, to Lisa: Would you support the idea that our allies should pay us back if they can where we’re $34 trillion in debt?” Graham asked. Graham went along with Biden’s requests for Ukraine funding until he realized that Zelensky wants the cash regardless of whether he makes progress against the Russian army. Before GOP elected officials, Trump could see clearly what’s happening in Ukraine. Trump knew that Zelensky was blowing smoke to keep U.S. cash flowing, telling Congress and the EU parliament that Ukraine defended European democracy. When you look at bankrupt and war-torn Ukraine, it’s in no position to defend itself let alone European democracy. Unlike other elected officials, Trump saw clearly Zelensky’s scam to get more U.S. cash without delivering results.
Graham doesn’t like watching Biden play politics during an Election Year with Israel’s Hamas war. Graham thinks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done everything possible to defend his people since the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 hostages. Graham sees no way out for Israel other that driving Hamas out of Gaza. Biden placates his left wing base that has sympathy for Palestinians, even if it means backing Hamas. “I literally fell out of my seat,” Graham admitted, listening to Biden at the State-of-the-Union talk of compromising with Hamas. “Is the president saying that if the hostages are released by Hamas, they can stay in power?” Graham asked Welker. Graham, like other Republicans, thinks Biden is too cognitively impaired to make any coherent decision about Ukraine or anything else. Graham wants Biden to agree to debating Trump at the earliest possible time.
Graham has come full circle to no longer giving Ukraine a blank check, primarily because he sees through Zelensky’s empty promises. Zelensky promised he would vanquish the Russian Federation with all his new sophisticated weapons last year. When that didn’t happen, Graham changed his thinking about Ukraine, realizing as military experts said the war was a stalemate. Zelensky did everything to cover-up his failures, including firing his chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny who told him there’s no military solution in Ukraine. Zelensky is so dependent on U.S. government largess that he can’t tell anyone the truth about the war. Putin has gained a deeper foothold in Ukraine and continues to seize more Ukraine sovereign territory. Democrats and the liberal press won’t admit Biden’s failures in Ukraine, worried that he would continue to lose ground to Trump. Graham came around realizing that Trump was right to end the Ukraine War.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
