We were all expecting an update on Senator Mitch McConnell this weekend, considering he’s been mysteriously “hospitalized” for the past month with few legitimate updates. Then, rather suddenly, Republican senator Lindsey Graham died on Saturday night. At least his Senate office confirmed it immediately, although that seems to be the only straight-forward part about this. Graham was *just* in Ukraine a few days before his death, touring a drone factory and promising to put significant sanctions on Russia. So… yeah.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress who traveled the globe to advocate for a more aggressive U.S. foreign policy, has died after a “brief and sudden illness,” his office said. He was 71.
The statement posted on social media late Saturday did not provide any additional details about the South Carolina Republican, a former Air Force lawyer, and said his family “appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!” Trump posted on social media early Sunday. “He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said “my heart is heavy this morning to learn the passing of my friend and colleague.”
Thune said Graham 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.”
Graham was one of the most influential figures in Washington on foreign policy, and he advised Trump on matters such as Iran and Russia. The senator had just returned from Ukraine and announced an agreement on Friday with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of Russia sanctions. He had been scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning.
The fact that he was scheduled to appear on Meet the Press on Sunday is WILD. Like, it was not on anyone’s radar that he was anything other than perfectly fine. He was 71, which is “young” for a Republican senator, you know? McConnell was/is 84 and Chuck Grassley is 92, for what it’s worth. Graham’s colleagues must have been a bit suspicious too, because they got the medical examiner to look into his passing immediately, on Sunday. The DC Office of of the Chief Medical Examiner found that Graham’s cause of death was “a ruptured aorta brought on by chronic heart disease.”
Additionally, Graham was up for reelection this year. He won his 2020 election by a healthy margin, but even before this, Democratic candidate Dr. Annie Andrews was only trailing Graham by about three points. Democrats need to flood her campaign with money and high-profile surrogates. Get Barack Obama down there. Joe Biden too.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Andrew Thomas/CNP/INSTARimages, Michael Bihlmayer/DDP/INSTARimages.
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- United States Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina), Chairman, US Senate Judiciary Committee, listens during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Tuesday, November 10, 2020, on a probe of the FBI’s Russia investigation.,Image: 568339827, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no
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- EXCLUSIVE Committee Ranking Member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on whether taxpayer dollars should go to companies that violate labor laws in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 5, 2022. Credit: Samuel Corum / CNP Where: Washington, District of Columbia, Vereinigte Staaten When: 05 May 2022 Credit: Samuel Corum – CNP/DPA/Cover Images **ONLY AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK AND USA**
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- Senator Lindsey Graham Holds Press Conference On Late-Term Abortions Act United States Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina) offers remarks during a press conference on the introduction of the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act, in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, Featuring: Senator Lindsey Graham Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 13 Sep 2022 Credit: Rod Lamkey/CNP/startraksphoto.com/Cover Images
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- EXCLUSIVE United States Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina) offers remarks during a press conference on the introduction of the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act, in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, Tuesday, September 13, 2022. Credit: Rod Lamkey / CNP Where: Washington, District of Columbia, Vereinigte Staaten When: 13 Sep 2022 Credit: Rod Lamkey – CNP/DPA/Cover Images **ONLY AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK AND USA**
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- Lindsey Graham speaks at a panel discussion on the situation in Iran at the Munich Security Conference 2026 Featuring: Lindsey Graham Where: Munich, Germany When: 13 Feb 2026 Credit: Michael Bihlmayer/DDP/INSTARimages **USA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- United States Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina) gives remarks to the media and takes some questions ahead of an all-US Senate briefing of the US – Israel war against Iran in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Featuring: Lindsey Graham Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 03 Mar 2026 Credit: Andrew Thomas/CNP/INSTARimages
Good riddance to a deeply closeted homophobe who was enthusiastic about sending other people’s children to die in America’s forever wars.
Not so closeted. According to one of my offspring, his nickname among DC’s sex worker community was “Lady G.”
If you live online, it is an open secret but I do wonder for the people who don’t if any of his life is known.
Anyway, he was a terrible person who did so much to erode the rights of others. May he receive the rest that he deserves.
I’ve seen at least three stories now that people can share because the NDA is no longer valid about his sexual activities and preferences and it just makes his public positions that much more grotesque and horrifying.
Sudden death by ladybugs, undoubtedly.
They’re Weekend at Bernie-ing Turtleneck McConnell, now Graham. As these things happen in threes, and that’s 2 down, I’m getting my “For When He Dies” candle ready for lighting. It’s white sage and lavender, for extra fresh cleansing. 🤞
Conspiracy theories abound, but when an aortic aneurysm ruptures, you’re toast in a hurry. I doubt the DC medical examiner has any reason to lie. Someone said the reason it’s so damn hot here (it’s a thousand degrees here in Minnesota this morning) is because the gates of hell have opened.
Lindsey Graham was an alcoholic that was not in good health and he was a ticking time bomb.
However I am okay if Trump thinks someone assassinated him and he hides away like a frightened toddler.
I saw posts by the usual suspects that LG had somehow been poisoned with ricin by the russians while he was in Ukraine the day before he died.
Never mind that the medical examiner had already published the cause of death, the ruptured aorta.
What a sad existence, trapped in a world of hate, bullying, and lies.
And that goes for MAGAts and LG equally. Good riddance.
That conspiracy theory is particularly insane. If the Russians were capable of poisoning someone in Ukraine, they would poison Zelenskyy, not their buddy Trump’s buddy, Graham.
He had just done a really grueling trip, 14 hour one way flights followed by 12 hour train trips, both ways. He had a bad heart, a drinking problem and a dad that dropped dead at 69 from a heart attack. Apparently the pressure changes from flying can cause this quite easily. Lord, we have seen what you’ve done for others…
Yeah when you spell it all out like that its not hard to see this happening at all
Hmm, perhaps Trump needs to test his new plane out a little more. Just saying.
What @Lucy said. I went down a rabbithole about a decade ago when a former coworkers’s wife had a heart attack after taking two long flights days apart for a business trip. She was in her early 50s and otherwise healthy. It freaked me out. (She was okay, thankfully, and recovered.)
That’s what John Ritter died of. It happens really fast.
Thoughts and prayers.
And ladybugs.
Actually just “thoughts”….lots and lots of thoughts. 😒
Tater tots and pears.
One down…..
Hmm. If Karma came to town for a visit, and she brought the devil along to collect, there’s nothing we can do 🤷♀️
Always sticking his face in front of every television camera to opine on every topic and insult others for no reason
House Impeachment manager who ordered Monica Lewinsky detained in a hotel room over a weekend while he and Ken Starr interrogated her over her sex life
Posted memes of himself laughing while running away from angry sexual assault victims during the Kavanaugh hearings
After the McCain family made it known the Trumps weren’t invited to John’s funeral, while standing in front of CSpan cameras at the Capitol lying-in, told Cindy McCain that he invited Ivanka to the funeral.
Brought Ivanka to McCain’s funeral where she vogued for the CSpan cameras through the whole service and played with her phone during the eulogies. Supposedly an observant Orthodox Jew, Ivanka shouldn’t have been using a phone on a Sabbath, never mind playing with one during a funeral
Election 2020 made phone calls to Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada encouraging them to throw out mail-in ballots so the election would go in Trump’s favor. Did it with such ease, it was clear he had done it before and expected to get his way
January 6, 2021, appeared visibly drunk on the Senate floor while mumbling something about how the day’s events weren’t supposed to end that way and he couldn’t keep up the fight
These are just some of my memories of Lindsey Graham. May he rest where God throws him
Exactly. He was a terrible human being.
Was close friends with Biden for decades. Then made extremely personal attacks on Hunter in service of Trump. Knowing Hunter’s fragile sobriety, the pain and fear it’d caused his parents especially after losing Beau. And he didn’t mind exploiting Hunter to pressure his dad. Just scummy and disgraceful. No wonder the Bidens issued a tepid condolence. Biden has been around and he knows how it works but it’s obvious this went beyond just politics into personal betrayal and wasn’t forgiven.
One less POS in the world. I don’t have enough side eyes for the Democrats paying these heartfelt tributes to him after he has done everything in his power to dismantle democracy. Saying nothing is a fucking option. Grow a fucking spine already.
Thank you @SideEye! He was a soulless craven power hungry piece of shit. His hypocrisy was boundless, I hope he’s where he belongs.
Same Jenny! Same! Traitor to his country, his community (the LGTBQ community) a liar, a coward for sale. Putin’s pawn and Trump’s bitch. He’s also in the Epstein files. POS!
May he rot in hell.
Co-sign all of what you said, SideEye.
He has done so much harm to his country the planet his community. I’m having a glass of wine tonight to toast his entry to hell.
“I’ve never wished a mean dead, but I have read some obituaries with great satisfaction.” – Clarence Darrow
I saw a comment from someone on another site saying ‘I hope my death brings someone this much joy’.
One dreadful man down, now may we have a few more please?
My favourite comment : it’s like we’ve been sent a free appetizer because the main course was taking too long.
LOL! What a comment. My favourite on Instagram said: “The flags at Grindr are flying at half mast today” that one sent me too.
OMG Louisa that is GENIUS. Best comment re: good news. I’m spreading this far and wide!
This kind of remark reinforces the belief the we are, among many other virtues, much funnier than Republicans. More please.
Lindsey really said, “closet queens before stunt queens”
Weird timing, but Saturday night my NPR station replayed a 2015 interview with the late Barney Frank discussing how much harm has been rendered by closeted gay republicans that stomp on human rights by day then go home to enjoy the lifestyle by night.
Was this the door to the gay VIP section of the afterlife slamming in Lindsey’s face as he tried to enter? I like to think so.
Tim Scott, the same fate is waiting for you.
Good riddance you piece of st.
He died after a “brief and sudden illness”.
Where does the brief come in? It seemed only sudden to me. Was he ill for a bit before the cardiac event?
The wording strikes me as odd.
Journalism has gone to crap these days.
Graham to me is a perfect example of what happens when you instrumentalise, weaponise, compartmentalise, or otherwise dehumanise a critical component of human personality and identity, a primal drive, and I think this applies to a number of public figures, in the US GOP and the BRF. Being closeted is not just bad for people who are in the closet. It’s bad for all of us. If someone is walking around having suppressed part of his own life, the connection between soul and body, for decades, that person has done the psychological equivalent of self-mutilation and will inflict the same on others as it has become the prime directive, the injunction, around which every other aspect of his identity is formed. It’s always been much better to just be out and low-key about it, like Barney Frank. Like, “so, what?” ….you only give people ammunition if you actively promote a false narrative, aka, a lie.
I’m from South Carolina and of course publicly it’s condolences and eulogies etc everywhere about what a great and wonderful and respected man he was. Meanwhile I’m thinking good damn riddance. I hope Drump is shaken.
Death, do yo thang!!! ☠️
For me he will be remembered for two things, his eagerness to send American citizens to fight and die in forever wars.
And is rage spittle inducing rant at the Kavanaugh Senate confirmation hearing.
Was it Kate McKinnon who played screamin’ Ms. Lindsey in the parody of the Kavanaugh hearings on SNL?
His death was sudden but IMO not suspicious. He was 71. He drank and travelled a lot. It happens.
So who is likely to replace him in SC? It will be a Republican, of course. And no better than he is. Quite possibly worse. Say what you will about Graham, he doesn’t seem to have been corrupted by money? His net worth is pretty low by Senate standards.
Anyway, I don’t like to speak ill of the dead. So I will say that he was pretty funny and he took care of his younger sister after their parents died. So, now I’ve said something positive.
He was absolutely corrupted by power and access, using it to hurt anyone he wanted. Including women because as a closeted gay man, he wanted to hurt women anyway he could.
It is absolutely okay to say nothing “nice” about this racist, hatefilled, misogynistic POS
The GOP wants to nominate the sister as LG’s replacement. Not kidding. I supported his support of Ukraine but that was it. He spoke about ‘getting off the trump train’ after the Capitol insurrection, only to jump right back on it. So incredibly unprincipled.
There was no true support of Ukraine. He was lockstep with Dumpster and Putin against Ukraine. Pose Pose Pose like the POS he was.
Bette Davis’ quote about Joan Crawford really apples her. “My mother said when someone dies you should always say something good. HE’s DEAD…GOOD!!!”
Rest in Piss, Lindsey!
Read what former police officer Michael Fanone, attacked and wounded on 1/6, had to say about him. Yikes!
“ Lindsey Graham is dead. I will always remember my first and only encounter with him when he looked the grieving mother of a dead police officer in the face and barked that he wasn’t going to listen to her blame Trump for January 6th. When I showed him my body cam footage from that day he turned away and looked at his phone. Rest in Piss you fucking worthless scumbag. If there is a hell I hope you’re in it.”
I’ll be honest, when I woke up and read the notifications on my phone I was convinced that it was about Moscow Mitch. I literally can’t tell the old fascists from one another.