WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham, the longtime South Carolina Republican whose career spanned bipartisan deal‑making, fierce party loyalty, and a late‑stage alignment with Donald Trump, died Sunday at age 71.
Graham died at his home in Seneca, South Carolina, after recently facing health challenges. The veteran lawmaker, who “rose from the House to become one of the Senate’s most recognizable Republicans,” was widely regarded as a figure whose political identity evolved alongside the GOP itself.
NBC News, in a special report on his legacy, described Graham as “a complicated figure whose career mirrored the political transformations of the last decade.” One analyst noted, “He was always in the middle of the action — sometimes building bridges, sometimes burning them,” capturing his dual reputation for bipartisan cooperation and sharp partisan combat.
Graham became one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal defenders in the Senate. Trump paid tribute to him on Truth Social early Sunday, writing: “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”
Tributes from across the political spectrum followed. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R‑S.D., said, “my heart is heavy this morning to learn the passing of my friend and colleague.” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called him “irreplaceable,” adding, “The fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America.”
Under South Carolina law, McMaster will appoint a temporary successor until a special election is held. Graham’s seat “instantly becomes one of the most closely watched in the country,” reflecting the state’s central role in Republican politics.
Graham entered the U.S. Senate in 2003 after serving three terms in the House, where he first won election in 1994. Known early in his Senate career for working across the aisle on immigration and military policy, he later became a defining voice of the Trump era as the party’s internal dynamics shifted.
Born in 1955 in Central, South Carolina, Graham served in the Air Force JAG Corps before entering politics, beginning a congressional career that would span more than three decades.
Hugo Balta is the executive editor of The Fulcrum and the publisher of the Latino News Network
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.