Lindsey Graham has long since established himself as one of the relentless political parasites of the modern era. The senator from South Carolina hitched his wagon to John McCain for years, gobbling up the power and gravitas like a Hungry Hungry Hippo, and when Donald Trump burst on the scene to attack McCain's service in Vietnam while he himself had dodged the draft citing "bone spurs," Graham was a full NeverTrumper. He said Trump was "crazy," a "kook" who's "unfit for office." And then, when Trump seized control of the Republican Party—never once apologizing for what he'd done to McCain—Graham dropped everything to become the president's greatest ally in Congress.

This has led, predictably, to Graham debasing himself in public for Trump's benefit. That's what eventually lies in store for every Trump Flunky, and when Graham went into stark-raving theatrics at the Kavanaugh hearing it was no surprise. He doubled up when the president's pet toad of an attorney general, William Barr, came calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee that Graham chairs this month, blatantly misrepresenting the findings of The Mueller Report and reading texts between FBI agents involved in the probe in which they said in early 2016 that Trump was nuts and unfit to be president with the goal of demonstrating they were hopelessly conflicted. As MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell illustrated at the time, one weakness to this argument was that Graham was saying the exact same things at the exact same time. Does that mean he's unfit to be a Trump ally?



Of course not. All it takes to work for the president is a willingness to mortgage what remains of your capacity for shame or ethics. Graham has proven himself a willing servant in this regard, and he wandered into new pastures this morning on Fox Business. As CNN's Jake Tapper put it when he flagged the clip, here's "the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee advising the president's son to ignore a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee."

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Graham tells Don Jr. to ignore Senate Intel subpoena pic.twitter.com/0EakosMwt6 — TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) May 13, 2019

Here's Lindsey Graham, a committee chairman in Congress, explicitly attempting to undermine the subpoena powers of Congress—a co-equal branch of government designated by the Constitution with oversight powers of the Executive Branch. That is to say, Lindsey Graham is defenestrating the Constitution to benefit Donald Trump, his new political benefactor, and help the big guy's family escape accountability for what they've done.

Want proof the stakes reflect on the Constitution and the office of the presidency? Let's ask '90s Lindsey Graham what he thinks.

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Helpful guidance from Lindsey Graham. pic.twitter.com/QNKt6lJy38 — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 8, 2019

Here's Graham explicitly declaring that a president's failure to comply with a subpoena from Congress was an assault on the Constitution that led to Richard Nixon's impeachment and should lead to Bill Clinton's. Trump and his administration are currently stonewalling congressional subpoenas for the unredacted Mueller Report, his tax returns, financial documents from Deutsche Bank and Capital One relating to the Trump Organization, documents and witnesses related to the security-clearance process, and for Junior to testify. It's not an exhaustive list, but surely it meets Lindsey Graham's criteria?

Ah, but this was Lindsey Graham When There's a Democratic President, a time when the Constitution is a vital instrument of the public good used to check the corrosive power of the chief magistrate. That's different from Lindsey Graham When There's a Republican President. In these present times, the Constitution is not relevant if it provides limits to The Boss's power that The Boss is not interested in. Throw it in the dustbin with the rest of the things Republicans used to pretend to care about: balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility, free trade, a staunch appraisal of Russia as a hostile foreign power and major geopolitical foe. Just shut up and repeat whatever the Rogue Outsider TV Businessman who lost a billion dollars of his daddy's money says!

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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