Inbox: Lindsey Graham and the Price of a Seat at the Table

How does a man go from calling Donald Trump a kook and a jackass to becoming his closest ally in the Senate?

What do you give up to keep a seat at the table, and what do you actually get for it?

And when the obituaries settle on calling you a pilot fish, has anything you did survived you?

Lindsey Graham flew home from Kyiv on a Friday and was dead by Saturday evening, aged 71 — Peter Frankopan and Afua Hirsch on a career built almost entirely on proximity to other people's power.

He was orphaned in his early twenties and raised his younger sister. He was the first in his family to go to university, served in the Air Force, and reached the Senate in 2002 by taking Strom Thurmond's seat. For a decade he was the Republican who legislated with Democrats: the Gang of Eight immigration bill, one third of the three amigos alongside John McCain and Joe Lieberman. Then he called Trump a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot and said the party would be destroyed and would deserve it. Then McCain died. A year to the day before January 6th, the Republican strategist Steve Schmidt gave Rolling Stone the line that has followed Graham ever since: he is a pilot fish, the small fish that swims beside the shark and takes on its colouring. Peter and Afua on whether that is the whole story, and on what a seat at the table is worth.

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[0:00] A flight home from Kyiv, a cardiac arrest on Capitol Hill, and a death nobody saw coming

[6:14] A restaurant, a pool hall, two funerals, and a younger sister to raise

[9:13] The three amigos, and the decade Graham spent legislating with Democrats

[11:42] A kook, a jackass, and a party that would be destroyed and would deserve it

[12:46] "McCain died" — the two-word answer to how everything changed

[17:24] The pilot fish, the shark, and what a seat at the table actually costs

Stay connected with Legacy:

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Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:

Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com

Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.

legacy.supportingcast.fm

Stay connected with Legacy:

Instagram: @originallegacypodcast

TikTok: @legacy_productions

Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com

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