Lindsey Graham is in big trouble with the orange menace in the Oval Office. Not only has Graham criticized Trump's Syria policy, but as Senate Judiciary Committee chair he has failed to hold sham hearings exploring the Biden and DNC server conspiracy theories that Trump has been counting on.
Graham's first effort to get back in Trump's good graces was hailing Trump for "thinking outside the box" on his inane plan to control Syrian oil fields by partnering with the Kurds, who Trump just completely screwed over. Days later Graham leapt to the defense of Trump's racially offensive comparison between the impeachment inquiry into him and a "lynching." Even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wouldn't defend Trump on that, but Graham stood up wholeheartedly for Trump's racially charged ignorance, claiming "this is a lynching in every sense" and assailing impeachment—a constitutionally outlined remedy—as "un-American." Also, that thing Graham said about being open to impeachment if evidence of a quid pro quo emerged—forget all that. Now that U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor outlined clear evidence of a quid pro quo in his opening statement, Graham has decided it doesn't matter because the Ukrainian president hasn't explicitly said he was aware of a quid pro quo—like President Zelensky would ever do that while Trump is still in office.
Anyhoo, Graham plans to outdo himself later Thursday, introducing a joint resolution with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “condemning the House of Representatives’ closed door, illegitimate impeachment inquiry." Because contrary to popular belief, the U.S. Constitution gave Graham and McConnell "the sole Power of Impeachment," not the House of Representatives. Graham will turn the tables on House Democrats' impeachment inquiry into Trump's shadow foreign policy by naming the inquiry "a shadow process." Clever.
So, in essence, yet another lame Republican jab at process for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to whisk off her shoulder like a pesky fly.
In actuality, Graham's resolution is an admission of defeat. What he originally proposed to suck up to Trump was a sign-on letter pledging that Senate Republicans would never vote to remove Trump from office. Apparently the low level of support for that effort would have only embarrassed Trump. So just like every other GOP defense of Trump right now, Graham's resolution amounts to an admission of desperation—because Republicans simply cannot argue against impeachment on the merits. The facts are all too damning.