Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Lindsey Graham's funeral service at Washington National Cathedral concludes

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Lindsey Graham's funeral service at Washington National Cathedral concludes · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: For more than thirty years. Nothing of consequence happened in
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  Speaker 1: his capital without Lindsay Graham knowing about it. Nothing of
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  Speaker 1: significance happened anywhere in the world without Lindsay Graham having
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  Speaker 1: a view on it, And no bill became law in
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  Speaker 1: the most exceptional republican human history without Lindsay Graham having
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  Speaker 1: a shay in it.
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  Speaker 2: This is pure coincidence. But the late Lindsay Graham, whom,
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  Speaker 2: as you just heard, the nation led by President Trump
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  Speaker 2: bid farewell to today, shares something in common with this show.
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  Speaker 2: Neither took or take themselves too seriously. Sato. Graham knew
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  Speaker 2: politics was a game, and he played that game with
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  Speaker 2: relish that was both effective and self aware. He readily
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  Speaker 2: admitted that he was on TV a lot, maybe too much,
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  Speaker 2: and that he wanted to be had to be in
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  Speaker 2: every room where a deal was being cut, because that
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  Speaker 2: was where the fun of politics and power could be found.
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  Speaker 2: Graham was what you might call a DC gangster. He
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  Speaker 2: was in every bipartisan gang that gathered to tackle a problem.
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  Speaker 2: That led Graham in many different ideological directions. And for
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  Speaker 2: all his Trumpian attributes, Now, there were times in South
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  Speaker 2: Carolina when conservative Republicans branded him a squishy liberal trust me.
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  Speaker 2: They tried, but they never could beat him. Graham could
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  Speaker 2: and would make fun of himself, acknowledging that much of
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  Speaker 2: his political life was lived as a sort of cheerful
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  Speaker 2: sidekick to more powerful men, first Arizona Republican Senator John McCain,
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  Speaker 2: then later, of course, Donald Trump. But Graham evolved from
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  Speaker 2: that derivative approach to politics. With the benefits of seniority
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  Speaker 2: and the clout that came with it, Graham became his
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  Speaker 2: own force in the Senate and in national politics, and
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  Speaker 2: that is one of the reasons his sudden death at
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  Speaker 2: Washington so hard. Graham, you see, had grown. He amassed power,
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  Speaker 2: but exercised with a kind of awe shuck's joy that
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  Speaker 2: drew people closer Republicans and Democrats. Graham's career importantly tracked
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  Speaker 2: two intertwined Republican revolutions. The first was the so called
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  Speaker 2: Gingrich Revolution of nineteen ninety four, the year Graham was
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  Speaker 2: first elected to the House as part of the first
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  Speaker 2: GOP majority in that body in forty years. There was
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  Speaker 2: a whiff of populism in that GOP power surge. Term limits,
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  Speaker 2: welfare reform, streamlining the federal bureaucracy, ending unfunded mandates on
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  Speaker 2: the states. The line item veto small measures detained DC's
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  Speaker 2: concentrated vortex of power. That second revolution was the Trump
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  Speaker 2: one that transformed the Republican Party. Gingrich, who had aged
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  Speaker 2: by then into a back room party Elder, was one
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  Speaker 2: of the few who understood the first Revolution. After all,
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  Speaker 2: he led it, and who helped shape the second Revolution
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  Speaker 2: that more deeply populist, tariff heavy, anti immigration, white working
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  Speaker 2: class agenda. Trump rode not once but twice to the
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  Speaker 2: White House. Gingrich and Graham never lost touch. Graham, we
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  Speaker 2: should remember, was harshly critical of Trump at first. Then
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  Speaker 2: he came on board and in so doing became the
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  Speaker 2: great Senate Trump whisperer. Sowhat so that it was Trump
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  Speaker 2: who delivered the eulogy.
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  Speaker 1: Lindsay and I did not exactly get off to the
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  Speaker 1: best of starts running against each other back in twenty sixteen,
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  Speaker 1: Lindsay said something rather nasty on his flight to becoming
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  Speaker 1: the next President of the United States. So naturally I
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  Speaker 1: did something that I shouldn't have done. I shared his
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  Speaker 1: personal cell phone number with the millions of people that
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  Speaker 1: happened to be watching that particular day as Or made
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  Speaker 1: it speech, a very important speech, and I remember the
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  Speaker 1: number two two two two eight two nine two. If
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  Speaker 1: anybody wants to give it a shot. His phone exploded,
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  Speaker 1: He said, I had that number for twenty years, his
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  Speaker 1: phone totally. I don't know what he did with it,
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  Speaker 1: but it exploded. That was the beginning of a friendship
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  Speaker 1: in a way. But it was Lindsay who had the
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  Speaker 1: last laugh, because while I blew up his phone for
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  Speaker 1: one day, we became great friends, and Lindsay did not
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  Speaker 1: stop calling me for the next ten years.
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  Speaker 2: Nicole Killyan joined us now for outside of the National
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  Speaker 2: Cathedral where the ceremony honoring Graham's life just concluded.
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  Speaker 3: Nicole, Yeah, and it certainly was a very emotional service.
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  Speaker 3: There were moments of lovity, like when the President told
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  Speaker 3: that story about giving away Senator Graham's a phone number.
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  Speaker 3: He also called him a tough cookie and kind of
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  Speaker 3: went off script for a bit because this was very
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  Speaker 3: personal for him. As you know, he was one of
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  Speaker 3: the last people to talk to the late senator before
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  Speaker 3: his passing, and so you could kind of tell that
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  Speaker 3: he was still sort of grappling with the fact that
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  Speaker 3: he is no longer here, and that also was the
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  Speaker 3: sense earlier today as well at a ceremony at the
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  Speaker 3: US Capitol, you know, and having walked the halls of
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  Speaker 3: a Capitol hill, you know, many people are still trying
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  Speaker 3: to process the loss of Lindsey Graham because he was
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  Speaker 3: just everywhere all the time, and you know, not seeing
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  Speaker 3: him in the halls of Congress, not getting those phone
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  Speaker 3: calls you know that the President used to receive from
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  Speaker 3: him is very difficult for a lot of folks, and
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  Speaker 3: certainly this cathedral behind me was packed with individuals. In
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  Speaker 3: addition to the former president, we also heard from Sean Hannity,
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  Speaker 3: the Fox News host who knew him professionally but also
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  Speaker 3: became very close friends with him. We also heard a
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  Speaker 3: very emotional tribute from the late senator niece, who is
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  Speaker 3: the daughter of Darlene Graham, who is now the Senator
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  Speaker 3: representing South Carolina, succeeding her late brother temporarily, although she
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  Speaker 3: is now running for his seat for a full term.
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  Speaker 3: But she talked about the importance of Senator Graham as
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  Speaker 3: a family man, as someone who was there for her
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  Speaker 3: in very difficult times. That is something her mother Darlene
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  Speaker 3: Graham also shared quite a bit ahead of this service
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  Speaker 3: once she was appointed as US Senator in terms of
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  Speaker 3: losing her brother, given the close bond that they shared.
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  Speaker 3: But there were a number of dignitaries here, as you know,
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  Speaker 3: major everyone from the Ukrainian President Voladimir Zelinski, who met
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  Speaker 3: with Lindsay Graham this one day before his passing as
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  Speaker 3: he was trying to move forward this Russia sanctioned package.
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  Speaker 3: We also saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan Yahoo. Of course,
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  Speaker 3: the late Senator was a champion of Israel and very
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  Speaker 3: supportive of the our key. And of course, in addition
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  Speaker 3: to a number of senators and lawmakers who were here,
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  Speaker 3: there were a number of administration officials here passed and present,
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  Speaker 3: including former Vice President Mike pent who came into the
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  Speaker 3: US Congress and not long after that Republican revolution that
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  Speaker 3: you mentioned. He talked about how he looked up to
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  Speaker 3: the late Senator Lindsay Graham when he first joined the
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  Speaker 3: US Congress, when Senator Graham was then a member of
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  Speaker 3: the House of Representatives. Take a listen to what the
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  Speaker 3: former Vice President told me about their relationship and the
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  Speaker 3: legacy that Senator Graham now leaves behind.
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  Speaker 4: It's impossible to talk about or remember Lindsey Graham without
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  Speaker 4: remembering that sense of humor. But well, that may be
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  Speaker 4: what I missed the most. His leadership, particularly for America
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  Speaker 4: on the world stage, will be missed. But I am
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  Speaker 4: heartened that even tonight the United States Senate will take
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  Speaker 4: up the Lindsey Graham Russia Sanctions Bill as a testament
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  Speaker 4: to him, but also an ongoing testament to his leadership.
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  Speaker 3: And that is what the former Vice President said will
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  Speaker 3: be the senator's legacy as a Senate now moves forward
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  Speaker 3: with that legislation, that Russia sanctions package that Senator Graham
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  Speaker 3: pushed so vigorously for in the days leading up to
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  Speaker 3: his death.
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  Speaker 2: Major Nicole Killy at the National Cathedral, thank you so
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  Speaker 2: very much.