Horrible to proclaim it's a "lynching"
Although, I guess it was acceptable when Biden said it, when Nadler said it...
Oh, and calling the detention centers on our Southern borders "concentration camps" as AOC and the squad did,,,,who cares if that's offensive to many?...as long as a Dem said these things...that's OK.
9
That picture is ghoulish. What hideous creatures we are.
18
Once all the other politicians were shown using the word lynch your argument went out the window.
And don't go telling me I can't use the word lynch without being a racist, that is incredibly stupid.
4
Jamelle, regarding lynching, when the Nazi Empire had captured and ‘Occupied’ France — the Nazi Empire installed a phony Vichy government under French WW I hero, Marshall Pétain, with the propagandistic concept that it might fool the French people into believing that it was a French Government — but ‘the French people’ were not fooled by the facade of a single party Nazi Empire controlled regime [see the film “Casablanca”].
Some of the French people formed a ‘resistance movement’ to confront the occupying empire in their country — which was assisted by the U.S. OSS [read “Our Vichy Gamble” William Langer], which in 1947 became our CIA [“National Security and the Double Government” Michael Glennon].
When young French “resistance movement” volunteers were exposed and captured the Nazi Empire officers (particularly S.S. Officers) preferred to use ‘public lynching’ as the means to kill such spies because it produced the maximum psychological terror among the general population:
https://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/nazi.html
Jamelle, IMHO — as an avid believer in “analogy-thinking” [George Lakoff UC Berkeley] — the multi-factor linkage between; empires, wars, militarism, propaganda, lynching, lying, domination, and disguise all define some kind of nexus of evil, diseased, and even cancerous danger to “Democracy Dying In Darkness” under Empire — apologies to the “Washington Post” for extending your front-page mast-head banner.
EMPEROR TRUMP is symbolic of lynching & Empire.
14
“A lynching (wow!), but we will win.”
That’s what the Prez has said.
The ice he skates on must be thin,
that he would get this mad.
“A lynching?” If you get impeached
no white mob sealed your fate.
A true majority has reached
a verdict: “You’re not great!”
You may still win. The Senate may
go low and clear your name.
And yet you’ll lose. Voters will say:
“Get out. You own the blame!”
8
It's of course another Trumpian exaggeration - this one particularly insensitive to African Americans. He does though have grounds to draw the analogy to any mob-like action seeking "justice" without legal trial. But in his case, there's obviously no killing involved... so it's crass hyperbole, like those that equate him with Hitler.
4
"I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf,” says Lindsay.
Mr Graham is an intellectual midget as well as, apparently, a lying lawyer. Graham has not learned anything about grand juries in his long career as hypocrite with a degree?
The sucking sound you hear is largely from Graham's toady utterances concerning the occupant of the White House. Pay no attention; there is no integrity behind the senatorial curtain in which Graham wraps himself. Not much in the way of honesty either.
23
"More than 4,000 African-American men, women and children were lynched — burned, beaten, drowned, shot or hanged to death — between 1877 and 1950."
CORRECTION:
Michael Donald was lynched on March 21, 1981 in Mobile, Alabama.
5
Please stop the Hate Speech , its time to Move On .
1
I am SO bored of identity politics articles. Do better New York Times. It’s been non-stop for three years. Is it Trump or the rise of useless majors like gender studies?
4
Graham is a sycophant who can’t get enough of Trump.
7
Why give Trump a pass and say Graham should know better? Trump should also be held accountable. He’s not just the Republican Party’s useful idiot, he knows what he’s doing and racial dog whistles are his favorite tool.
9
Trump should be so lucky as to be lynched and have it over with...he is going to spend years in prison, as will his offspring.
3
Graham is a political coward interested only in his own self-preservation. The main point of this article when stripped of its veneer of identity politics is something that any politically engaged American who hasn't been sucked into the black hole of Trumpistan knows and has known for a while now.
I tend to like the NYT Opinions page because there's a lot of perspectives here that give me things to think about. This, the first piece by Mr. Bouie I've read to completion since his first column here, is prompting my first comment.
There is no substance to identity politics as it is generally employed. It is a mere extension of the red team/blue team sportsball mentality that pervades our actual political system. A piece like this, an identity-soaked interpretation of the use of a single word by a known moron, will convince more independents who are skeptical of the Democratic Party that the left has lost the plot than it will bring people into camp.
There's nothing to like on the GOP side either. All you get from this type of messaging is a mirrored response: sycophants like Matt Gaetz going on Fox and beating the white male identity drum.
The Democratic Party espouses noble policy goals but drapes them in a form of identity politics that is destined to produce conflict. The Republican Party doesn't seem to have a coherent set of beliefs beyond keeping Trump happy while he still commands the base. We can do better by focusing on our common identities as Americans.
2
One Brit's spot-on assessment of our deranged leader:
https://thehobbledehoy.com/2019/03/08/british-writer-pens-the-best-description-of-trump-ive-read/?fbclid=IwAR29A-j1OMgd_itC8xoKBB-1g3S2IrJLqcVTNh-M_ZSCjyDj4Ovb4Bf4FOc
2
Graham's too busy trying to win political points by "never forgetting" the "Holocaust" and catering to Bibi's extremist fantasies just as he does to Trump. "Lynching?" Ha. Who cares. That's just Americans doing stuff to people who're not really Americans. You know like that flood from Mexico. Criminals, rapists, murderers.
There's no "there" with these guys (Lindsey, Donny and their ilk).
Morality is absent. Care for country and citizens is absent. Care for the world is absent. Decency is absent. Truth is an unknown.
Winning is the one and only thing that counts. How victory is won does not matter. Win and damn the costs, the people, the country, the world.
Gee, Republicans you are just so very, very American. Make us proud Lindsey. Maybe one day you can be a leader of real Americans. The change has got to be big for that to happen. But with your chameleon like tendencies, who knows.
2
I am looking forward to Senator Graham to throw his characteristic victim-tantrum, when he lambastes the Congress for their sham process that is tantamount to a lynch mob, etc., it will be a big speech at the end of a long week of damning testimony and speeches calling for Trump to be impeached. Probably near the conclusion Senator Graham will take the floor and cry real tears at the injustice of it all, how he's never been so ashamed of America, etc., it will be persuasive because of its emotion and also its bitterness and disappointment, we saw a similar speech at the Kavanaugh hearings. A grown man victim tantrum from a privileged White Senator from South Carolina. It it is a tailor made trademark speech for Graham. Something about grown white men channeling their angst in the South is extremely alarming, we don't want to see what we are seeing or hear those manly voices get so close to crying openly, just give them what they want, if they want it that bad they can have it. It is not that important to me anyways. Why do we capitulate to such displays of southern male white privilege emotion? Is it because of the PTSD of the Civil War ages ago? We don't want to go back there and relive that moment of history when the South was broken and its men came home in tatters and defeat? Is that the well that Graham draws from when he victim-rants at America?
4
I am surprised that so few have pointed out that Clarence Thomas used the same hyperbole during his confirmation hearings, referring to the inquiry into Anita Hill’s allegations as a “high tech lynching” against “uppity blacks.”
Clearly, there was no comparison between what happened to Thomas and what happened to the real victims of lynch law, not even as metaphor.
3
I am surprised that the always great Jamelle Bouie doesn't realize why Senator Huckleberry Benedict does this: because the footage that Putin has of him includes illegal activity.
Biden used the same word very recently but it did not get the venomous and oh so predictable response from the usual suspects. It’s because the word is not the problem but the person who said it. In any case, the left has regularly and without a second thought accused Trump of being Hitler or Stalin and his supporters of being Nazis. So using the term lynching—which as many have shown is a terrible practice that many including Mexicans and other people of color have suffered, to describe one’s subjective response to being attacked, is perfectly appropriate.
5
What a sickening photo. How tragic to to be the descendants of these indoctrinated human beings, just as these human beings, tragically, were the indoctrinated descendants of those before them. As hard as it is to love them, maybe we can at least try to understand them. What were the words of Jesus on the cross?
Trump using the word "lynching" speaks volumes about the injustice he's receiving 24/7 from the media, liberals and democrats
it's unfortunate that this subject's been the news this long
3
"Graham hasn’t just embraced the president, he’s embraced Trump’s total shamelessness — his absolute failure to hold himself accountable to any worthwhile standard of character."
Graham seems torn apart by interior demons of his own, perhaps prompted by the soul of John McCain, swirling somewhere above his head.
One day he proclaims he'd condemn the Trump if solid proof of a quid pro quo were uncovered, in addition to the notorious Ukraine phone call.
When that proof is forthcoming, he then formally condemns mpeachment while defending the use of "lynching" to mimic his pal, the president.
Jamelle Bouie is right: Graham knows better than to exploit a heinous history of deadly racism to fortify the president's grievances. When Trump compares himself to thapless African Americans brutally murdered just for their existence, he minimizes a sordid chapter in US history to indulge his self pity.
What's your rationale, Mr. Graham?
5
What is ‘un-American’ is to have a president who can’t spell, read or have knowledge of basic geography of our country, and not care to learn anything. It is ‘Un-American’ to have members of Congress support this president’s use of language that is verbally abusive to large segments of our population. It is ‘Un-American’ to have members of Congress violate the laws and a president who believes he is above the law, continue to break the laws of our country, that would get the rest of our citizenry fined or jailed. This language is ‘hate speech’. You can’t bribe countries with tax payer dollars approved by Congress, to do your bidding! Be assured it isn’t just Ukraine that he has used these tactics with, Mulvaney said ‘we do this all the time’. We now know it was also China, as well as Russia, but what about Turkey, Hungary, Iran and North Korea? This is how Trump makes deals, like a mobster and the the thug he is and has been for decades. Just ask Barr, Cohen and Giuliani who have been his ‘fixers’, and also profited by his real making. I don’t know that Graham, Jordan, Mc Connell, Nunes and others have so directly benefited, but the tax cut for them sure has. There is a ‘conspiracy’ of corrupt, authoritarian leaders around the world to rape their countries of any viable resources for the common good and steal all power and wealth for themselves. Justice must be served. The day of reckoning will come. Woe to those who knowingly oppose truth and justice.
6
I can give a semi-pass to Clarence Thomas's high tech lynching remark but a white man invoking lynching is reprehensible.
2
Mr. Trump and Mr. Graham could have said "hanged". They didn't.
The active verb "lynched" carries with it in this country very specific shadings and echoes of blood, monstrous violence, white power run amok and white sheets glowing in the light of bonfires.
After they lynched them, they shattered them with bullets and only then threw them in the river.
Please, please use your words carefully. They are not just sounds in your mouth or markings on a page.
Please.
1
Lap Dog Lindsey is not only a hypocrite, he truly has to know better. He is a lawyer, was trained by, and practiced as one representing, the United States Air Force as a prosecutor in the late 70s, early 80s. That means that he grew up, went to university and law school, and took his bar exam in the late 60s, early 70s during the height of the Civil Rights movement and its aftermath.
For a person with that background to defend what he has to know is a dog-whistle, racist-encouraging comment by the most unfit person ever to be known as POTUS is beyond words. He apparently believes that he is untouchable if he continues to kiss the Don's ring, even though he is up for re-election in 2020. Were that he would be proven wrong!
4
The Trump devotees don't like to be compared to Nazis, but they revel in contemptuous, derogatory and inflammatory language they direct indiscriminately at "others." And they whine and cry foul over every epithet sent in their direction.
To quote journalist Stefan Morkis , "...loose, inflammatory language by political leaders is key to division and control." Since murdering your opponents is seldom acceptable in industrialized nations (outside of Russia), the war is sowed instead with the ammunition of incendiary rhetoric, disinformation, and a daily diet of twisted lies.
Trump is sadly not alone in this. He has numerous devotees in henchman like Mulvaney, Barr, Guiliani, Socolow, Lindsay Graham, Sondland, McConnell, Barr, Gaetz, Nunes, Jordan, Paul, Kellyanne Conway, Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Limbaugh, Rupert Murdoch and family, and unfortunately the too many others in the cast of this circus and miscarriage of government.
3
The people need to vote Graham out. No matter what you think or what party you belong to having a person like him represent you is just sickening.
5
Why would any rational human American want to listen to any words from Graham's mouth?
5
Someone dies in a lynching. All Trump, or Justice C.Thomas got in their victimhood using that word, was embarrassment. No equivalence, despicable metaphor.
1
Both Trump and Graham know exactly what they are doing when they use the word “lynching.”
They appropriate for powerful white men a level of victimhood not remotely close to that of the hundreds of black men robbed of their very lives. And they devalue the disempowerment and true mob violence suffered by the African-Americans in the south all at the same time.
2
The things Graham will do to keep sharing the links with a president who cheats at golf and stroll around Mar-a-Lago with his status as chief sycophant in residence. McCain offers quite a contrast showing courage and dignity while a POW vs Graham calling for his vapors when his integrity is questioned.
3
Thank you Mr. Bouie.
1
Why are YOU taking the bait, as reprehensible as it is. Keep our eyes on the prize.
Graham is beholden to blackmail by trump as a “ confirmed bachelor”. Draw your own conclusion.
Graham thinks the word lynching can also refer to a white person getting lynched. I’m pretty sure that if you asked Americans what comes to mind when they hear the word lynching is a black person hanging from a tree and the white person doing the hanging.
1
Q. Since when does a Constitutional Process equal Terrorism by White supremicists?
A. When it endangers White supremacy.
Vote. Them. OUT.
4
Was this published before people found Biden's video doing the same thing?
1
In 1922, my grandfather, a Geechee from South Carolina, was forced to grab a hasty train north to Washington, then to New York City, then to Boston, where I was born in 1944. The family tradition has it that he sassed a white man and because of his "negro temerity," placed his life, as well as those of his wife, son and daughter (my mother), caught that midnight train to Boston.
Lindsey Graham should know better, and he actually may. But white Southerners tend to walk back their fleeting remorse when the ghost of white supremacy is challenged. The state's and region's histories are soldered together, for all time, by racial violence, most of it born of the fevered imaginations of aggrieved whites.
A son of the South, Graham has a sense of history but prefers to transfer a horrific era, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, and transform the inhumanities that beset an entire people onto the relatively benign lifestyle of a man who never had to work for anything. Now that the president is facing impeachment and possible (but highly doubtful) removal from office, the scions of white supremacy are working assiduously to keep alight the flickering flame of white supremacy.
Donald Trump has been a victim all his life of his own deliberate indiscretions. Graham has surely seen through the Swiss cheese-styled holes in his president's conduct and fitness but, in a panicked gesture of consolidation, has reached deep into the racist grab-bag of justifications for an evil that lives on.
2
Is it me or is it weird that Lindsay Graham has never heard of a grand jury?
4
Lindsay Graham is also ignorant to the Constitution which gives the full purview of Impeachment to the House of Representatives. His yap needs to shut until he gets to cast his tainted vote in the Senate trial.
1
Makes me wonder what trump and his thugs ‘have’ on Lindsay Graham, what powerful blackmail they have to jerk those strings so reliably.
3
"I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf.”
Oh really? Well I guess you've never heard of a Grand Jury...odd since you're a lawyer and have studied law. I presume they do have Grand Juries in N.C., but maybe they just go for the hangings without bothering with any investigations.
Lindsey Graham is trying his hardest to keep up with Trump and who can spew the most lies.
1
2020 election season hasn't even started and you ain't seen nothing yet
1
Trump knows about lynching. His father was said to have marched in KKK parades in NYC, and discriminated against people on a racial basis in his housing business. Trump apparently lifted the phrase "clean the swamp" from Mussolini.
Does Trump knowingly borrow from Hitler's and Mussolini's playbooks? Apparently so.
2
The history of lynching is not exclusive to racial terrorism. The current discussion about the casual use of the word is completely concerned about lynchings against racial minorities to induce terror in those populations.
Lynching is the killing of people without any legal due process by people who just take it upon themselves to punish people suspected of crimes or just hated by communities who just want to eliminate them. Lynching was a common across the country where law and order was weak. The lynching of African Americans in areas where whites were attempting to repress them was one kind of lynching. None of it was justified except by those who committed it.
1
Thank you for this excellent piece. I hope somehow Lindsay Graham will bring himself to read it. Maybe deep in his consciousness he will recognize himself, and be as disgusted as others are with his fawning and bigotry.
1
Jamelle, of course Trump knows the sordid history of lynching in America.
But the immediate context for his remark is Clarence Thomas and his Senate confirmation for a seat on the Supreme Court in 1991.
When, in response to Joe Biden, a beleaguered Thomas characterized the hearings as "a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves," suitably chastened Senators confirmed him for the Supreme Court.
The irony is that Thomas did not think for himself but has an established record of voting with Scalia.
Trump's unpardonable remarks target a different audience.
But no one would have assumed that Trump was preaching to the converted in someone such as Lindsey Graham.
Just another signpost in the GOP's rapid descent.
2
Trump's victimhood is part of his appeal to his supporters because they too feel victimized by feminists, visible minorities, immigrants (both legal and illegal) and college-educated professionals. Although Trump was born with the silveriest of silver spoons in his mouth and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (however, not on the dean's list), he sounds and behaves as someone without education, culture, civility, above all without nuance, in other words, a regular guy. And what could be more natural for a racist than to use about himself a term - lynching - which evokes the horrors of racist behaviour toward black Americans? Trump has no moral boundaries and, as a result, cannot see the irony of comparing himself to innocent black men who were tortured and killed by a mob when he is, in fact, a leader of the mob!
2
But he tends to repeats things. He often repeats things. Most of the time he repeats things. Repeating seems to be something he does. He thinks that repeating things get it deep into the listener’s brain. So he repeats things. Anyway some people say that he repeats himself.
2
The use of the word 'lynching' by Trump is clearly hyperbole and any reasonable person is not going to think of 'lynching' as a trivial act just because of how he uses the word. Most people know that lynching meant killing people by mobs or groups of people who had no legal justification, or moral justification, for doing so.
1
Lindsey Graham really isn't anything, y'know? A charming lizard for five years and then whatever it takes to win in a state where a big slice of the electorate think Jesus had blonde hair and blue eyes, spoke English, and came over on the Mayflower with the Founding Fathers. He is utterly without credibility and cannot be taken seriously. I don't know what he expects the historians to make of him. If he doesn't care, that's even worse.
4
Don't give Trump a pass on this issue. He is crass but he certainly is not ignorant, he knew exactly what he was saying. His statement is just part of the larger practice of whites now claiming not to be white or now attempting to portray themselves as victims of the domestic terrorism carried out against blacks during slavery and Jim Crow. We hear of privileged white women being subjected to something laughably called "Jane Crow," and whites complaining about the lynchings of other whites.
No group besides blacks were regularly subjected to lynchings, the total destruction of their towns and neighborhoods and killing of the residents for not knowing "their place" or because of false claims of rape by white women. People should not make light of a terrible time in America's past or attempt to align themselves with the true victims of those past actions.
2
Trump used the term "lynching" for shock value. He likes to stir the pot, and grab media attention where he can. The focus should be on the fact our President is even interested in using words to provoke us. What does that say about him? That's the story.
4
This just in. Trump claims lynching is legal if the president does it. Graham concurs.
4
"All Republicans must remember.. lynching."
That is partisan screaming about an ongoing atrocity (Donald Trump is getting killed in the polls). He's firing for effect; and, when he offends his detractors, he rallies his base. Yes, an impulsive delinquent tweeted it, but the man in our highest office owns it forever.
And the President began that tweet with a warning/promise of the next Congress as an instrument of political retribution. It is a call-to-arms for a fight-to-the-finish. It's a mob boss giving the order "We're going to the mattresses."
Lindsey Graham is one of the 50-odd Party Patriots sworn by loyalty oath to exonerate their chieftain and to raid the neighboring tribe. We already saw Graham's venim-spitting temper in the Kavanaugh hearing.
Here's the video of Senator Graham's spiteful ridiculing of our free press for not being fired-up by the "lynching". YouTube host Brian Tyler Cohen SHREDS Graham's accusations and stuffs his moral outrage in a hurt locker. WATCH.
https://youtu.be/Nhm8Dxb5MjA
To claim that lynching is Unamerican is not only false but illogical. Historically lynching is a uniquely American institution, as shown by the photo, celebrated by white men, women and children.
1
Jamelle,
Your piece here enrages me, shames my perceptions of what American Democracy is, and so clearly describes the absolute inhuman terror inflicted upon those lynched and exposes these two filthy pathetic shells of men who trivialize what can't be - my disgust is exhausted. It is only with a deep sigh and concentrated effort to look away from this tragic and grotesque betrayal of America do I see citizens, confronting and challenging wrongs, marching, writing, and recording this, one of the worst of chapters in American History. You are a critical part of focusing our views and experience in this battle for America, and I thank you.
2
McCain must be turning over in his grave bc Graham has become such a vehicle of degradation, deceit and selfishness.
5
Yes, what is Graham's excuse? I'd say it's fun. It's the same excuse Matt Gaetz and Rudolph Giuliani and the other madcaps have. They're just getting their kicks--a night out on our town. Fun for them, a migraine for us. So, Gaetz, McCarthy and that lot burst into a meeting as if it were a panty raid--yippee--but painful for the people conducting the hearing or for those of us trying to untangle the narrative and sort out the actual history. Giuliani goofs and snickers his way through the media, defying subpoenas, hectoring the public, shedding wives--fun for the Rudester; who does he think he is? Maybe one of those old actors sunsetting their brands: Robert Duval, Jack Lemon, Walter Matthau: they played geezers who transcendent in their hard-won wisdo, knew better than the screechy Lilliputians who peeped against them. Old saints and martyrs the fat lot of them--but that was the movies, guys. Not for Rudy and not for Lindsey's, either, a handsome celebrity lost past his sell-by date, knowing he is slowly going off and yet feeling somehow above it all; having the time of his life. But at some point down the road, maybe in prison, maybe just in hospice, these failed fools will have to come to terms with the fact that when it counted the most, they voted for chaos, for pointlessness, confusion. They stood up for the strange wave/particle that has kept the human race from reaching its fullest potential, and perhaps even hastened its extinction. Not funny.
1
I would imagine an oped writer would research the use of the word previously by other politicians.
Because oh my gosh there is treasure trove of videotape. I guess he just needed something to beat up on trump with.
Amazing.
1
I wonder, if pressed could Trump define the word "lynching"? His limited vocabulary and inability to finish most sentences plus his known unwillingness to read anything longer than a page or two may indicate poor eyesight, cognitive decline or an underlying dyslexia. Or he could be a racist narcissist who eats hamburders directing West Wing sycophants to generate new playground bully names for his "Yucky People" list. Win Covfefe pointed redeemable for Federal pardons! It's remarkable how often "mob" appears in our descriptions.
To be lynched is to be put to death by a mob without a trial. Trump isn't being lynched by any definition. He's hanging himself, so to speak. And the impeachment he's bringing on through his criminal actions won't kill him, either.
If you are a resident of South Carolina, you can send Sen. Graham a letter to his senate page at senate.gov or to https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-senator-graham.
3
“...the trauma of the past”
Trauma, whatever it’s source and type, and there are many of both, is timeless. IT is.IT remains.NOW.Here.For the traumatized.
For whom the term “victim” is inherently inadequate. As any word is;whatever it was created to describe. Explain. Answer. Query.Hide. Mislead. Clarify. Concur. Confuse. Document. Mantrafy. “Lynch” can not express what the violated fellow BEing experiences.As life is taken.From a named -s/he/them.Dehumanized by one or more fellow beings.Who choose to give up their own human Identity.Then and There.
“Lynch” becomes part of semantic surrealism’s process of numbing ongoing ummenschlichkeit.In an ongoing toxic, infectious,WE-THEY culture.Which enables violating.By words and deeds.Created, selected, targeted “the other(s).” Daily. Everywhere.THEN! NOW; kidnapped, caged, abused, neglected children! As an acculturated legitimized “tradition.” By diverse ordinary folk, in language and actions.As well as by ranges of elected and selected personally unaccountable policymakers.At all levels. “Lynched,” an empowered word, term, process, outcome, “norm,” akin to “Holocaust,”is used, and misused, by a range of agendaed individual and systemic stakeholders. Who experience the freedom to create a sustainable lifestyle of willful blindness to what IS which should not BE. Ever! Willful deafness to the experienced existential pains of the disempowered.All around; if we chose to attend. Willful indifference to...
Willful ignorance about facts.
How shocked I am but I agree.
The shame, hurt and pain of this terrible epoch of our history should hold the same respect and reverence of terms like Holocaust and Concentration Camps. Lynching and what it means to people of color is a deep cause of reflection and empathic focus for white people and should not ever be used to describe anything but what that horror truly was.
Trump is an uniformed stooge who seeks not to understand but to inflame.
I look forward to Jamelle's upcoming opinion article condemning similar left leaning representatives like AOC when they inflame and use rhetoric indicative of the Nazi extermination of the Jews when referring to ICE and Border security.
1
Members of both parties have used the term lynching. It is not specific to blacks though more blacks have been lynched than any other group. Yet, it is only the a Republicans who seem to be criticized for it. Odd.
1
Lindsey Graham is one step ahead of the current mob. He just threw them his wallet and car keys. Don't stumble Sir. Pretty slippery where you are.
No doubt Trump is race-baiting. There's another instance of conservatives' very ugly use of the term ''lynching'', and that was Clarence Thomas and his ''high tech lynching'' comment, that while assisted by a band of white men in browbeating an African American woman who showed nothing but courage. That was disgusting, and the sort of treason that still me sick, regardless if my being a white man.
2
Lesson learned at Roy Cohn's knee: Lie, lie, lie; deny, deny, deny; sue, sue sue.
2
Since when do white people in the U.S. get to define lynching, something usually done by them, not to them? But Trump may have a little more background on the issue then we give him credit for. His father Fred was, according to several responsible publications, one of the very few New Yorkers to ever be arrested in connection with a Ku Klux Klan rally (Jamaica, Queens, 1927). The fact-checking site Snopes.com does point out that while the elder Trump was in fact arrested, it is possible he was merely an innocent bystander. Still, it's likely father and son chatted a bit about that Klan contact that occurred at the very time lynchings were near their peak.
I thought that by now everyone had figured out Lindsey Graham's excuse for any of his behavior that just seems odd, or, frankly, ridiculous.
We have lost our ability to differentiate between "behavior" and things like "education" or, say, "how much of a church goer" someone is. Behavior is in a league of it's own.
Lindsey Graham, like the president, like Mayor Guiliani, and I can go on and on, just enjoy being in the spotlight; the daily talk. As I joked with someone a few months ago, Guiliani would be extremely offended if he was left out of the subpoena gig.
We have to limit expectations of individuals whose game is "how can I get attention?"
Lindsey is likes the game the president and Guiliani are in. He's like; "Why not me?"
That said, just slowly observe the game. After all, Guiliani even makes the guys at Fox uncomfortable. And yes, as we all know, Fox was founded on Trash-Talking.
I am not a psychology major but common sense tells me that Lindsey, just like Guiliani, and of course the president, are really, really lonely. They would do anything -- yes, anything -- for attention.
As a result, asking about the behavior these guys are displaying is falling right into the trap they keep tossing out. After all, the more we talk the more attention they receive. And it keeps going 'round and 'round.
1
@Nigel I think the solution is to report but not labour the point. Like a regular column in print media or a 5 minute segment on tv news entitled "What stupid thing President Trump/Giuliani/Lindsay Graham did or said today/yesterday" and an explanation of why that's stupid and provide them with no other attention.
The photo at the top literally made my stomach turn. But I found myself staring at the young man in the t-shirt in the center front. While all the faces speak of joy at their confirmed white entitlement and the justification of evil, that boy seems to be the only one who appears to get the meaning of the human horror to which he is witness.
Among the current group of complicit and compromised "public servants" like Graham in Washington, I trust there are those like this boy who know the truth and will eventually rise up to restore our sanity and our democracy.
5
To compound the egregious nature of Graham's comment, he's also lying about about the process going on in the House, on two counts: (1) the process in the House includes Republicans on the related committees, and they have full access and as much ability to question witnesses as Democrats on the committees; (2) the process in the House is just the inquiries leading to a decision to file articles of impeachment, analogous to a grand jury determining whether to file charges; the actual trial occurs in the Senate, where Trump will be able to confront accusers to his heart's delight.
Graham is lying about both the substance and the analogy.
2
Lynchings interfered with the wheels of justice and did not allow the process to proceed by short-circuiting it. Trump's forbidding employees to testify before House committees and the recent Republican "protest" this week also are interfering with a legal justice procedure. I don't see the Democrats as doing anything different than upholding their oaths to protect our Constitution. All Republicans who stay silent when their colleagues act to thwart the wheels of justice deserve to be ground under those wheels as much as those who sabotage the system.
7
By endorsing Mr. Trump's description of the impeachment inquiry as a "lynching", Sen. Graham may have trying to make it look illegitimate. But he actually did much worse.
As an attorney and one of the GOP managers during the Clinton proceeding, Mr. Graham is surely aware that the current process is absolutely legitimate, according to the Constitution, federal law, and House Rules.
That implies that at least subconsciously, he is bestowing legitimacy on the historic lynching process. Shameful.
9
Excellent column, Mr.Bouie. G-r-a-h-a-m is just another way to spell H-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e, and I doubt he cares. Criticizing the current occupant of the White House made his poll numbers in SC plummet. Shamelessly praising this miserable excuse for a human saw his poll numbers rise. That's all he cares about.
5
I grew up in upstate South Carolina and many years ago shook Graham's hand at the airport for his being willing in those days to take stands unpopular with his conservative base. Now if I met him again I'd say: "Have you no shame, sir?"
16
You don’t have to have lived in the South or be African-American to understand that “lynching” human beings is amoral and wrong; as is diminishing memory of its victims. Lacking shame, morality and ethics, nothing coming from Trump’s mouth is surprising. He’s really a psychopath, devoid of all emotion and moral judgement. As for the weakling Lindsey Graham, it seems that he embraces the message of the strongest man next to him. That role used to be played by the late Senator McCain, now it’s Donald Trump. If only Graham instead developed an amorous crush with the truth, he would have a chance at redemption, maybe.
5
Anyone remember the Clarence Thomas Senate hearings? Thomas complained that the questions he was asked by the Senators and the allegations of sexual harassment against him made by Anita Hill and witnesses amounted to a "high tech lynching". He said, "This is a circus. It's a national disgrace. And from my standpoint, as a black American, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched..."
I recall many liberals, including myself, objecting to Thomas's characterization of the hearing as a lynching because 1) a SC confirmation hearing is a legal process, so lynching is an inappropriate term to use, and 2) Thomas was playing victim, trying to inflame liberal guilt by conjuring up actual lynchings of American blacks in the past.
I am not the boss of the English language, and neither is anyone else. But I suggest we leave words to mean what they contemporarily and historically have meant and not try to co-opt them for partisan "gotcha purposes". There are so many other things we can excoriate Trump for, we don't need to re-define perfectly adequate words to do this.
2
Well, as we all know, there is a historical precedent of white Anglo Saxon male billionaires who are also hold the most powerful political position on the planet being persecuted by um....
My eyes are rolling so far back in my head I think I can see the base of my skull.
4
the picture says it all...... very fine people I guess....
3
By using the word "lynching" by DT and LG, they are actually activating the racist voters who support them. Below is a chart that shows the top ten states by black lynching (1882-1968), all "shockingly" won by Trump in 2016, usually by a wide margin:
State # Margin
Mississippi 539 T+20
Georgia 492 T+6
Texas 352 T+9
Louisiana 335 T+20
Alabama 299 T+28
Florida 257 T+1
Arkansas 226 T+27
Tennessee 204 T+16
S. Carolian 156 T+14
Kentucky 142 T+30
Total TOP TEN 3,002
Total Lynchings 3,446
TOP TEN % of All 87%
14
I didn't like it when Clarence Thomas called the senate confirmation hearing a "high-tech lynching." I thought he should have known better.
But for Donald? He's a blasted crook and his only risk is getting sent back home to make more money.
Whatever happens, we aren't about to throw a former president in jail. Where would the Secret Service stay?
And for Lindsey Graham? He's just patching over his Syria comments. He lost his soul long ago.
Every time Trump opens his mouth and utters such ignorant inanities about lynching, or the “phony emoluments clause” of the Constitution he swore to protect and defend, he only reenforces his unfitness for, and betrayal of, the office he bizarrely finds himself occupying. While his attempts to dangle pardons, tamper with witnesses, bribe foreign leaders and obstruct justice are weekly, if not daily, examples of impeachable offenses, his infinite clueless, obtuse remarks about American history, principles and values are further evidence that there is one benighted imposter usurping the highest office in the land. Both he and Graham would do well to ponder long and hard the “Strange Fruit” about whom Billie Holiday sang so poignantly and emotionally.
1
This is the same writer who a few months ago thought it was acceptable to appropriate the term 'concentration camps' for the detention centers at the U.S. border insulting 'millions' of families (not 4000), including my own, who've suffered through the horrors of WW2.
'Lynching' should be a protected word based upon our history - just like the phrase, 'concentration camps'. Show some respect Mr. Bouie, especially if you're asking for respect.
2
Graham's comments reveal the depth of white supremacy that embodies the lie of American exceptionalism and innocence - the key sentimentality that the GOP is using for the lawlessness of the corporate power they represent. Trump was impeachable at the start of his presidency with his hush money paid through Michael Cohen to silence porn stars Karen McDougal and Story Daniels. Cohen is in prison. Trump needs to join him. We have reached the point in American history when we must confront the lie of imperial colonialism's claim of impunity. Justice starts with Trump's impeachment and removal from office.
3
Can you post a link to the column you wrote when Biden said the same thing about Clinton?
6
Can you post a link to any report of either Trump or Graham apologizing for making and seconding Trump’s Statement?
1
"Trump is ignorant; Graham is not."
Well, what a beautiful distillation of what the contemporary Republican party represents.
It is telling that three previous signs, marking the spot on the Tallahatchie River where Emmett Till's body was found, have been stolen or vandalized.
But racists do not limit themselves to vandalism, name-calling, or hiding behind lies to deny jobs and a choice of neighborhoods to blacks. Racists continue to actively target blacks. The Black Lives Matter Movement has brought national attention to this ongoing violence, which our nation fails to adequately acknowledge and deal with, just as our nation continues to fail in atoning for the societal harm to blacks in the aftermath of slavery.
America continues to victimize blacks and adding insult to injury, we have the audacious and reckless Trump and Graham misappropriating and demeaning a racially charged term to claim victimhood for Trump.
Trump is clearly ignorant of black history (also American history). But Trump is knowledgeable and well versed in white nationalism, aka white supremacy. By misappropriating the term "lynching" for himself, he doesn't just present himself as a victim, he devalues and mocks the horrendous crimes committed against blacks in America's darkest days.
As to Senator Graham, who knows well what he is doing, what more can be said of such a shameless, soulless, amoral hypocrite, betrayer and impostor of humanity, than that no god will forgive him?
1
Strange that this journalist does not mention that the “lynching” word was also used in the past by (wait for it) Mr. Joseph Biden, the former Vice President! Why is that? Is it because Biden was Obama’s Veep so all is forgiven and forgotten? Or is it simply because Biden is a Democrat, and to this journalist, Dems are immune from criticism?
2
Observation about "these are the times of the I want to be OFFENDED". To jump to the conclusion that a word spoken is about "ME and my ETHNICITY" and I am therefore correct in judging the purpose for the use of that word describes the bigoted bias of the one judging the spoken word. If your life is to be one of colored judgement then of course you are going to be the one who is always the victim of injustice. As long your own debauched belief system controls your thoughts you will be the slave of its bigotry.
Trump is a damaged human being who in another context we might speed by on the sidewalk flicking him a quarter in an act of "there but for the grace of God go I." But there is no such excuse for Lindsay Graham. He is an educated man who has dropped any veneer of civilization in order to mirror the collapse of the Republican Party into a criminal gangster organization. Here's to it's rapid sweeping into the dustbin of history.
217
@Tim Nelson
It will probably need a 21st century Civil War or Civil Uprising to 'sweep into the dustbin of history' a vast bad (faith) development that has already built such a momentum and entrenched itself firmly in the undemocratic Senate, in the Supremely Rigged Court, in the government, in money overwhelming speech by drowning it in a near-airwaves-monopoly of 24/7 malevolently megaphoned discreting smears and disinformation and faux outrage and propaganda, in algorithmic abuse by Facebook and similar big web players, in voter suppression and the gerrymander running amok, and, last but not least, inside the voting machines software.
Where do you pull your optimism from? Constitutional democracy has been slowly but systematically and rigorously undermined since decades. There is no firewall left.
16
His “soul” was buried with John McCain.
Period.
3
Racism is a cancer in America. It must be fought endlessly until it is annihilated. People like trump and graham and their enablers must be called out for what they are - hateful racists.
5
Lindsey is nothing but a opportunistic prostitute, working for himself. That the voters in his district cannot see this shows their outstanding stupidity.
11
Empathy and compassion are so far above the heads of Trump and Graham that this article will not be understood by either of them, even if they had someone read it to them. Both are lost when it comes to genuinely caring about someone else. Their blood runs cold. Their brains are locked-in-gear. Don't bother them with the facts; all these two guys care about it brutal power. They are both champion bullies.
1
The fact that Emmett Till's memorial now needs to be made bulletproof speaks volumes as to the past and present of racism
in this country, but hopefully not to the future.
Everyone should visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama as well as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington at least once in their lives if not countless times more.
That Trump is ignorant, careless with words, or both, is clear. After all he has referred to the “phony” emoluments clause–of the Constitution. Even he is likely knowledgeable enough to realize that the what is in the Constitution cannot, reasonably, be characterized as “phony.”
Graham, clearly, has too long a tenure to be excused for careless use of language. For him to claim that the impeachment investigation is faulty because no one should be “accused” without being allowed to confront the witnesses is a shameless appeal to those who are ignorant about how Impeachment works.
Since impeachment is not a trial, Graham’s suggestion that Trump is being harmed by inability to confront witnesses is simply incorrect. If the process does come to a trial, he will, in fact, have that opportunity. As it is (as has been widely reported) he does have partisan representative in the form of Republicans sitting on the committees conducting the investigations.
Graham is going to have to face the judgment of history when this is done, and he ought to know better. It is hard for me to understand his, or his fellow R’s, willingness to sacrifice their reputations on the altar of Trump’s doomed administration.
3
Why is Yankel Rosenbaum's murder referred to as a "dispute between blacks and Jews caused by a car accident" whereas these murders were considered to be incited simply by racial hatred? I fail to see how these acts of mob violence were any more or less excusable. It should be added that anti-Jewish violence is almost a daily occurrence in this same neighborhood of Crown Heights. Where are the civil rights and anti-racist leaders? They seem pretty blase about it.
I have seen on a constant basis Rosenbaum's murder being framed using every offensive racial code phrase in the book to take the blame away from the perps and their enablers and supports, and placing the blame on the "Jewish community". Where is the outrage? This is a norm. Odd that people can object to this when it occured in 1877 Alabama but not 1991 NYC.
So by this logic, when Biden in 1998 and the dozen other democrat politicians who called Bill Clinton’s impeachment process a lynching, they were just drumming up support from their african american base? And Bill Clinton was afforded procedural fairness and the right to subpoena and cross-examine, etc. by a Republican majority. What’s going on now is worse....much worse. And because of blind partisanship, it’s all good, right?
1
S. Carolina and Alabama are the red-est of red states. Many of those people are still fighting the Civil War in their heads.
Graham is a savvy politician and knows who elected him. Besides, he has to stay on Trump's good side if he wants to play golf with the President.
2
Is it possible that the use of the "lynching" as a general expression of dismay derives from Justice Clarence Thomas, who used the expression in context with regard to the complaints of Anita Hill, which he derided? "And from my standpoint as a black American, as far as I'm concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks..." It was effective... and insensitive.
1
The L word is so loaded. It worked for Clarence Thomas. but no white person can claim to be its victim. Graham should have said he wouldn't have phrased it that way, and modeled a bit of tact for our foul-mouthed president.
1
When it comes to Trump, Lindsey Graham and the GOP are the living embodiment of the three monkeys - see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
1
I entered this column hopeful that Trump had been lynched. Now that I see it's about something else, I'm saddened.
4
What is any psychopath or even sociopath’s excuse?
Being bullied, sexually harassed, teased, maltreated? By family, neighbors, schoolmates? History, like in the history of the southern white folk committing atrocious crimes on a daily basis against other human beings with black skin?
The excellent photograph tells it all. You can easily add young Donald and Lindsey there.
The young man In the center-front is the only person who has a chance of redemption there.
1
Let's see. "(Trump's) not fit to be President of the United States." (2/17/16). "Trump has no idea what the world is actually like and is not qualified to be Commander in Chief." (8/18/15). And one more for good measure. "Any doubt left Trump is completely unhinged? His assertion Ted Cruz's father was associated with Lee Harvey Oswald should remove ALL doubt." (5/3/16)
The 180 degree change Graham has made is mind bending.
Mr. Trump knows what he’s saying; the lynching trope plays well in states like Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi in which white racists are dominant in politics and strongly support Trump. He’s reminding his racist supporters that he is the only candidate who is a racist, and that the good old boys are not likely to have another one of their own in the White House ever again.
Supposing white republican senators refuse to impeach Mr. Trump despite his obvious perpetration of numerous high crimes and misdemeanors, Mr. Trump will certainly lose the election if he does not win the white racist vote.
No way an impeachment investigation in which 44 House Republicans are participating could possibly compare to a Southern lynching; Mr. Trump’s logical motive in making the odious comparison must be appealing to his racist base. A Southern white man such as Senator Lindsey Graham knows this and of course he supports it. Senator Graham depends on the racist vote for a significant portion of his own support.
Mr. Trump has never been accused of being an honest man. What did you expect from him?
We need to bring back 'shunning', and if I see Lindsay Graham on the street, I will cross it.
3
What is even more important is that Graham was in Congress when the exact same method of initial closed door hearings took place before the Clinton impeachment.
“Yes, this is a lynching and in every sense this is un-American. I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf.”
Senator Graham may not remember any lynchings but he must remember the Clinton impeachment and the Benghazi hearings. Those started out as closed sessions with both parties represented equally. The subsequent hearings were public as the Trump impeachment hearings will be. Accusers will be confronted, witnesses friendly to the accused will be called. If he were honest Graham should have said,"Just because my party did this before, does not justify the other party doing the same thing now! After all, two wrongs don't make a right."
1
Trump has already gone down in U.S. history as The Single Worst President out of 100s.
How do we know this?
Because not one of the 100s of presidents who follow Trump could possibly rival his full measure of liabilities.
Succeeding generations will make certain of this.
2
What's happening day after day in the Trump administration is so utterly, incredibly absurd, that the Guy upstairs probably isn't crying.
He's howling.
1
Lynching was defined broadly as extrajudicial justice carried out by a mob, a mob taking custody of an offender held by legal law enforcement. It has become narrowed to mean only mob justice hangings committed by Democrats in Southern states against black folks. If accusations of deep state extra legal activities attempting to over throw a elected president prove true then that falls into the original definition of lynching...ironically once again perpetrated by Democrats.
I think we have no idea what LG really feels
he was enamored of McCain and strove to be worthy
but now he grovels for Trump's approval
is he only transactional? an opportunist?
does he know he is a hypocrite or does he not care?
(about impeachment, Benghazi)
I really have no idea at all
nor do I care- his actions are all that matter
and they are reprehensible
3
Thank you for your eloquence and thank you for taking the time and effort to remind us all that we should never forget or excuse the crimes of our shared historical experience; we should, instead, learn from them and vow to do so much better as we move forward. If we stand in silence -we are complicit in the re-victimization and bear an even greater shame. I live in the metro Detroit area. Though our history is somewhat different we have had what is close to lynching occur all too frequently here as well, and in the not-so-distant past.
2
Of course it is hypocritical and offensive to describe a duly authorized political process as lynching. I remember Clarence Thomas claiming he was the victim of a "high-tech lynching" in 1991. But with all due respect to Mr. Bouie, I believe his statistics are slightly off.
"According to the Tuskegee Institute, 4,743 people were lynched between 1882 and 1968 in the United States, including 3,446 African Americans and 1,297 whites." (Wikipedia)
Most of them were by hanging, but other means were also used. The majority of victims were men and boys, but some women were lynched, as well (presumably mostly black women).
In a way, it is good that this subject is being talked about, since we have the opportunity to remember this shameful part of America's past and remind ourselves that, yes, racism is still alive and well today.
2
There's more to Trump's lynching comment than racist trolling; it's a call for his supporters to commit violence--lynching--against their political opponents. And in fact the country just witnessed Trump's congressional storm troopers storming the House.
1
I grew up in the town in Illinois where Emmet Till lived. I lived in the white part of the town; Till obviously did not and would not have been welcome there; however, he would not have been lynched. Every time I see pictures of white southerners celebrating getting away with murder I am totally sickened. However, I can easily picture Lindsey Graham among the South Carolinians portrayed in the picture that accompanies Mr. Bouie's column. He is only reassuring his supporters that he is with them.
1
The photo at the top here. It unsettled me. No moral sobriety, no gravity. They had just been acquitted of lynching another human being. It took me a moment but I have just now finally realized what that photo reminds me of. The expressions of the faces in that photo look like the expressions on the faces at a Trump rally.
10
Let's learn a little more about our history of lynching.
Mr. Bouie didn't go into these details, though I'm sure he is all too knowledgeable about them.
Lynchings didn't always happen in the dark of night, carried out by a few masked bigots in secretive settings. No, very many lynchings were carried out as public executions in broad daylight, in town squares, with dozens and often hundreds of spectators (including children) who knew when to show up because lynchings were promoted ahead of time in newspaper ads (promoted as 'lynching bees' - Google it). Lemonade and food vendors plied their wares. Often a few black people were lynched at once. Afterward, the victim(s) where usually partially dismembered and their ears, hair, hands, etc. sold to 'collectors'.
And no, this isn't 'left-wing revisionist history', this is the *actual* truth that was whitewashed out of our history for the last 100+ years.
The actual truth about lynching and a lot more of our past as a nation is a hundred times worse than whatever 'history' practically every American learned growing up.
4
Yes, but please don’t forget that over 1200 white men were also lynched during this period, according to the Tuskegee institute. This terrible practice is alas very American and cut across race.
2
Oh. That must be because of all the black Klansmen.
Yes, about a quarter of those lynched were white—often, because they were taken as somehow helping black people escape slavery or murder.
How this justifies tossing around words like “lynching,” for political gain, I have no idea.
2
Any pro civil right votes Graham has voted for in the past were him being a politician and courting black votes. The Lindsey Graham of today is the real man. He's flying his true colors now, a white on white one.
3
@markd
Correct. Graham has staked out his place in history. 50 years from now his name will be mentioned alongside others, such as George Wallace, Jesse Helms, and David Duke.
2
I think that when all is said and done, Lindsay Graham and most of the Republican sycophants of this time are going to find themselves on the wrong side of history on a great many things. Graham should be ashamed of himself. He has essentially turned his back on John McCain, a man of character and courage whom Graham once called his best friend, by consorting with and blindly supporting Trump, one of the biggest charlatans of our time, and possibly a destroyer of our democracy. To support Trump in his irresponsible use of weighty historical phrases and the English language in general and Trump's continued insistence on his victim-hood is unforgivable. Graham and his ilk should have stepped in long ago to stop what is happening right now by nipping Trump's candidacy in the bud. Instead they have aided and abetted the destruction of the Republican Party. Shameful.
1
There once was a man named Graham
Who was deeply in love with a ham.
Together they pouted
and constantly spouted
of process infringements to ram.
3
With the death of John McCain, Senator Graham needed another powerful figure to hide behind, so he chose President Trump. Graham’s only commitment is to Power. The man has no core principles. He is the perfect Trump acolyte.
3
Trumpf has always been a soulless man. No one has ever suffered more than he has. What’s Graham’s excuse? He gave his soul to trumpf for a pittance. History will not be kind to him.
3
Graham was obviously a pretty bad lawyer. An accused confronts witnesses and reviews evidence AT TRIAL, not in the indictment stage. People are indicted without lawyers present, evidence presented or witnesses cross examined. Future defendents appear before grand juries without a lawyer.
Actually, if you want to talk process, persons of interest, and future defendants, are required to honor a sulbpoena, unlike the position of many administration officials.
9
@nub
Either a bad lawyer or a bald-faced liar.
I tend to think it's the latter.
I used to respect Senator Lindsey Graham.No more. He has totally lost his moral compass. He is the ultimate hypocrite. And he brings shame to his state and the United States Senate. Where have you gone Lindsey?
12
The word "lynching" needs to be restricted in its use to the violence against (primarily, but not exclusively) Blacks in the United States, mainly in the former Confederacy, in the same way that the word "Holocaust" needs to be restricted to the Nazi extermination of (again primarily but not exclusively) the Jews of Europe.
These must be preserved as singularities.
3
Senate Acquittal = Enabling Act
5
Lindsey is just another racist, in concurrence with Trump's malignancy spreading across the country...by them spreading misinformation, constant lies and insults, and entertainning their 'troops' emotionally, given there is no true content...other than their mantra of instilling 'fear, hate and division'. Poor USA!
5
How can you fail to mention Joe Biden’s use of the term lynching to describe the Clinton impeachment? He hurt apologized for it on Twitter, I mean after all this is not a partisan piece as you state....
1
Why go back to ancient Jim Crow South Carolina history?
When the Orangeburg South Carolina State College Massacre took place on February 8, 1968 leaving unarmed Samuel Hammond, Jr., Delano Middleton and Henry Smith lynched by white cop shooting while in college protesting a segregated bowling alley. With 38 shot and wounded including in the back and bottom of their feet.
While the Mother Emanuel AME Massacre in Charleston South Carolina occurred on June 17. 2015 killing Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Depayne Doctor, Twyanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, Sharonda Singleton and Myra Thompson.
Where was Lindsey Graham's outrage and compassion ?
Donald Trump's?
See also The Stono Rebellion and Denmark Vesey Rebellion.
5
I guess Jamelle missed the news cycles where multiple Democrats were found to have compared Clinton's impeachment to a lynching, including Biden and Nadler.
3
@CHM
Trustworthy citations please.
Lindsay Graham has shown he will say anything no matter how outrageous and offensive to common sense or decency, and promote any falsehood to protect Donald Trump and distract attention from his malevolent betrayal of the Constitution. That does not speak to a simple party or personal loyalty, but rather to a deep corruption. The most plausible reason for Lindsay Graham taking on the role of chief senate spokesman for lies and criminality is that he has been bought, however revolting that sounds. We should hope that investigations won't stop at Trump, but that Graham is also made to pay for not simply enabling but actively promoting Russia's and Trump's agenda to divide and weaken the country and the rule of law.
The photo at the top of the column here--of the 28 men celebrating their acquittal--really got to me. I was well aware of our own appalling history of lynching. If asked, I would have guessed that Graham's own particular corner of South Carolina played a role in it. That photo, though. The looks on those people's faces. There is no moral sobriety there, no gravity. We could be at a baseball game, a church picnic. There is no sign at all that they think of the lynching victim as a human being.
7
I find that we limit the scope of these words to just the afro-american experience insulting.
One of my relatives ( an Italian ) was lynched in new Orleans in the 1890's. It is often considered largest single mass lynching in U.S. history. It's not something we discuss often as a family, There has been plenty of injustice to go around, and I wish these black authors could be more careful to not exclude other victims.
6
@springtime
FYI, there were 11 Italian immigrants lynched in New Orleans in 1892 for allegedly conspiring to assassinate the city's police chief.
In 1862 in the aftermath of the Dakota War, 32 Native Americans were lynched at Mankato, Minnesota for alleged war crimes.
1
Yesterday we received this news with joy, being pet owners and having lived with animals all our lives. Very swiftly our joy dissolved as we realized here in America, historically humans were treated worse than animals. It’s both heart wrenching gut wrenching to read and learn about the history of slaves, the maltreatment of natives just because white man somehow thought he was a superior species. Some white men still think that way..Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, Donald Trump and Lindsay Graham.
“https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5db13560e4b0131fa99989b4
House Unanimously Passes Bipartisan Bill Outlawing Animal Cruelty”
3
Thank God Senator Lindsey Graham listened to the threats of his white racist supporters and Fox News and chose to be politically correct and and skipped Elijah Cumming’s memorial services. His poisonous presence, anyway would have been a fiasco. By choosing to not properly acknowledge, ignore, distance himself from the legacy of the great Elijah Cummings, Graham remained politically viable for Trump.
Remember how John McCain’s family struggled greatly during his funeral to find an appropriate place to position the hypocritical, two-faced Graham? In the end the McCain family took away Graham’s great privilege and honor of delivering the late Senator’s eulogy, instead regulating him to the sidelines, even though Graham was supposedly his best friend. Oh how does a convenient alliance with Trump jeopardize the most sacred of life’s rituals. Lindsey Graham denied himself the opportunity to exercise a spiritual work of mercy for cheap political points. Sad.
5
"Which is why I was not shocked when he condemned the House impeachment inquiry as a “lynching” earlier this week."
Nor was I.
After all, when AOC and many progressives described the detention facilities for illegal immigrants on the US-Mexican border as "concentration camps" or "death camps," and ICE agents as "Nazis," as a Jew, it was just another day of ignorant, hateful and hurtful comparisons .
But what also did not "shock" was the lack of condemnation by the Black congressional caucus, or similar African American organizations.
Because out of all American ethnic groups, who should know better about the hurt caused by watering down a loaded term like "lynching" or "concentration camps" or "Nazis" than African Americans?
So, Lindsay Graham has no excuse.
And neither do you, Mr. Bouie.
3
I couldn't care less what Trump says. The man is a racist, misogynist, white supremacist, liar, and the list goes on. If Trump says anything there a better than odds chance that it is going to be a lie.
I am sorry that so many people of color have been treated badly. Lynching is a terrible thing but it is not a word owned by people of color. You can not own it.
According to dictionary.com
"Lynch verb (used with object)
1. to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.
Word origin for Lynch: probably after Charles Lynch (1736–96), Virginia justice of the peace, who presided over extralegal trials of Tories during the American War of Independence."
It has always been illegal in the USA because it circumvents the law of the land.
I am sure that it sparks fear in quite a few people living in the south. Just as rape sparks fear in women, however women don't own that word because men are also raped.
Lynch, Lynched, Lynching is not a word that any ethnicity can own because it has been used on people from ever ethnicity.
3
It’s fine to consider a dictionary definition, but I consider how the term has been used in the US ever since the Civil War.
1
The inventers of identity politics are the racists who use identities to dehumanize others so they can attack them and steal from them, often using police powers.
Then after their done calling their victims "snowflakes" for fighting back, they act as if they are oppressed, because they have lost what they consider their god given right to oppress others.
Far too often Democrats take on the twisted language of the Right, repeating it as if the definitions have not been turned upside down, and the aggressors trasmorphed into victims.
Every time the Right utters a sentence, parse it. Look for how the definitions are twisted, how up becomes down, and how they make lies sound reasonable.
Trump has spent fifty years communicating with white supremacists with plausible deniability in code.
Look for the blatant hypocrisy of those that believe they have the right to do whatever they want, while claiming your rights are a threat to their way of life.
Democrats, stop helping the Right win, by adopting their language.
Trump keeps calling on his supporters in and out of government to attack citizens without due process. Political violence by private citizens, like the KKK, is domestic terror. Violence by law enforcement that ignores due process, is state terror. Both are against the plain meaning of the Constitution.
Their president is literally calling for actual lynchings while complaining about his metaphorical lynching. It's not an appropriate metaphor in any sense.
3
While I don't agree that Donald Trump is literally being lynched, the use of the term in a figurative manner is not off-base.
I will say that its highly presumptuous of the African American community to exclusively co-opt the term. Extrajudicial punishments are as old as human civilization, and are in no way exclusive to the African American experience in America.
38
@Chris No "extrajudicial judgement" has happened here.
The Democratic and Republican representatives on the committee are conducting a preliminary fact finding investigation that is being held behind closed doors to insure that witnesses are not cross referencing. Just like in a court case pre-trial depositions are not held in public. There will be public hearings to follow before the House can even decide to move the case to the Senate which is the only place where final judgements can be made and punishment meted out.
163
@Chris The use of the term in any manner here is completely off base. The House of Representatives is carrying out it's constitutional role in accordance with procedures created by the Republican majority in 2015. Some 3 dozen Republican members sit on the committees conducting this investigation and have full access to the testimony and the same rights during depositions as Democratic members. If and when articles of impeachment are voted out of committee, Republican members will have an opportunity to debate the merits of those articles in public on the House floor. If and when the House approves articles of impeachment, Trump will have an opportunity to present a public defense in his Senate trial, including the opportunity to cross examine adverse witnesses, to call friendly witnesses and, if he wishes, to testify on his own behalf. All of which is a long way of saying that this comports with the requirements of due process, making it the exact opposite of a lynching.
133
@Chris
Don't be so pedantic. Everyone knows that when you use the phrase "lynching" in America you are not referring to some unspecified "extrajudicial punishment" that happened long ago in some other society. You are referring to a specific horror that routinely happened to black people in America as little as a few decades ago. I'd say the black community in the US has more than earned the right to appropriate the term.
And until idiotic white men like Trump and Graham come to grips with the horrors of the past they really ought not to make light of the term by flippantly using it to paint them,selves as victims.
167
I think there is something else going on here. A common explanation for Graham's transformation from pal of McCain to Trump sycophant is his fear of being primary-ed and losing his Senate seat if he strays from the party line.
What's actually going on is that he sees Trump as the flawed manifestation of the Republican future and that he is positioning himself as the "rational, less off-the-rails" white Christian nationalist, anti-immigration candidate in the 2024 presidential election. What he doesn't realize is that the craziness is the attraction and not the flaw.
6
This is one of the many reasons for term limits. Lindsey Graham and his ilk will say and do anything to stay in power—even selling their soul to Donald Trump. Graham surely does know how inflammatory this word is and he’s not necessarily saying it because he believes it; he wants to demonstrate his devotion to his master. His hypocrisy knows no bounds and he doesn’t care as long as the base thinks he’s defending Trump.
3
Lindsey Graham is a fraud and a disgrace. I have friends in South Carolina who voted for him believing that he was a moderate Republican and that supporting him was the best way to prevent a Tea Party candidate from winning. Now they realize to their horror that it was all an act and that he is the greater evil they were trying to prevent. I had never had much faith in "moderate" Republicans, but they did--they wanted to meet them halfway--and now the Republican party has shown them its true colors.
5
Well written commentary though I don’t know if Trump is so much as ignorant as he is narcissistic. One of the hallmarks if Narcissism is a lack of empathy- he doesn’t care! He is not able to feel empathy or compassion. He uses inflammatory speech to divide and to in his mind conquer.
I have to believe that there are still more of us that care about building a stronger compassionate society. We must come together to defeat this poison called “Trumpism”
3
Graham got by using the reflected light of McCain and others to conceal his true character. At his core, he has no integrity or sense of decency. It's too bad he's been able to fool so many people into voting for him instead of someone who wanted to do the work they need so badly. Next time I hope they apply some standards.
6
Kathy -- spot on.
1
Trump is a master of distraction, and it’s so sad to see how easily the democrats and liberals fall for it every time. Why don’t they get it by now? The republicans certainly do, and they have used this to their advantage against outraged reactionaries, political opponents, and media pundits who feel they must answer to each and every idiotic statement that comes out of Trump’s mouth. His latest statement about how the impeachment inquiry to a lynching just is the obvious latest example. By deliberately throwing out poisonous and inflammatory words, he has distracted the public’s attention away from the basis and reasons for the inquiry itself, thereby changing the narrative from the web of corruption and abuse of power in his family and associates to his racism. This is no accident. I also believe that his pulling the troops out of Syria is another attempt to distract the public from the impeachment inquiry and his personal scandals. By now it should be clear that there is no treet too vile and no move too insane for Trump, but this has actually worked in his favor, crazy as that is.
3
American political hypocrisy is what has undermined our political system. It’s given each party the excuse ‘what about them’ or ‘both sides do it’ or the electorate cries ‘both parties are corrupt’. All the grandstanding, all the pontification of values, ethics, good citizenship, no wonder electorate apathy runs high, and politicians can survive speaking out of both sides of their mouths.
1
@Michael Piscopiello This is not a "both parties do it" situation. Please think more critically and don't trot out the false equivalency platitude so quickly
Mr. Bouie — Lindsey Graham would say up is down; the sky is pink polka dot; and the sun rises in the west if Trump also said those things. We really can’t — and shouldn’t — expect anything different from a man who has constantly shown that he will gladly debase and embarrass himself in the service of his master.
Some may see it as deep loyalty. I see it as feckless, blind toadyism and cowardice.
10
Trump is clearly deeply mentally ill.
But Graham is just an ambitious man with no moral compass, no character or decency and no commitment to his constitutional oath.
Sadly, he is fairly representative of what a Republican Senator or Congressman looks like today.
14
I respectfully disagree that Trump doesn't understand the history of lynching in word and deed. I think he knows full well the meaning of lynching, and purposefully used the word to communicate with his voting cohort of whites.
5
LAST BREATH
It’s already behind him. Every breath he has taken since selling his conscience to Donald Trump has been the breath of a living corpse. Lindsey Graham is now a zombie of conscience. It’s one thing to be a zombie who couldn’t get away and has now forgotten what it was like to be a human being. But to CHOOSE to be a zombie? To CHOOSE to be among the living dead? And for what, to be called “Senator” and wield the power of being a senator? But what good the title and what good the power if the title and the power are misused? What good the pursuit of significance if your legacy is shame? What good the Faustian bargain if all it gets you is the fame of being the poster child for spineless venal hypocrisy in the service of mendacious corruption stamped forevermore to the annals of history?
Well, Lindsey, was it worth it?
1
As grotesque as the whole echo chamber of Trump apologists and enablers has been, I see Lindsey Graham as a special case.
Special not only because of his 180-degree turn on a dime from reasoned critic to mindless cheerleader of Trump's indefensible behaviors, but because he must know that his current spewings will mark him on the far side of the wrong side of history - a coward, an accomplice, a villain.
It is quite literally inconceivable that Graham could be behaving in this fashion in the absence of blackmail. At first I assumed that what Trumputin&Co had on him was either sexual (e.g., pederasty) or perhaps racial in nature. But I would be surprised if mere threat of public ruination would be enough to suborn Graham to this truly remarkable extent. He is self-ruining as he must know it.
So my best guess is that it involves $$$ and is bad enough to put him in prison for a long stretch. If that seems crazy, weigh it against the incomprehensibility of Graham's current behavior and ask which is crazier.
Graham could approach the end of his career acting with integrity, seeing Donald Trump for who he really is (you know, his actual view before Trump was elected), or he could act in total subserviance to Trump to preserve his senate seat. It's pretty clear the choice he's made.
Thank you, Jamelle. That bullet-riddled sign in Mississippi is a useful instrument, as it brings out and makes visible the monstrous racism that still exists in the US. The only connection between that sign and the President is that he, too, is a useful tool by which we can locate those who, by so twistedly defending him, would riddle our laws and values and Constitution with holes.
1
Well, it worked just fine for Clarence Thomas, so I don't see why Trump shouldn't do it.
1
Thank you Mr. Bouie. Your column is really about the voters of South Carolina -- that's why Graham has his outsized platform to make a fool of himself.
I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on those voters.
4
This is the first time I have seen a picture of the markers representing the victims of lynching in Alabama. It is very powerful and I am moved. I will be looking this up as I am affected just by the image of a vertical slab of concrete hanging as though they are an effigy. Brilliant
Lindsey Graham; want to admire and respect a man who steps in to raise siblings after his parent's deaths and then serves our country with honor. Where has your honor gone Lindsey? Throwing it all away just so you can be buddies with Trump? He picks up when you call? I'm sorry but if I was so desperate for a man's attention it's time to look inward and ask if he is worth it. Hint- he's not.
2
There is a challenger to Lindsey Graham's senate seat. Time for all of us to help his challenger win the 2020 election in South Carolina.
3
The bigotry, hate and small mindedness that resulted in the murder of many black citizens in the post-Civil War period still exists today. Take a look at one of trump's pep-rallies, you will see it on frightening display right there. When they shout MAGA I wonder if this is the America they want "again"?
2
Lindsey Graham has been like a political chameleon throughout his golden boy form South Carolina career. He is ready to adapt his rhetoric to the political flavor of the day that will give him the greatest vocalization opportunities and sense of power. Remember the many rants directed against Trump out of his mouth during the 2016 primary. Today he's Trump's impeachment attack lap dog. Remember the days when a more youthful Graham gesticulated and frothed at the mouth about then President Clinton's sexual dalliances. He took to the microphone and demanded the impeachment of Clinton for the moral decay he had bought upon the office of the presidency. That was then and this is now. Apparently Lindsey likes a healthy dollop of moral decay mixed in with a dose of racism in his president these days.
3
There's a book called The Ox Bow Incident. It was made into a movie. White people get lynched in it. It was a popular form of justice in America's the frontier for punishing the accused. I understand the difference in motivation and racism played a part but black people don't own the experience or the word.
Can we all agree that henceforth we refrain from using the title 'President' to describe Trump? He is no more a president than the average third-rate criminal. 'Victim' works fine, or 'traitor' can suffice. But a 'president' he is not, nor ever will be.
1
Obviously for the current Man to say he is being “lynched” and for Graham today it is “a lynching in every sense” are preposterous, and overtly manipulative falsehoods, deliberately insulting to black Americans.
The question is whether ‘lynching’ can be used metaphorically, ever. My answer: Maybe, under artistic or informal circumstances, but certainly not in official communication. To be lynched is to be killed, murdered extrajudicially, by a group of persons. To say, in an official statement, that one is being “lynched” is more than exaggeration, it is harmful and denigrating to the memory of people who have been lynched in reality, and to their families. It is unacceptable discourse, and must be condemned.
Author is incorrect in saying putrm does not think deeply. putrm is in fact extremely well studied in matter of mass movements and propaganda to the point it has been internalized.
1
What does Graham's statement indicate about the people of South Carolina who have elected Graham? Can't they find a better Republican to represent them? Evidently, the majority of South Carolinians find Graham's and Trump's trivialization of lynching acceptable.
1
The best question to ask about Lindsey Graham is who bought and owns him? His being slavish boot-licker of Trump makes it clear that he is not acting in his own best interests, and certainly not in the best interests of his constituents..
1
Beautifully done. Thank you.
I don't disagree with a single word that Bouie --my favorite oped columnist-- writes, but we have to take note of the nefarious role played by Clarence Thomas in cheapening and trivializing the word. If he could make such a complaint, then why not any other Republican. That's what Graham may have subconsciously remembered.
2
It has been instructive for this white person, originally from the border state of Maryland, to learn how fraught the term lynching is among black Americans. While I was aware of disgraceful history of lynching of blacks in the South as a means of terror and oppression, I was unaware until this week how much the term resonates today. Thank you to all who have instructed me on this point.
"And to a man who can’t see beyond his own ego, “lynching” must feel like an apt analogy for the scrutiny "
Remember that this also was true for current Supreme Court "Justice" Clarence Thomas, who called legitimate questions about his sexual harassment of Anita Hill "a high-tech lynching,"
1
Graham is up for reelection next year. If South Carolina sends him back to the Senate, then his hateful racism is merely a reflection of the majority of voters in the state he apparently represents. All eyes are on them.
Lock him up? Maybe not.
Vote him out? Most definitely.
1
Assuming that the Secret Service -- and trump's sure cowardice in any case -- preclude any opportunity I might otherwise have had to realize my wish to 'beat the daylights' out of 'our' president, in a fair fight and using only my 70YO self and my 70YO body parts, I would be almost as pleased to 'give my best' ('in that same vein') to lyndsey graham -- while hoping that matt gaetz would be present, 'possessed' of the nerve to call "Next," and making that 'call.'
Does Mr. Bouie have any problem with Joe Biden using the same word during Bill Clinton's impeachment. Which by the way was does in open door committees with due process?
1
Mr Jamelle Bouie's compellingly electrifying, sophisticatedly delivered, and convincingly expressed Opinion, excoriating and condemning the desperately invoked political usurpation of the term lynching to curry victimhood, is dead on point. The Vietnam War draft dodger's opportunistic appropriation of the term is purely self serving, subliminally broadcasting to the base that a vicious mob is out to string him up, metaphorically speaking, and self preservation and protection is needed, now. Lindsey Graham, the successor to the very Senate seat held by Strom Thurmond, the extreme racist, ultra rabid, arch segregationist who still holds the record for the longest filibuster in history, viciously assaulting federal civil rights legislation, is apt to follow suit with projecting racial hyperbole and fomenting racial internecine.
Lynching, whose racialized meaning, connotation, and interpretation is solely and exclusively reserved to describe a violent chapter of Jim Crow America that savaged, murdered, and destroyed Black American lives through mob violence, simply for advocating their rights as citizens. The use of the term by the draft dodger and Graham in their vitriol is patently obvious: "we" must be saved from the impeachment process "they" allege is illegal and improper. Due process must be accorded with commensurate protective measures. The racial dynamics associated with this semantical employment of lynching is misplaced and wrong. Graham knows better. Race matters.
I think it's time to uncover the gigantic elephant in the room: Exactly how many private investigators did the trump organization hire to dig up dirt on gop representatives and Barr and the rest who, daily, risk any previous "exemplary" reputations in defense, not of our Republic or it's Constitution, but in defense of one man and one man only? Get busy NYT reporters, WaPo, and anyone else listening. Is what I'm suggesting really that far fetched?
1
Trump's supporters are the descendants of folks like those photographed. I don't understand why the media fail to make that connection but instead admonish the rest of us for denigrating the hateful, backward, violent ways of these so-called real Americans.
1
Is it OK that Biden, Nadler and other Dems used this word when complaining about Clinton's impeachment? Was "lynching" a dog whistle then if it is now as some say? With all due respect, I know that so many African-Americans suffered from this terrible injustice. But know that many others did too including Italian Americans, Irish Americans, Jews as well as those lynched in the lawless 19th century West. African-Americans don't own this word nor can they co-opt it. It was a word that was used figuratively, not literally by Trump. It was used by Clarence Thomas and with full justification when he was hammered by Senators Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy.
1
Graham supports and cozies up to Trump because he wants to be appointed Attorney General while Trump still has the power to appoint him.
The photo that accompanies this article is chilling! The smiles on these inhumane men is evil. When the Republican president used the word “lynching” to describe the legal and the Constitutional duty of Congress to hold a criminal president accountable, I was disgusted!
It’s simple obscene for the Republican president to use this term, in order to curry pity from his supporters!
And the Republicans are silent. Disgusting!
3
That picture was 6 years and a couple of months before I was born in VT. Even as a northern state it was not without the N word being used in a derogatory manner. I had my epiphany when we vacationed in Boston in 1961, and I yelled out the window of the back seat, "hey dad, there's a n_____r!" To which my father quickly pulled the car over and began to beat me. Apparently it was not to be used in mixed company. What I did notice was the word was used much less frequent in our household. By the time I attended HS in Burlington, African-Americans were my classmates and friends. It still strikes me as amazing how 0.03% of DNA can be so separating in our society. I'm sure I have benefitted all my life because of my skin color, I am aware of little of it.
2
That picture was 6 years and a couple of months before I was born in VT. Even as a northern state it was not without the N word being used in a derogatory manner. I had my epiphany when we vacationed in Boston in 1961, and I yelled out the window of the back seat, "hey dad, there's a n_____r!" To which my father quickly pulled the car over and began to beat me. Apparently it was not to be used in mixed company. What I did notice was the word was used much less frequent in our household. By the time I attended HS in Burlington, African-Americans were my classmates and friends. It still strikes me as amazing how 0.03% of DNA can be so separating in our society. I'm sure I have benefitted all my life because of my skin color, I am aware of little of it.
Lindsey Graham's remarks are a sad reminder that, as the southern author William Faulkner said, "The past is not dead. It's not even past."
Lindsey Graham should have more respect for our Country and the history of the state he represents. He should not be repeating a word as emotionally and historically "loaded" as "lynching."
I have sometimes thought that Mr. Graham and some of his former and current colleagues (Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney, Devin Nunes, et al)) would benefit from anger management counseling. They are not likely to do this, so I guess I will just have to "Get used to it!"
5
A lynching is a process of someone becoming judge, jury and executioner, all outside of the judicial process. "Due process" involves a police investigation (almost always done with no right AT THAT POINT of confronting accusers). Then it usually involves a grand jury proceeding, which is secret and in which the accused cannot necessarily hear the witnesses or call his own witnesses (by the way, President Trump refuses to testify or to allow testimony). Then it usually involves an indictment or no indictment after the grand jury proceeding. As I understand it, the House plans to finish its initial investigation and then hold public hearings before impeaching (indicting) the President or refusing to impeach. The right to confront accusers will come in the Senate, at trial, even if not at the last stage of House proceedings.
If President Trump believes that secret grand jury proceedings violate due process, he should empty most of our prisons to free those convicted after a full trial after those secret proceedings.
8
Great article. Well done. What has happened to Lindsey Graham?
It's a sad day for democracy when leaders like Graham who know better do what they do anyway.
4
@Dawn Bejar — I wouldn’t call Graham a leader. He’s more a follower who can’t stand up for himself in the presence of “stronger” men. That explains his about-face with his behavior with regard to Trump and John McCain. It’s like the weaker kid joining up with a bully, thinking it will mean having an “in” with the cooler crowd, as well as a way to improve his stature with his peers. It’s weak, unbecoming, and shows no moral conviction or fortitude, nor self-esteem.
I would expect nothing else from Graham here. He doesn’t dare cross the man who’s keeping him relevant and in the public eye.
I think Lindsay Graham is positioning himself to be Trump's "successor" and run for president either in 2020 or 2024.
5
He’s positioning himself for something and it’s no good.
dukerwt -- run for president … or run for despot?
1
Lindsey Graham is just a slippery character and a brown-noser. He went from a never Trumper during the 2016 election to become Trump's defender in chief. He does not want to lose Trump's base in the next senatorial election. The fact that Graham is courting Trump's base says a lot about him and the citizens of South Carolina. Trump has no sense of history and he appears not to care. The world knows that Trump only cares about Trump.
9
Can anyone deny this?
"The reason to condemn Trump and Graham for their “lynching” remarks is not to score a partisan point or because it will make a difference in their language or behavior. It’s because we haven’t actually resolved the trauma of the past. Historical spaces are still contested. The scars are still present."
I didn't think so. Thank you Jamelle Bouie.
5
Lindsey Graham is fascinated by the sound of his own voice.
He thinks he's very smart, that he can say just about anything and nobody can trap him...he's just too clever.
He likes to ride in the slip stream of a Big Man/Protector...John McCain for years and now Trump. I'm sure he has Sheldon Adelson's private number, to share inside stuff.
They say "pride goeth before the fall." Lindsey's day is coming. Its
just a matter of time.
There's no there, there.
7
Thank you, Mr. Bouie. Lindsey Graham is a weak person who needs someone else to guide him. When that person was John McCain, Senator Graham stayed more or less within mainstream boundaries. That person now is Donald Trump. So we see what we see and hear what we hear. Given that Donald Trump doesn't care about the historical record, neither will Lindsey Graham.
7
Under law in many states, any murder carried out by three or more person qualifies as lynchings. But most Americans think of lynchings as mob violence against African Americans suspected but not convicted of crimes or simply for breaking social taboos. The reason is that the NAACP enumerated only lynchings of black persons or whites who stood up for black civil rights. But thousands of whites suspected of crimes have also been lynched without benefit of trial.
Today, Americans also apply the term lynching to any proceeding in which due process is ignored. President Trump refers to the House impeachment inquiry as a lynching because the House has not voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry and because subpoenaed witnesses or prohibited from having their attorneys present during their testimony. This is hyperbole, of course, but it is common usage.
3
Lynching is defined as shown below. It refers only to a lack of due process when a murder is committed and to no other process (for instance, an impeachment inquiry). Using that term to refer to anything other than murder by a mob is incorrect at best and abhorrent at worst (such as what Trump and Graham have done).
lynch verb
\ ˈlinch \
lynched; lynching; lynches
Definition of lynch
transitive verb
: to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal approval or permission
The accused killer was lynched by an angry mob.
You refute your own comment in the first paragraph. Yes, most Americans associate the word “lynching” with a mob of bigoted whites murdering an innocent African-American. For this reason alone, Trump’s and Graham’s lynching comments are abhorrent!
I think that Ambassador Susan Rice was right about Lindsay Graham - in every sense of the word (that she used).
3
As you rightly point out, Trump uses these highly emotive words to try and shock his followers into believing in the “injustices” to which he is being subjected by his detractors. The ironical part of it is when he accuses in startling fashion, that the CNN and others provide fake news. Is that not a “lynching “ of the media who calmly go about their business ignoring this regular slander. If Trump can be honest to himself for a few minutes he should watch real life lynchings that I have seen on TV happen in India during the past two years. Believe you me it is shattering even to watch. My deepest fear is that despite the evidence against him, the Senate may not wish to play ball giving him an undeserved reprieve.
There are so many words in the English language to portray himself, the President, Wealthy, as a poor powerless victim. But he didn't he has chosen "lynching". "Witch Hunt". Maybe witlessly in a fit of entitlement - but I don't buy that.
Lynching and witch hunts were horrific acts. They weren't metaphors. They weren't proverbial. Lynchings were brutal and many witch hunts ended in executions.
His using lynching to express how badly he is treated is the ultimate extension of the statement 'When You're Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression'.
2
Graham teeter on the edge of Trump's wrath by condemning Trump's fool in allowing Turkey to invade the Kurdish enclave in Syria.
He is mending fences so Trump does not endorse a rival Republican in a primary fight for Little Lindsey's Senate seat.
In Trump country he is much more liked than the other elected officials and they cross him at their peril.
It is fear that motivates them.
This is a Freudian slip.
The president is merely using the term that describes what his keenest acolytes miss about 1950, and want to recreate now in their 'made great' America. The photo is haunting. Same expressions will be observed today.
2
As I look at the picture at the beginning of Mr. Bouie's opinion piece I am drawn to the faces of those in the crowded courtroom who were not on trial. These people were probably family, friends and citizens of the county where the trial took place. I wonder how many of them were appalled by the decision in the case? I wonder how many knew those on trial had committed the crime and sat in silence? I wonder how many had the courage to speak out against this horror, even behind closed doors? I wonder how many believed that what was done was righteous and good because of the decades of degradation and dehumanization of African Americans?
Today, I see thousands of supporters of our president at his rallies and I listen to many of those supporters being interviewed and cannot help but to see some long thread and connection to the people in the courtroom who witnessed and gave tacit approval to the nightmarish result.
The thread may be long and connected to a distant past but it's still there.
13
In addition to his blatant racism and historical tone-deafness, Graham is also knowingly lying about the law.
"I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf.” (as an aside, also notice the word 'misconduct' instead of saying 'crime', seemingly in some vain attempt to paint what Trump has done as mere 'misconduct')
In the process of impeachment, the House plays the role of a grand jury voting to hand down an indictment or not, while the Senate plays the role of the actual trial jury, voting on actual conviction and removal.
As a lawyer, and a sitting Senator, Graham is fully cognizant of this, and as a lawyer he also knows that in a grand jury, the accused absolutely does NOT have the right to face their accuser(s).
No that will happen when (or if) there is a trial in the Senate and Trump will finally have the opportunity to sit in a witness chair and answer his accusers questions. An opportunity he may say he relishes but should be and likely is scared to death of. The same can be said for the GOP as a whole.
10
"I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf.”
I would also bet that during his lifetime and as a lawyer he has never seen a situation in which the accused could confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf during a grand jury investigation, which an impeachment investigation is, in effect. Trump and his minions, enablers and apologists are trying to mislead the public about the nature of the proceedings in order to obstruct their progress and discredit their findings in advance. Trump's defenders will have ample opportunity to confront his accusers and present witnesses on his behalf during the trial - an opportunity the lynching victim's in Graham's home state never had.
10
He has only been a politician, what else does he know? He is from SC and they worship Trump , so he has to worship to stay in office. Its simple, people in these rural areas have accepted the Trump "kool aid" and Graham and others must also drink or be removed. To be removed is to lose all semblance of who they think they are, its removal of self and they cannot live with that.
Who would people like Graham and Mc Connell be if they were just citizens?
4
If the infant Donald Trump had been left in the forest to fend for himself he might well have become a far better person than he is today. I have been waiting for more information about his early life to try to better understand him and today what little I have learned fell into place. His father was apparently a sadist who made the lives of the Trump boys utterly miserable by demeaning them at every turn. Eventually one son succumbed to alcoholism and the other went on to become our president but a president so completely void of a sense of realistic self value that even the most ridiculous praise was insufficient to momentarily allow him to enter the world of reality. What there is of reality in his life exists only around the margins. I do not wish to excuse but to offer a possible explanation. Perhaps if we can understand him better we can also understand ourselves better
If we can understand Donald better perhaps we can try to extend our understanding to those who support him. Both his supporters in and outside of government may have personal scars that resonate with what they see in him.
7
I wonder why his family chose to send him to military school? Has this ever been explained?
Trump and acolytes like Graham aren’t using the word “lynching” out of ignorance of its historic meaning, but because of it. They are consciously, deliberately, invoking two frames simultaneously, aimed at two audiences.
First, to a broad audience, Trump invokes the frame of a violent mob act of vengeance lacking due process of law. In doing this, Trump is trying to poison public opinion against his impeachment, and those conducting it, by invoking the revulsion most people today associate with lynching.
Second, to a narrower audience, Trump invokes the frame of being the target of denigration and humiliation in the manner inflicted not only on African Americans, but Native Americans, Italian immigrants, and other vilified groups. This is a silent, invisible dog whistle to Trump’s white supremacist followers, who understand all too well the long history of the practice. It is intended to incite their race rage against treatment of him beneath the lofty level he and they believe himself innately due. It is easy to see Stephen Miller’s shadowy hand in this messaging.
Trump and Graham don’t need to be educated about use of this word, but outed and castigated for it. We must not view them as merely stupid and ignorant. We must look for the craft underlying what they do and say, and understand it not thru the lens of our own world view, but through theirs. While much of what Trump says is purely ridiculous, much is also coldly calculating. We ignore that at our peril.
6
Mark the words of politicians in these final days of Trump’s comeuppance— such words reveal integrity or moral cowardice.
2
'Lynching' is a hot button word, chosen on purpose. Same as 'Holocaust'. it may have another meaning, it was meant at the very least, both ways.
1
Interesting that Lindsey Graham, on the Daily Show aired March 23, 2016, endorsed Ted Cruz and had plenty of disparaging comments about Donald Trump. Graham clearly states that his party is screwed up, yet at this point in time he is one of the worst offenders. Hypocrisy at its finest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPOOXp3S2UI
5
Lindsay Graham is a total disgrace to the nation, he is a coward who just kisses up to trump who is a narcissist...Period
5
I want to ask Lindsey: what are you so afraid of?
When Democrats called Clinton’s impeachment a lynching, was that a problem? Or does this problem only arise when Republicans use the term?
2
Apparently what you say is true. So both parties are guilty of abhorrent behavior. But the Democrats past behavior doesn’t excuse Trump or Graham.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/22/least-house-democrats-called-bill-clintons-impeachment-lynching/?outputType=amp
Please! It wasn’t Democrats, it was ONE, Democrat Joe Biden and he has apologized! Two wrongs don’t make a right!
2
@George It is true that some Democrats referred to the impeachment of President Clinton as a "lynching". However, time has moved on and the country as a whole has become more aware of the heavy weight and ugly history of this word. That the president of the United States and a senior senator from the South should now use it in this way is inexcusable.
Excellent analysis, excellent questions, and thank you for exposing the responsibility that every citizen, and in particular our leaders, must have and must own in order to count themselves as a responsible elected official. Lindsey Graham is an enigma as a human being. He is not alone, however. And there is a sadness and a darkness and a meanness that is growing in America. It is a "head-scratcher" in need of explanation by informed journalists like you. Please keep informing. Thank you.
2
As it relates to Senator Graham's character, I concur with Susan Rice's assessment.
5
Look at the stunt the Republicans pulled the other day where they stormed the impeachment hearings. They don't know history, they act like bullies, they mock and scowl, all like a bunch of uneducated, inexperienced junior high kids. They whimper, blame, and point fingers if they're caught doing something they shouldn't, just like kids who aren't raised right. Their leader is the biggest crybaby of them all.
The problem is, we have a bunch of wealthy, power-hungry bullying twelve-year-olds running the country.
7
Being an obnoxious human being as Donald Trump is, is not a crime even when he is president. Being a man with no moral compass , lying to the American people every day is actually not a crime, even when it is done with the same odious quality that accompanies everything out of Trump’s mouth . Being a cheat using mafia tactics to destroy people as he learned from Roy Cohn it’s also not necessarily an impeachable offense as long as he does not break the law.
But using his own office to procure special favors for his own personal or political gain in exchange for jeopardizing our national security is not only impeachable but it is a crime and it is a crime that he will be answerable to regardless of how many arrogant and clueless Republicans there are in the Senate.
Al Capone was finally arrested for tax evasion, Donald Trump who is probably not any more of a moral individual than Capone himself will also go down not because of the things people justifiably hate him for, but because he has no understanding or knowledge of the rule of law. And in this particular ignorance will be his downfall.
6
The photograph says it all. Today that crowd might not lynch anyone, particularly a black person altho Sandra Bland was lynched as was the poor man from Jasper dragged behind a truck until he died not so long ago, but they remind me of present Trump rallies with grins and shouts of hurrah on the faces of these good folk, many of whom surely head to church on a Sunday. Hats askew, pleased at their power, it is a reminder of a time not so long ago. Lindsey's from the area or town of Center where this took place. There's no possible way a white/caucasian/ could know the fear from these ignoble and illegal actions. From his great distance from the Middle East today Trump can talk about blood on sand in the same dismissive way he and Lindsey discuss lynching.
1
@Katalina Sandra Bland committed suicide in a jail cell.
Graham is about as turncoat to the sense of human decency, personal character and integrity as one can get. A true sycophant, he moves with the wind that best assures his political position. If it involves using the word 'lynching' in order to please his master, so be it. He is but another one of the Republicans in Congress who have been showing their true colors for the last 2 years. He cares nothing for the Nation he works for, only that power and wealth remain his for the taking, and he'll do whatever he has to. There was a time when Republicans were respectable, and the souls of Lincoln, Ted Roosevelt and Eisenhower are likely in deep shock.
4
Trump, Graham, and the rest of the Senate and House Republicans (and perhaps a few Democrats) need to pay a visit to the Montgomery memorial. If they're too "busy" invading closed congressional hears, the least they could do is visit the African American Museum in Washington.
2
I think it is terrible that Trump and Graham compared the current impeachment inquiry to a lynching. It was also terrible when Biden and a number of other Democrats compared the Clinton impeachment process to a lynching. Hypocrisy knows no party affiliation.
It was different when Clarence Thomas referred to his confirmation hearing as a “high tech lynching” because he was implying that he was a victim of racism.
Thanks, Mr. Bouie--
Some lies are worse than others. This one about lynching is particularly bad in that it denies the reality of what our Black citizens experienced (I expect that everyone felt the fear and danger just in living, even if they weren't personally lynched), in an effort to drum up sympathy for a person who certainly would have been in the audience of a lynching if he'd had the chance. I'm glad you reminded Senator Graham of the reality that took place in his own state in a way that he can't ignore. The puzzle is why someone who is not an idiot or inherently corrupt (at least I don't think he is) supports this evil president and is willing to lie himself in that defense.
1
I don’t recall that the African-American community holds a copyright monopoly on the term “lynching”. If they aspired to, then they should share it with the Scots (see William Wallace era, under the English yoke), or the Irish (ibid). Or how about Cambodia under Pol Pot, or the millions of Chinese who were liquidated under Mao? And didn’t I read where Joe Biden used the word when describing President Clinton’s impeachment ordeal, without the media’s opprobrium now reserved for Trump?
1
I know! Those selfish African-Americans claiming that word all for their own! But seriously, the victims of murder you mention are from other countries. Lynching in this country was by far an evil perpetrated by whites on blacks.
Powerful column Mr. Bouie. I had to look at the photo for some time before reading.
White people simply cannot grasp the intense meaning and ramifications of some words. White politicians are ten times worse. Clueless in the extreme.
They fight with words for transient popular favor. They have no concept of what it means to loose your life at the hands of an angry mob.
I am white. I have no clue. But your column image and the fact that 4000 black men, women and children died for nothing more than skin color makes me very sad.
I am sorry, so very sorry.
1
Lindsey doesn't have an excuse. He doesn't think he needs one. Neither does Matt Gaitz, Neither does Keven McCarthy. Neither does Moscow Mitch. Neither do ANY of the Republicrooks--victimhood is their raison d'etre. They are all victims of democracy, and rules. Don't you feel sorry for them, having to observe rules and protocol, OR the law? Well, if so, that's how they keep being reelected.
There is no polite way to put this. They are racists plain and simple.
Their use of the word "lynching" was deliberate to evoke a visceral response from Americans, as the word lynching has brutal, painful, shameful connotations.
Let's remember that Clarence Thomas also used the lynching defense. Like Trump, he was also guilty (personnel file filled with sexual harassment complaints).
Those of us that grew up in the Tri-State area are well aware of Notorious R.A.C.I.S.T. Fred Trump, who refused to rent to anyone of color. His staff famously marked each rental applications with a "C" in the upper right hand corner to make sure non-whites were kept out.
The apple doesn't fall far from the rotten tree. The tree has deep roots.
Remember Trump's full page ad in the NYT to bring back the death penalty to kill the Central Park Five, who were 14 year old boys and innocent. That sociopathic ad was a public lynching.
Trump is lynching America, lynching our Constitution, and lynching the Presidency.
While Trump is the resident expert on lynching, including lynching the English language, the irony of the lynchER, crying lynchING, is beyond irony and in the realm of sociopathic disillusion.
3
The whistleblower told the House where the body was buried and the murder weapon was hidden.
Trump said the whistleblower was lying and that the investigation constituted a "lynching."
The House then found the body where the whistleblower said it was buried and the murder weapon where the whistleblower said it was hidden.
Now, the Republicans complain about the shovel the House used to dig up the body and the bag in which the murder weapon with Trump's fingerprints all over it was placed.
Is this for real?????
8
Thank you so much for your powerful and moving column. I was shocked to learn recently that the last recorded lynching occurred as recently as 1981, in Mobile, Alabama. I think everyone should read Richard Blanco’s incredible poem about that, “Easy Lynching on Herndon Avenue.” https://www.wgbh.org/news/2018/01/16/local-news/poet-richard-blanco-grapples-hidden-racism-america
As you note, Graham is from SC. SC started the civil war and still believes it should have won. For me I need no other information.
I had the misfortune to live in SC for 1 year. I would not return to it to collect a $50 million lottery prize.
Graham and his constituents don't care about this. They are too busy looting the Treasury with tax cuts. They also won't admit it, but as the demographics turn us into a white minority population, they can't stand the idea of justice and democracy. They long for the "fifties." The 1850's.
3
So it is OK when Democrats talked about lynching Bill Clinton in the late 1990s with the Impeachment Hearings run by the republicans, but all of a sudden the only victims of Lynchings are black Americans?
That is not even true. Some historians have estimated that more Mexicans and MexicanAmericans were "Lynched" in the Southwest in the same brutal white racism that pervaded the South and the Lynchings that were used as a weapon of terror to against Black Americans. But you would not know it, when touring the African American Museum in Montgomery Alabama that focuses on the Lynchings against black persons.
Lynchings against many types of persons, Mexicans, Poor white Immigrants, political foes, cattle rustlers, criminal suspects, basically anyone who was unfortunate enough to come under the power of people who felt they could be judge jury and executioner) were an unfortunate aspect of life in the lawless West as much as they were an aspect of White Terrorize against Black Americans in the South.
The word and phenomena of Lynching has a much broader meaning than the current attempt to "culturally appropriate" the word Lynching (as applying only to or chiefly against Black Americans), which the Left is trying to do in the same manner they have appropriated the concept of what it means to be a "progressive" as in only someone with left leaning political opinions is in favor of Progress? Yeah? Says who? The "Progressive Police?"
2
Mr. Bouie is correct in his articles. Justice Thomas in his confirmation hearings in 1991, fighting allegations by Anita Hill called the proceedings a "high-tech lynching". We nust also not forget the lynching of Leo Frank in Marietta, Ga, in August 1915. Most of the lynching deaths in the US were directed against African- Americans, but a few were directed against Jews. Most legal scholars now agree that Leo Frank was wrongly convicted of murdering a 13 year old girl. The death sentence was commuted to life in prison, but in August 1915, a lynch mob attacked the jail and murdered Leo Frank. Haters will hate, and White Nationalists hate Jews almost as much as they hate Blacks and other people of "color"... the casual use of the word "lynching", is dangerous, and like Holocaust education, more education is needed to teach people about any form of violence against someone because of their race, religion, gender, national origin, occupation, or sexual orientation(or identification). A very important reminder by Mr. Bouie about nit only Mr. Trump's ignorance of history, but that words have consequences. Senator Graham knows his history, and he knows better!
You have to live in South Carolina to understand the mindset. Since the White Citizens Council violently threw black public officials out after Reconstruction, they have lived the Lost Cause. Often not even subtle, all white male legislators and local officials pass thinly veiled anti-black laws to prevent voting, sink education, and erect monuments and flags to honor “our heritage “. It is so deeply ingrained into the descendants of the war, who were fighting for “state’s rights”, not slavery, that even today the discrimination and hatred persists.
Lindsey Graham knows how to play to this crowd. The only time his re-election was threatened was 2014 when he was challenged in the primary by someone on the alt-right.
Trump has, of course, increased the hatred and validated the beliefs of this mob. The Mother Emanuel killer was acquitted in a state court, as was the white policeman who shot a fleeing black man, all caught on videotape.
What will it take to bring South Carolina into the 21st century and change it’s Lost Cause views? For a start , Lindsey Graham could stop his shameful and loud encouragement of the racist horde. And South Carolinians in the Trump administration, past and present, could too: Mick Mulvaney, Nikki Haley, Trey Gowdy.
Don’t hold your breath.
1
Times Photo……“Some of the 28 men charged in the lynching of Willie Earle celebrating their acquittal in court in Greenville, S.C., on May 21, 1947”
When I looked at this photo, I was filled with anger and sadness. My anger reflects on the atrocities committed by whites on blacks in this country; lynchings, murders, racism to name a few which have not to this day been truly address or resolved and in many ways still occur. My sadness when I see the photo is looking at all the white people, smiling and celebrating the court ruling as if they had just hit the lottery. Many of those smiling faces took part in the murder of an innocent man because of the color of his skin and show absolutely no remorse. God only knows how many others were killed by this same group.
For Trump to compare his impeachment proceeding to a lynching and to be supported by Lindsey graham is despicable and shameful.
There is nobody in American politics with less integrity than Lindsey Graham. He speaks, but sayeth nothing.
5
Both men know the meaning of the word lynching.They are just so morally bankrupt that they refuse to accept the emotional response that the word instills in others.They are selfish, self centered men who have only their own petty interests in mind.They are not patriots-they are an embarrassment to the United States.They may have taken an oath to preserve and protect our Constitution but to them those were hollow words!
1
They aren't scars... they are open, dripping, bleeding wounds, and Trump and Graham are validating those still holding the knives.
2
Corruption eats at all
The last honest President is Jimmy Carter
His mistake was honesty
Casting rocks is easy
2
Lost In America -- and the second-last honest president was Barack Obama.
2
The idea our president is a victim and his Republican sycophants in the House lack representation in a closed hearing at which they have seats is beyond ludicrous.
THAT is the real “fake news”.
3
Lindsey Graham is a fascination to me.
He strikes me as an “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” kind of a man. He spews outrage, fulminates
and speechifies as if he believes the nation cares. Collectively we don’t. He is constantly derided as “Miss Lindsey”
because he has a manner that reminds one of a distraught person beating their fists on the chest of someone much bigger in limp protest. It was John McCain previously, now it is Trump he wants to be held by, crying against the presidents chest that he
will support him “truly I will Don” until
a bigger beau arrives. Soon, I hope.
1
Lindsey Graham has shown himself to be a spineless, craven follower of whoever has the power in his world. Graham likes to wrap himself in the flag and assume the mantle of morality, but his actions show that he really worships naked power.
2
“UnAmerican”? Tragically, not, Senator.
Graham is just another toady for Trump. Trump knows exactly what he is doing when he spouts his hateful rhetoric. So does Graham. They both spout hate and lies. And both are a disgrace to this Country.
2
Can someone from South Carolina hand-deliver the image of the victims, their names and symbolism represented at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice?
Please!
1
The desecrated memorials should become national symbols which display the reality off the situation here in the USA.
1
Lindsey Graham is a disgrace, not only to his past self but to the memory of John McCain. He has morphed from honorable "wingman" of one of our greatest war heroes into a cowardly GOP enabler and smarmy sycophant for the worst president this country ever had.
3
Donald Trump cares nothing about history, or how America's black people have suffered. His entire world revolves around himself.
As for Lindsay Graham, he's a follower who likes to think he's a leader. His admiration John McCain, a strong, dignified man who was a true American patriot, has been transferred to Donald Trump. McCain was his friend. Trump, to borrow a more apt term from slavery, is his master. He's just another pandering stooge — one of the "short" people Trump openly scorns — who will be disposed of if his usefulness is gone.
2
"More than 4,000 African-American men, women and children were lynched "
Those are only the verified numbers, certainly no total as those numbers can never be known. The looks of satisfaction on the people's faces in the photo are chilling when considering what they are celebrating.
What % of the African American vote does Lindsay receive? If it is small then in our political climate he owes his constituents nothing. We have become so polarized and have lost all empathy. hatred is an evil disease on both sides of the aisle.
Call me paranoid, but in my version, Graham's extreme toadiness is the result of Russia having such compromising dirt on him that he will do anything to keep it hidden. He has always been an unctuous reptile but his pro-Trumpian persona has plunged him lower than ever. It's as if whatever normal human functioning he had has just evaporated.
Lindsey Graham should be ashamed of himself, lawyer that he is. He's squandering whatever legacy he might have had to align himself with a despot.
To use that racially-charged term, referring to real deaths for the "crime" of being black, when it refers to the bruised ego of a narcissist president, is offensive beyond belief.
Lindsey does not deserve to be called a senator for his state, when he's only serving white residents as seen in these offensive comments.
I hope he loses his election, and loses big, to his African American opponent. Poetic justice would never feel so sweet.
2
White men seek power to prove they are worth something, so will act immorally, do anything, to keep power.
Women know they are worth something, despite all efforts to put them down, and they seek power to help empower others.
Time for the women to heal the world.
1
The "lynching" comment by the president and echoed by Lindsey Graham is a pre-election codeword to gaslight the Republican base for a grueling and nasty 2020 campaign. However, it's Graham's endorsement of the president's use of the word that says that official Washington and the country's lawmakers support the president's sense of victimhoood.
Coming from a southern Senator, the comment is far more ominous in meaning and carries more weight than the president's utterance ever intended.
263
@silver vibes
Trump will not leave office without a civil war type fracture to the country, this is not hyperbole; it is the truth.
Lawfare reported last week that armed militias are taking Trump's civil war talk very seriously.
2 weeks ago, Trump retweeted a "Civil War" threat to the Nation, if he is removed from office.
We are talking about a President who is willing to take down the whole country solely for the sake of his own self interest.
America is at a very dangerous cross road.
42
@PeaceLove
The only upside to a civil war that I can see is the opportunity for California to secede from the rest of the USA.
5
It's not uncommon to see people like Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and even Susan Collins set aside principle in favor of political calculation. Certainly they would all protest that their intent is genuine, their consideration deep and well-thought out, but none of us should be fooled that this is anything more than self interest and political survival. Nothing else can explain why people of obvious intellect would choose to embrace and support a man like Donald Trump, a man completely bereft of the very qualities people like Lindsey Graham claim.
Graham stands before the cameras and microphones unabashedly and pontificates about justice and due process, then dismisses the cavalier use of the one word in the American vernacular that embodies injustice and the lack of due process. He does this without embarrassment, and without pause, not because he believes what he is saying, but because the polls tell him that if he says otherwise he will lose his position of power. He calculates that keeping that power is more important than keeping his principles.
He may be right. It might be more important for him to be in the Senate than sitting on his front porch sipping iced tea. He himself has declared as much, insisting that he cannot do the important work of government if he loses his position. For a man of 64 years, he has learned very little about life. There will come a time when he will sit on that porch, and he will know what he did and said, and he will regret every word.
4
I gave up on Graham when McCain died. Maybe South Carolinians will treat him well, but history most assuredly will not.
5
Trump’s efforts to get the Central Park Five executed were an attempted lynching.
His impeachment and removal from office will be a national pleasure.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-news-trump-death-penalty-central-park-five-20180713-story.html
13
Print comments which may be controversial on a timely fashion. Reader have the right to all perspectives as long as they are civilly stated.
4
Thank you for the clarification, Mr Ombudsman.
1
Had slavery never happened in this country, had no lynching of a black person ever happened, Trump's claim of a "lynching" would still be offensive.
7
What is lynching but an ultimate abuse of power? Abuse of power is natural modus operandi for Trump. Abuse of power is like air to Trump. He can’t even understand or see the true horror of the lynchings. But Bouie is exactly correct. What on earth can excuse Graham?
208
@Jk: There is no excuse for Graham's use of the word lynching in support of Trump's attack on a legal investigation of his corrupt actions. Graham's true colors have manifested itself for quite some time. We all remember the vile tantrum that he threw, in front of the entire nation, when supporting Judge Kavanaugh during his supreme court hearings. That worked out and now we have a judge with unresolved alarming issues in the highest court in the nation. I suspect that Mr. Graham will continue to throw more tantrums to prop up Trump's lies in order to divert people's attention from finding out the truth. We are in perilous times. I hope that there are still true patriots on both sides of the isle that will seek out the truth.
9
I look forward to the author likewise condemning Biden and other Dems for using the term during Clinton's impeachment. Otherwise, the author is being completely hypocritical.
4
@R.P. - That won't happen. Our two parties do nothing but point a finger at the other one saying, "well, they do it".
The only solution is to get rid of both parties and find 538 or so Americans who will put country over party. Right now in Washington, they are all putting party first. Every action both sides has taken this year leads back to their election. Not a one is actually doing what is right for the country first.
Graham will say/do anything Trump wants because he fears he will lose his next election. He is a lawyer and one would think he would have no problem finding another job if he lost his current one. But no, he will do/say anything Trump wants to keep his perks. He is nothing more than a Brown Shirt just like the group that "stormed" the hearing two days ago.
And Pelosi will let them literally walk all over them because she is worried about the Dems and their election more than the Constitution.
1
Lindsey turns from harsh critic to fierce defender in a relatively short span of time, why? He has become a tool for trump perhaps more than for any other reason than he is up for re-election in 2020 and facing real competition from both a Republican and a Democratic challenger. He is banking on trump remaining popular in South Carolina and fears one of those late night twitters from trump. From my perspective Graham has always been a little weasel so his behaviour is nothing new.
8
I'm a native of South Carolina, and grew up amid some of the residual racism. Despite that, I believe that the majority of people in that state are decent, and, at least to some extent, are sensitive to the horrors that Mr. Bouie describes.
To hear Sen. Graham affirm trump's disgusting words must surely be as repulsive to them as it is to me. The decent people of South Carolina should express this at the ballot box.
23
@Bill L
Bravo for speaking up! Hope other South Carolinians will vote Graham out of office.
2
Trump, Graham, and company engage in a simple but practical formula when, under fire, they appeal to the base element of their base: use inflammatory, irrational, illogical, and provocative images and language.
They care little what is true, historical, or accurate -- it only has to distract, deflect, incite, and enrage. With using the term "lynching," the racist mentality of Trump supporters is further inflamed in a weird historical twist. It fits with "witch hunt," in which Trump is the victim, making his supporters the victims as well.
To deal with Trump et al. we have to understand -- rationality means very little. Winning means everything. Winning means everything. And the losers will pay big. We have to defeat Trump and the Republicans in 2020 -- and make smart, creative, and expansive strategic plans to get there.
11
People cannot be verbally "lynched" or "raped" or anything else that is a reasonably well-defined physical attack. Victims of such crimes, their families and communities do not need the added insult of having their experiences diminished by lazy speech. This ignorant use of language seems to have morphed into the rampant misuse of the word "weaponize" among polite people.
We have evolved enough that adults, especially those speaking publicly as public officials, should know better than to use loaded words in an unambiguously inappropriate context.
Trump loves to say ignorant and racist things, and part of why he does thisnin office might be as a loyalty test or means of corrupting any independence and decency projected by Republicans.
When someone is being groomed by a career criminal, it can be hard for an individual to see what is happening for what it is in real time. When 53 such people get together to compare notes at an impeachment trial, there is an excellent chance they will finally figure it out.
2
Thank you for this thoughtful column. I understand Graham's a politician, but his hypocrisy is breathtaking. We all remember him as John McCain's best friend and I don't know how he squares his friendship with that man with his loyalty to Trump. I don't know how he sleeps at night, frankly. Trump's so far down the rabbit hole of his own narcissism it's fair to say he's mentally ill, although he can't be excused, ever, for his words and actions. But Graham, he's the worst of them, and I'm sorry to say, the worst of us.
12
Whatever happened to Lindsey Graham?
The stalwart acolyte of the late John McCain, a statesman who represented the best of the Republican Party, has reduced himself to the lowest form of Trump sycophant. The reason is not very clear, but I expect it is an excessive love of his position and believing that without Trump he will lose it. The only exception is when Trump does something stupid with the military (for example Syria) and Graham becomes a judicious critic. But of course, coming from a state with a large military presence, one could assume that his position is the result of his political calculator tilting away from Trump on that issue.
In this country we have a real problem with the politics vs. principle balance. Too often our leaders focus their energies on keeping their jobs and their perks. We need leaders, not sleazy politicians. Unfortunately, Mr. Graham is not one of those leaders.
5
Of course, we have to wonder what kompromot Trump has on Graham. Obviously Graham's personal ambitions and his desire to stay in office make it impossible for him to speak out against Trump. (Look at what happened to ex- Congressman Appalachian-Trail.) But ever since the two men had their friendly chat on the golf course, Graham's slavish, over-the-top kowtowing to Trump has gone far beyond what other Republican senators have been doing. This brazen and utterly unprincipled "lynching" talk, as well as the senator's hysterical performance at the Kavanaugh hearings, suggest something pretty dark.
7
Republicans always think their the victims in every boogeyman story they tell. While completely ignoring people who're the real victims in these scenarios. For them, it's all about power regardless of how they get it, or who has to pay the price for it. With Trump at the helm, many Republicans have become a great deal more immoral, unethical and Un-American. A stain on America that may never be fully removed.
5
The use of this word is the logical culmination of the "victimization" of the aggrieved white majority. It could only be used in ignorance or willful callousness, two traits that not only define Trump, but his base.
4
What's Graham's excuse? My only guess is that Trump has something significant on him. Graham's true feelings of disgust and disdain for the president are occasionally on display before he reels them in after a day or so. I would guess that Trump has either audio or video of Graham in some compromised, explicit circumstance.... something that he would never want his constituents or family to see and that every time he lets his true feelings spill out someone from Team Trump reminds him which team he's supposed to be playing for and to get back and tow the line.
3
Mr. Bouie is right "The scars are still present" especially in the form of Trump and those of his allies, who don't even remember or care about the horrendous history of racially inspired lynching.
2
Well written--thank you Mr. Bouie. In my eyes, were it not for the spectacular incompetence of Trump or the bottomless hypocrisy of McConnell, Lindsey Graham would be the top target for dismissal by a Democrat the next time he faces reelection.
1
" I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf."
That a lawyer would spew such nonsense- "knowing" he (and) the current iteration of Congressional Republicans are contorting , obfuscating, confusing - and lying about the current stage of the impeachment INQUIRY- is unconscionable.
But-of-course Lindsay and the Frat-boys realize their Fox-News constituents won't spent the time to comprehend what is actually going on- or why, in the close-door meetings. And...major media organizations do not seem inclined to provide straight-ahead reporting of the process or even name the 40 or so Republicans taking part in the hearings:
Photos of Republicans storming-the-Bastille in a drunken-rage is more eye catching. Thus- the comparison of a Donald-Trump-Lynching can be spewed with little push back except in the Opinion Pages.
5
The elegance of the writing, the thoughtfulness of the construction, are themselves a repudiation of the ignorant and malicious behavior targeted by this article. From the dismissing of vapid tweets, to the citations of the senate votes, to the events in Graham’s home town, climaxing with the Till memorial, the progression of reason in this article is something whose lack in this administration and its defenders has been sorely felt. Thank you, Mr. Bouie.
2
It's difficult to understand how a man like Lindsay Graham who occupies the position of United States Senator, who is a lawyer and former military prosecutor, who spoke from the other side of his mouth when Bill Clinton was impeached, and who has more than once sworn to uphold the laws and Constitution of the United States can be such a dishonest hypocrite. Unfortunately, like Trump, he knows no shame. And like Trump, he is a dishonest opportunist. Also like Trump, he will be reviled by history.
3
This is a good editorial, and on its main subject (Graham) it offers valuable facts and insights. But I am not so sure that Trump is as ignorant of the meaning of lynching as Boule states. Trump is no dummy on the state of the country, and he certainly lived through the Civil Rights movement. He was convicted by Nixon's Civil Rights Division lawyers of refusing to rent any apartments but shabby segregated ones to blacks. He promised to behave but kept at it and they convicted him again. He called for, in full page newspaper ads, the execution of the Central Park Five - which would have been purely murder because the prosecutors knew they had not been involved in the crime. And Trump defends today his calling for their deaths, saying that if they were not guilty of that crime they were guilty of something else. Of course Trump knew the meaning of the word lynching.
Some have said that Trump does not care if his words are sometimes hurtful. I disagree. Trump does care - he goes out of his way to be hurtful. Frequently.
4
I agree that Trump should not have used the term "lynching." I think that Senator McConnell's response was perfectly apropos. That having been said, where were all the liberals when Joe Biden used the exact same expression in criticizing the impeachment of Bill Clinton? Why is Biden's example and precedent completely ignored in this column? The hypocrisy of the left is deafening. Mitch McConnell, on the other hand, is willing to criticize a president of his own party for the use of the term. His consistency gives him a moral authority that Trump's liberal critics lack.
3
@Charles I agree that Joe Biden has several decades of experience putting his foot in his mouth. But that doesn't get McConnell or the Republicans off the hook. Let's not forget-- "Moral Authority" Mitch is the same person who declared only a few months ago that Trump is "not a racist." In light of his reprimand of Trump for using the term "lynching," I'd say he's demonstrated a lack of consistency AND extraordinary hypocrisy.
Considering Senator McConnell my list of his qualities doesn't include "moral authority" but I've only gotten to 999 billion choices so far so there's hope....
I remember back in the1990s, reading a pro-abortion propaganda piece about an encounter between protestors and a patient outside an abortion clinic. Instead of giving details, the writer described it as a "verbal equivalent of a stoning". Republicans are not alone in using inflammatory rhetoric to affect public opinion.
After the trumpist era ends, will Lindsey Graham feel any sense of shame for his words and deeds?
3
Bubba -- Luckily for all Americans, as soon as the Trump era ends, so will the Graham era.
1
A “lynching” is the execution of a person without a fair trail. Trump applied the term to the House impeachment inquiry because the House never voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry and has prohibited witnesses from having legal counsel present during their interrogation. The White House contends the inquiry is an illegal inquisition.
1
Makes me not want to move from SC so I can vote yet again against this embarrassment. For shame, Mr. Graham. Have you left no sense of decency?
4
Look at this picture. Look at the teenage boy in the center. He's not smiling like most of the adults. He looks kind of horrified. The look on his face conveys something inside.
Could it be that he fully understood the gravity of the entire situation and the travesty of justice that had just occurred?
4
I have visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. It is one of the most profoundly moving, historical and grief-stricken experiences I have ever had as an American. Every American, surely every white American, should visit this place, to understand the suffering and injustice that has been inflicted on the ancestors of our black brothers and sisters by our own ancestors--and continues to this day. Yes, our own ancestors. Swallow it--if you are a northerner, dig deeper, do your research and know that northerners are not exempt.
The images in Mr. Bouie's piece show the corten steel monuments, one for each of the 800 counties in the U.S. where documented lynchings took place. But those are the ones shown hanging. And they do take your breath away.
The first image, of the monuments laying on the grass, explain one of the most brilliant concepts of the memorial. This is from the website: "The memorial is more than a static monument. In the six-acre park surrounding the memorial is a field of identical monuments, waiting to be claimed and installed in the counties they represent. Over time, the national memorial will serve as a report on which parts of the country have confronted the truth of this terror and which have not."
Senator Lindsey Graham, as a senior member of the United States Senate, when will you display the leadership you owe all South Carolinians, black and white--indeed all Americans--and call on your hometown county to come claim yours?
210
@Jan : And not just northerners, but *all* Americans who have benefited from the opportunities of this wealthy nation -- wealth created by African slaves.
I'm a second-generation American and a Gen X-er, with no ostensible ties to those who exploited Africans -- but of *course* I'm not exempt. Virtually no one is. My (our) opportunities came at their expense; my (our) obligation is to work toward a society that makes amends for the past and creates a less-inequitable present, with the goal of a just future.
16
@Jan,
Thank you for explaining the story behind the photo of the monuments laying in the grass.
If the folks who are in office in Pickens County, S. Carolina cannot claim that monument, it seems to be because they do not want to face their culpability, nor accept any responsibility for it.
Some art comes with supporting artifacts, such as receipts and correspondence, to document the transfer, loan, or it's provenance. Museums oftentimes buy, loan or borrow art objects and collections.
It makes me wonder if they are afraid that there may be supporting documents that accompany these monuments to go into the county records?
If Senator Lindsay Graham, and the county he came from, cannot face the horrors of their recent and past histories, they will surely remain stuck in the past.
Could it be that the 'good' Senator from South Carolina has any family connection to anyone who stood trial...?
10
".....I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf.” - Lindsey Graham.
This is exactly how the grand jury process works in New York State and is essentially what is happening now in the House impeachment inquiry. In the grand jury process, after the prosecutor (and only the prosecutor) presents the case, the jury votes to indict the accused or not. If indicted, the case moves to trial where the accused can confront the accuser and evidence can be presented to refute the prosecution.
The impeachment inquiry will eventually have to decide to present charges to the full House or not. If the decision is to impeach Trump, then a trial will be held with the Senate acting as the jury. Trump and his rotten gang will get plenty of opportunity to make his case.
8
It's also exactly how the House rules, adopted by a Republican House, work. The Republicans had no trouble with the same rules when they conducted endless investigations of Benghazi or Hillary's emails. Hypocrites, all, Republicans.
I am a resident of South Carolina and I find Lindsey Graham to be completely abhorrent. I have never nor will I ever vote for or support him. He is an example of the endemic racism that exists in this part of the world. His comments are shocking in the context of what a modern, thoughtful human ought to voice, but he is not a modern human. This area of the state is nicknamed ‘the dark corner’ and with good reason. I have heard well educated people say that only the landed gentry should be allowed to vote. Lest one think that an aberration, one would be fooling oneself. As far as the lynching comment goes, it is a continuation of the ideology that brought about the wretched system of slavery. I.e., when the control over the slave was no longer explicit, then lynching is it’s implicit extension.
7
As Bouie knows, it is very, very important to control the narrative and the words that express the narrative. President Trump also knows that.
One of the features of the narrative is that, if you refuse to concede your position/viewpoint/language, your narrative can just keep rolling along. President Trump also knows that.
Moe importantly, so do his supporters.
To paraphrase the movie "Jaws,": I think the Progressives are going to have to get another narrative because their old one, in which they control the words, no longer works.
It's at the point where nothing Donald Trump says can surprise me anymore -- even though his recent comment equating the impeachment inquiry with "lynching" comes close.
But as far as Lindsey Graham is concerned, or for that, any other Republican Senator from below the Mason-Dixon line, I see anything they have to say to de-fang the seriousness of this comment as simply par for the course.
After all, this is a president who wants to bring about another Civil War and who has had a lifetime of making racially insensitive comments, and surrounds himself with people who act and think like he does.
That said, if there's any bright spot in this unfortunate incident, it's that they are both facing reelection in 2020 and there's no doubt that every African-American voter in South Carolina and the entire U.S. will remember this on Election Day.
I know I will.
8
Trump may not know that over 4,000 blacks were lynched between 1877 and 1950 (not to mention dozens, maybe hundreds, after 1950), but he most certainly knows that some number of blacks were lynched in America, and he almost certainly knows it is some large number. Or else he is one of the most ignorant college-educated, media-savvy people on Earth. Yeah, he's pretty ignorant, but not that ignorant.
And Graham's actual words, at least in the clip I saw several times, are "This is a lynching in every sense of the word."
Every sense of the word, Graham? If impeachment is successful, Trump will still be alive, still be rich, and still be able to walk around a free man unless and until he is indicted for crimes, successfully convicted, and incarcerated. Even now, he is still POTUS, still exercising all of the power incumbent in that position and lying to the American people every day, even multiple times per day.
And let's not make the mistake of thinking Graham's problem begins and ends with Donald Trump. Unless Trump really is the anti-Christ and put some kind of satanic spell on Graham, what we're seeing is who Graham has really been all along. Perhaps his friendship with John McCain was a mitigating influence on him, because it sure seems that after McCain died, Graham became a pod-person version of himself, emotionless except for obviously feigned outbursts of outrage, and 99.9% partisan.
Our big problem is not Trump. It's the Grahams, McConnells and Nuneses and that ilk.
480
@Barry Williams
That’s why my only demonstration, march, and protest sign since 2017 simply says:
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
and, more importantly under an image of ‘our’ flag on the other side, simply:
“We can’t be an EMPIRE”
11
@Barry Williams Very well said, but don’t forget Stephen Miller, the face of hatred for immigrants in this administration.
28
@Barry Williams I think it is clear that Donald Trump and his team have some sort of compromising information on Graham that he does not want out there. The flip from denigrating Trump to idolatry makes no sense otherwise.
19
Thank you so much for writing this, Mr. Bouie. I did not know about those senate votes. And until I visited the aspirationally-named National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala that most people refer to as the lynching memorial, I did not know the systematic nature and magnitude of the domestic terror progrom that was inflicted upon (mostly) African Americans in the south. I always thought the motivation for the great migration was for economic opportunity. I didn’t realize it was to flee these murderous mobs.
But back to Lyndsey Graham. What could they possibly have on him that would be worth selling his soul the way he has? His behavior defies reason and seems to be diametrically opposed to his comportment up until this “administration”. Lyndsey, whatever it, is it isn’t worth it.
7
Each and every time Lindsey Graham defends and supports trump, I think that the trump administration has something over on him.
Is he being blackmailed in some way?
His reversal on trump was stunning and continues to be.
White rich entitled powerful men being lynched?
What a disgrace and what a sham this all is. How dare them.
8
The Times doesn't seem to have noticed it, but the Republicans have carefully been constructing a case that will give the Senate an excuse to throw out the impeachment charges. The claim is that the closed-door hearings in the House violate the precedent set in prior impeachments. The intrusion of the Republicans in one meeting was supposed to demonstrated that the closed-door meetings were improper. Don't be distracted by the inflammatory rhetoric about "lynching".
Of course Trump violates precedent whenever he feels like it. He won't release his tax returns, and he want separate his private businesses from his work as president. But that's explained away by the fact that there's no "real law" being violated. Making the impeachment look improper is a more dangerous matter.
4
@Charlesbalpha
That’s why my only demonstration, march, and protest sign since 2027 simply says:
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
and, more importantly under an image of ‘our’ flag on the other side, simply:
“We can’t be an EMPIRE”
1
The conundrum here is that 'lynching' connotes punishment before conviction with the underlying implication of innocence. By definition it is punishment at the hands of a mob rather than lady justice. This is how Trump sees himself a victim.
Trump confuses investigation with punishment, clearly a problem of having all the big words.
6
Between his use of witch hunts and lynchings to describe his detractors, Trump is signaling that incitement to violence will be his last ditch
tactic as he tries to ease us into a future where fake law goes hand in glove with fake news, fake facts and fake truth.
9
Mr. Trump's sense of victimhood is echoed in his key set of followers. Is it true that Trump voters have been as victimized by liberal society, people of ethnicities other than white, religions other than extreme Evangelical Christianity, and Democrats as conservatives claim? Is it true that changing economic circumstances, which have enriched about 6 people in this country and their support classes, deliberately aimed to victimize white conservative voters? If we take changing social and economic circumstances personally, we might say, yeah, those poor guys and gals. If not, we might ask what each of us can do during these destructive times to stabilize our own minds, our families and communities, and our system of Democracy (or Republic if you are so inclined to see things that way). As the great JFK said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
3
Jamelle, You are too gentle on Senator Graham. "He owes his constituents a degree of sensitivity..." Anyone from the place and the culture that hosted these horrors, these acts of abject hatred and immorality (as well as the racist structures that undergirded those acts), owes his constituents, owes the world, and owes the future more than sensitivity - such people, when the accept the roles they hold, owe moral leadership and courageous accountability for the past and for those evils. I am a moderate. I do not always want to dwell on identity politics. But here we are talking of a history and immorality that must compel us all to take responsibility, condemn the evil, and act to ameliorate the conditions that led to and continue to provide succor to hatred.
12
Of all the things, the horrible and terrifying and infuriating things that have occurred during the Trump Administration, Lindsey Graham's behavior is the most frightening to me. This column hits the nail on the head. While none of Trump's behavior is excusable, it is at least explainable. In the words of the old folk tale, Trump has been a snake all his life, and so when his venom infects the body politic, we can see the cause and effect. But Lindsey Graham is a different matter. I have disagreed with him on almost every public policy issue I can name, but I never believed him to be a coward, someone who would sell his soul, someone who would betray his own values. But he has become a sniveling, quivering coward. His call for a resolution to condemn the House for its entirely legitimate impeachment inquiry, conducted so far in an entirely legitimate manner, tells me that at least some of even those whom I believed to be the last holdouts of adherents to the truth have been fatally compromised. When I hear Lindsey Graham speak, I feel I am hearing someone who has become a shadow of a person, having sold all his substance for, as the Bible puts it, a mess of pottage--the rotten, stinking, decomposing pottage that is the Trump Presidency and all those in government who support it. That includes "Anonymous", who at this moment of crisis for our Republic, owes it to decency and honor to identify him/herself and tell the truth about this President.
15
Lindsey Graham is a formless man who can mold his persona at will to ingratiate himself with whomever he believes will feed his craving for attention and adulation and "relevance." After the passing of Senator McCain, he adopted the persona and methods of Trump. I believe both Trump and Graham understand the historical meaning of the word "lynching" and used it in a deliberate way, as a dog whistle to their white supporters. Ironically, though, these privileged white men are now casting themselves as the victims, under perceived threats from the so-called "elites", Democrats, the "deep state" (i.e., the federal government), dark-skinned immigrants, liberal judges, and others who abhor their political views. Trump and Graham know their audience and their message will stir the passions of their followers, especially in the South, where the post-Reconstruction period known as the Redemption has not been relegated to a dead past but is pushing forward still, after the brief interruption of the Civil Rights era. Like the southern Redeemers, Trump and Graham are part of a broader GOP movement to reclaim, through whatever means they deem necessary, what they perceive as their natural seat of privilege.
10
Graham's craven. obsequious comment was worse than Trump's indeed. It was also entirely unnecessary for him to have said it. He could have kept his mouth shut. He could have said something like 'for millions of my constituents, that term evokes a past pain that the President surely didn't intend' or something like that. Honestly, how much integrity do you have to have not to have uttered something as vile as he did?
17
It is so disheartening to learn the true nature of our politicians when they face serious moral decisions. Sure, we're all cynical, and so are they - but this is beyond the pale. And then his voters reward him. Shame on him.
11
Between Crystal River FL and Gainesville FL, a route I used to drive decades ago, there was a tree on the north side of a bridge that locals told me was known as the "hanging tree."
Not sure whether it is still there.
Next time trump or his enablers want to use the term "lynching" for the current legal investigations, I prefer he/they travel to one such location and reflect on the accuracy of their speech.
Just kidding, they would rather be thoughtless, cruel and incendiary.
I hope some form of justice arrives soon.
8
The article and many comments have discussed the terrible racial implications of lynching, and I don't have anything new to add. Instead, I'm going to discuss Lindsey Graham's egregious remarks about the process and the law.
Take this for example:
"So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the president, without due process or fairness or any legal rights."
This statement is just plain asinine. What is happening now is due process, being done by the book.
Then there's this:
"I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf."
Anyone who's ever watched a legal program on TV knows that you confront your accusers and call witnesses at the trial. What is happening now is analogous to the investigation and indictment. The trial will come if the House votes to impeach. He will have a chance to confront his accusers and call witnesses then.
These statements are gross intentional misrepresentations. So what else is new. If Mr. Graham has a conscience, he must be churning inside.
13
@mlbex
""So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the president, without due process or fairness or any legal rights.""
Like, say, when the Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for concealing his sex life. His real offense, of course, was that he was the first Democratic president to be elected in 12 yaers.
1
The thing about a conscience is it has to be listened to, or its voice, over time, becomes muted, then silent. This man has had many years to mute his, and apparently now, there is only the voice of personal ambition in his head. That voice is loud and clear.
A lot of words but it really is quite simple. Trump and Graham are bad people. Trump is bad by default. His psychology allows no other option. That doesn’t excuse it. He’s an adult and knows what he’s doing. Graham is bad by choice. He knows better and knows what is right and good but he chooses not to be. Why? He’s scared of losing his job. While he pretends to be so proud of our soldiers who are willing to put their lives on the line for our country, he’s too much of a coward to put his job on the line for this country. He’s just a bad person. All the other words are unnecessary.
13
Knowing better is not the same as caring. He’ll sign resolutions when he thinks they have no actual effect or cost. But if even the smallest sacrifice is required, he’ll act exactly like someone who is completely ignorant. That’s why racism won’t die any time soon. It’d require some everyone to make at least a small sacrifice to atone and most people are thoroughly unwilling to do that. Cry in a movie - can do. Listen to a song - can do. Change my behavior in a small way - forget about it.
5
Thank you Mr. Bouie for your honest reply to Graham's dishonest hyperbole. Apparently Trump has Graham on a very short leash. Earlier this week I read in a news blurb that shortly after the ridiculous storming of the hearing room, Graham made a statement to reporters that that is not how to do things. His moment of rationality was obviously questioned by Trump because soon after that is when he went full throat in support of Trump's self declared lynching. Trump is obviously hosting a game where members of his coterie vie to prove who is more loyal.
It is important not to waste time and energy by constantly being distracted by the ugliness of this game. Your column is a beautifully written argument for the importance of being educated and participating in elections. Elections matter.
6
Lindsey Graham has sold his ethics and morality for a few years of attention as one of Trump's lackeys. Doesn't he recognize Trump has zero loyalty to him and will throw him under the bus at the first sign of trouble? An amazingly shallow man - how can he look at himself in the mirror?
10
Thank you, Jamelle. His use of "lynching" is to race what his use of "witch hunt" is to sex. Witch hunts were used to murder women who didn't conform to societal expectations, or who were disliked or perceived as troublemakers. Casual use of the terms "lynching" and "witch hunt" ignore and dismiss violent and evil histories.
9
When Joe Biden used it about Bill Clintons impeachment were you condemning him? Thought not.
@PI: Whataboutism! Come up with a better defense!
A quote from the film "A Streetcar Named Desire" should be relayed to Lindsey Graham - "Some things are unforgivable. Deliberate cruelty is unforgivable."
12
To be clear I am not a Trump supporter and I am far from being a Socialist. The political theatre I see demonstrated on both sides of the political spectrum I find extremely juvenile. We're expected to pick a political side and follow it blindly wherever its leadership leads us. If there is wrongdoing and corruption, let it be rooted out and dealt with according to our laws. Let it be done in the light, where truth lives. But where is all this mean spirited hyperbole supposed to take us, how are we supposed to feel and what call to action is it asking us to take? Next will be asked to smite down our political opponents? It sure looks like we're heading in that direction.
I understand Mr. Bouie's bent on Lindsey Graham and don't disagree with it entirely. It is only responsible for a politician to be sensitive to their constituency, to make sure their voices are heard that their conduct and actions are representative of their region. I also understand that words matter and each of us assigns them a place on our personal incendiary scale, but to make the inference that specific words are off limits because of their racial connotation, ethnicity or association with an evil part of history is absurd. How many other words in the English language should be off limits for the same reason? How about holocaust or illegal alien? What about the negative ethnic connotations associated with them? The room goes silent.
3
@Kurt Pickard
I am an independent voter. To me the big problem is that there is no mechanism for getting rid of an incompetent President. When Trump referred to a Constitutional rule as the "phony emoluments clause" that should have been sufficient reason to kick him out of office, quite aside from the actual abuses that he has committed. He was supposed to read the Constitution before he swore to defend it, but it's obvious he still hadn't done so after 3 years.
3
Just because you are a lawyer doesn't mean you are thoughtful, educated or wise. In fact, I've known a few lawyers who are very much well trained but not well educated. Unfortunately, having a shallow, self serving narrow mind set transcends all professions.
4
Why waste your breath? Trump and his accessories are beyond redemption. America to them means wallowing in grievance, ignorance, self-interest and hypocrisy. Spoon-fed 24-7-365 by the Fox echo-chamber that pulls their strings while a phalanx of lobbyists laughs its way to the bank.
6
Lindsey Graham is a naked opportunist. His principles, such as they are, can be defined by their malleability to suit whatever personal ambitions he has. He is the walking, talking embodiment of a toady. There is little doubt that the citizens of South Carolina will reward his behavior will another term in the Senate.
6
Ah, hogwash.
Everyone knows that we white folks, particularly men, are the victims of an increasingly hostile society.
My martini was not dry enough last night and my granddaughter didn't get into Harvard because some kid from Harlem jumped over her in line. All those immigrants and brown people are causing a deficit budget and threatening my retirement assets.
Donald Trump is working tirelessly on behalf of people like me and all he gets is criticism and deep state conspiracies to take him down. He's trying his best to Make America as great again as it was when my grandparents and parents took advantage of their privilege to pave the way for mine.
Wouldn't you be mad too?
8
@Barking Doggerel Well done!
No person who comes anywhere near Trump escapes his taint. All are diminished by him.
10
I think you may be diminished already when you agree to join his administration.
Both DT & Graham know what lynching means - any sentient adult does since the Bork hearings. And both know, too, that there was GOP representation throughout the so-called closed hearings & that the procedure is standard - Graham endorsed it for prior hearings. Don't give them any wiggle room: they are odious people pandering to, in DT's case, his base & in Graham's, his overlord.
3
Personal re-election is Graham's excuse. Job 1. Not the well being of our country.
5
Never forget, SC, Graham's display at the Kavanah hearings. Despite what you think of him, and for whom you may vote, this was a breach beyond civility.
6
One of the amazing things about Trump world is the number of prominent people who are willing to throw their reputations and standing on his trash fire, all for such an utterly baseless and contemptible man.
6
To the world: Linsey Graham does not represent me. Worse for him is that he hasn't got the moral compass to think about what he's saying except to follow party politics.
4
I live in South Carolina and can tell you that there is a strong effort to defeat him in the next election. We will not have the money his campaign does but we have the moral high ground over the profane, egoistic Graham. We want a senator who actually works for SC instead of playing golf with an unscrupulous president.
7
“I don’t even think this is really close. … If you’ve got a good case, show it.” said Senator Graham.
Good case? How about Michael Gerson's recent op-ed, that lays out, simply, the entire case using available information. Michael's op-ed also ends with a good question: Does Trump's actions rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors”?
Michael notes this is where well-intentioned Republican legislators will struggle - whether an American president can encourage foreign influence on U.S. elections without consequence.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-smoking-gun-has-already-been-revealed/2019/10/21/681d3882-f426-11e9-ad8b-85e2aa00b5ce_story.html
4
Part of Trump's genius is to sidetrack the entire issue of his impeachment by using words like "Lynching" and getting the liberal media to run off on a wild goose chase on that one word. The media investigates its origin, who used it, why it is bad, and more all of which only detracts from the impeachment.
Meanwhile Trump is laughing all the way to the bank.
Please stop falling for his games.
3
@Allan
Not the first time. A few months ago Trump fantasized about kicking some critics out of the country like a dictator, and the Democrats went off on a tangent arguing about whether the threat was "racist" or not.
Wasn't it the "lynching" remark by Supreme Court Candidate,
Clarence Thomas that was, probably, the defining moment for him. Trump will try it as well.
2
Yesterday Charles Blow wrote that Candace Owens was a "brainwashed racial quisling"
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/opinion/donald-trump-republican-party.html
I felt that the phrase was inappropriate used with "racial" and commented on this. However, while quisling originally was used to define a person who collaborates with an enemy who is an occupying force, it took a secondary meaning of traitor, and has been used in that manner in an op-ed by Prof. Krugman re Mr. Trump.
However, "lynch", "lynching" has no secondary meaning, at least that I could find. The definitions all relate to and revolve around extra-judicial killing or execution (= murder) by a mob, and this is so not just in the US.
That being the case, the use of "lynch" by Mr. Trump and Senator Graham is despicable. “Yes, this is a lynching and in every sense this is un-American", by Senator Graham is impossible to defend or explain in any manner.
The smiles in the 1947 photo of some of the acquitted in the lynching of Willie Earle is the laughter of evil.
4
Graham's excuse is the burden of hiding his gay orientation causes his erratic behavior: "Trump is unfit for office" turns into "My President", etc
5
At least Senator Graham makes clear what the stakes are this impeachment battle — lawfulness vs. lawlessness.
2
At least 400, and maybe as many as 4,000 Mexican Americans and ethnic Mexicans were lynched in the US as well. The NAACP whose great work documenting the lynching of black Americans chose not to include these victims of racial violence in their statistics. Fortunately, with the work of great historians such as William Carrigan and Monica Munoz Martinez to name but two, this story of mob violence against people of Mexican descent has now come to light. Where blacks were murdered for alleged challenges to white supremacy, Mexican Americans and Mexicans were lynched to police sovereignty and citizenship.
3
He is the opposite of many virtue.
2
Just when I thought Trump's tweets couldn't get any worse he compared the impeachment to a lynching! He is clearly the most inept and cruel and insensitive president we have ever had in my 68 years. He will go down in history for many reasons. Top on my list is how hateful and self absorbed he is.
3
The president isn't the first one to misuse the term. Clarence Thomas when he was a Supreme Court nominee called the confirmation process a "high-tech lynching." Of course, this is much worse because of the current president's long history of racist actions and comments. Individuals changing, speaking up and reaching out are our only hope. Maybe take some time to honor the memorial that tells the ugly history of lynching. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/eji or just do the right thing when the occasion presents itself.
1
I don't think the term was used in ignorance.
It's deliberately provocative, for the sake of T's base, because they're the ones who are now claiming that racism against whites is worse than that against blacks.
It's more of their sense of aggrievment and victimhood, and part of why they claim he "tells it like it is" even though he's lying.
Truthiness—it rings true in their distorted guts, even though it's a lie.
God bless this beautiful piece. Many thanks.
1
What makes Trump's use of the word "lynching" especially galling to me is that he's guilty, and Lindsey Graham knows it. Even worse, Donald Trump lynches people verbally with his ad hominem attacks against anyone who dares to challenge him. And can we forget the Central Park 5? Were they not verbally lynched by Trump? Isn't it also a verbal lynching of a free press when Donald Trump calls them the "enemy of the people"? Finally, clearly, while I find Trump to be a textbook racist, for him to use the word "lynching" isn't racist. African Americans were lynched by the thousands, but I'm not willing to let you, Mr. Bouie, or anyone else appropriate all use of that word. There have been plenty of white, Hispanic and other folks over the centuries who've been lynched.
115
@Aurora. Yes, there have been lynching of other groups in this country. My own Sicilian ancestors in Louisiana were careful lest they be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes, they were not lucky enough to avoid the angry mob that "wanted justice". But the fact of lynching of black persons was born out of a long and sordid past of slavery, ownership, and the legal ability to lynch a "piece of your property" who dared defy the master. It was done to punish and act as a warning to others. Even long after slavery was abolished, blacks were still "kept in their place" by public lynchings. So, yes, at this time and with this history, they may "co-opt" this word. I would be thrilled to see the day when that is no longer the way it is but for now, it is too much a part of recent history.
36
@Aurora
Trump never called for the execution of the Central Park Five. He took out full-page ads that called for the execution of muggers who murder their victims. The Central Park Five were not charged with murder because the Central Park Jogger was not murdered. One was accused of rape and the others were accused of assault. Trump did criticize the five after they confessed and were convict; so did most people.
3
@Aurora
You're equating two different things.
Proverbial lynching, which Trump claims is being perpetrated on him and REAL lynching, which is premeditated torture and murder, perpetrated on the powerless. These are two radically different concepts.
50
It's not a lynching, but that doesn't mean it's not disturbing. The weaponizing of the bureaucracy to accuse political leaders of being disloyal, dishonest, or in league with foreign powers was a standard tactic of purge trials in the Soviet Union and other totalitarian countries. It is important to realize that not all accusations in these cases were false: they typically contained a mix of true, false, and simply irrefutable allegations that were combined in a particular fashion depending on the person in question. No one is yet torturing victims or threatening to harm their children if they don't confess. But the parallels are upsetting.
2
And it’s also clear from Graham’s comment that he has no idea how the impeachment process works; when the trial begins in the Senate, Trump’s “very good” lawyers can be present and do just as competent a job of representing and protecting him as they’ve done in the past.
1
Thank you Mr. Bouie for this passionate and eloquent essay, touching the heart of the sickness of this nation, which the current Republican Party -- not just its putative leader, but the Party itself -- refuses to acknowledge and, by such refusal, makes so much worse.
4
Excellent column. I was dumbstruck by Graham's comments, too. Trump's tenure has apparently loosened any connection to decency Graham once grasped, most likely out of political convenience. (Spinelessness is almost always a lifelong condition.) His predecessor, Strom Thurman, another despicable senator from SC, would be proud.
11
Thank you for this article. The history of lynching in the US is just now coming into some degree of public awareness because of articles like yours. I am reminded of the film "The Green Mile", after reading in your article about the public spectacle surrounding the horrific death of Henry Smith.
We gather connections to historical events sometimes through odd threads. I became aware of a film adaption of Stephen King's book "The Green Mile" through a song by North Carolina born singer Eric Church. After seeing the film Eric Church wrote the song "Lightning" about a death row inmate's feelings leading up to his execution. Now when I listen to "Lightening" I will remember the innocent soul of Henry Smith and teaching moment of your article. Again, thank you.
5
While I agree with and applaud this publication, when are reporters going to start cross-examining Graham in real time instead of leaving the cleanup for opinion pieces?
When is someone going to ask him the difference between Republicans having the equal time and opportunity to question every witness in these closed door sessions and the right of cross examination that he is so incensed about?
When are they going to inquire when he’s going to schedule the same witnesses for public testimony in his own Senate committee?
When are they going to ask whether this means he’ll be introducing a bill to abolish the federal grand jury system since he is so concerned by the unfairness of one-sided investigations where there actually aren’t rights of representation, confrontation, and cross-examination?
Instead, we are left with images of Lindsay Graham decrying the lack of cross examination and then scurrying away and knotting a verbal noose for the Democrats while shedding the crocodile tears of abhorrence for a so-called political lynching.
If anyone needs to be effectively cross-examined it is Graham. Unfortunately, reporters trade it away for the continued “access” of being first in line for his propaganda and his fellow politicians relinquish it to the niceties of the civil discourse in the Senate. Graham knows that and continually plays us all for fools.
Let’s trade the frisson of after-the-fact analyses for the truths of in-the-moment confrontation.
23
I expect that to be Lindsay Graham must be a pretty uncomfortable space to occupy. His embrace of Trump might just be a way to draw on Trump's rage channel to change his emotional climate. Otherwise he has to accept that what he initially said about Trump was right and that he has been lying to himself and his constituents for the past 2 years and 9 months.
13
I'm a Democrat so I do expect to agree with many of Graham's positions but it was possible to respect him and I did. That's gone and it's a pity.
It should be noted that Graham didn't have to become Trump's poodle to gain re-election.
Integrity is lost not suddenly but drip by drip. Lindsay Graham is so far gone that he probably doesn't even recognize who he is anymore.
John McCain certainly wouldn't recognize his old friend.
27
Sen L Graham was described recently as a beta dog trailing dutifully at the behind the alpha of his pack. Though the beta dog is the quintessential follower, they do choose who to follow next when there is a scramble at the top. Sen Graham had a choice to make when his last alpha, Sen McCain, died. Sen Graham chose to follow DJT.
South Carolina voters will make a choice in 2020, may they chose more wisely and drum Sen Graham from the Senate.
18
Lindsey Graham's goal in all this is to get reelected. Simple as that. One can only hope that the good people of South Carolina wake up and finally decide to vote him out of office. He's the capable legislator he used to be and he's only giving them a band reputation.
8
Good people make up a minority of voters in South Carolina. It won’t happen. That’s why they have Graham to begin with.
A liar is NEVER a capable legislator.
When will the whining stop? Put up a decent candidate and beat Trump at the polls. I have heard nothing from Dems about their vision of America other than driving our debt trillions higher and attacks on the President.
1
@Chris Um, have you looked at the deficit lately? Whose doing is that?
60
Dems aren’t doing anything except defend the constitution; stand up for the rule of law; change our health care system so all Americans can have affordable health care; protect the environment so we can all breath clean air and drink clean water; provide affordable education for our children; and provide equal protection for everyone no matter their ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Other than that, you’re right. Their not doing anything.
20
@Chris Excuse me. It's the repubs who've shamelessly driven our debt into the trillions. The Dem's vision of America is to end this nightmare and truly make it great again. The only way to do this is to remove this horror from the White House.
3
Hate crimes should be condemned loudly and forever. Expropriating victimhood for such acts by those in positions of vast power calls for even sharper condemnation.
Adopting the victimhood of others offers a pathway to deny the validity of real victims’ claims of injustice. When rich and powerful white people claim they are drowning while safely standing on the heads of those underwater they debase the term victim.
There is nothing wrong with being born with advantages. But there is something sad if not wrong by failing to use those advantages to help others in particular and in general. The abomination is when the advantaged claim an illegitimate right to victimhood that both ignores past wrongs and perpetuates current ones.
241
I’m not a religious person, but I live in the hope of redemption. The men and women who have stood behind Trump need to wake up to the damage he is doing, stand up to him, and begin to make amends. It’s not too late.
7
What I don't like about Graham is that him and other members of the GOP are looking at this like it's a trial, when at this time it's an inquiry and they know that but are trying to make the people think otherwise.
The legal system calls for an investigation in the same manner of a grand jury, behind closed doors in order to determine if there is enough evidence to go to trial.
Graham and the others are afraid that if it does go to the senate that there will be to much evidence to discredit, so they want to kill it before it gets that far.
Trump is probably guilty because of greed and stupidity but Graham is just plain guilty of violating the constitution.
21
With almost all of the focus in the last three years on Trump, his outrageous statements and unfitness for the Oval Office, we seem to have forgotten that in the eyes of the public, most career politicians are insincere, untrustworthy and consumed with self-preservation. Senator Graham is just doing what politicians do.
7
Thank you for this powerful column. Let me add 2 points. The first is obvious: Trump and Graham are racist to the core. The second: Trump's claim of a lynching is an echo--I suspect intended--of Clarence Thomas's cynical charge that he was subjected to a "high tech lynching " for being asked reasonable questions in his confirmation hearing.
14
Historical legacies duly considered, Senator Graham is playing to the fact that too many Americans are woefully ignorant of civics in general, what to speak of the legal process surrounding the investigation of President Trump. There is no adversarial confrontation in an investigative phase. That happens during a trial. So for the Senator to assert that this is a singular outrage is patently absurd. However, it will fill a sound bite, and will be believed hook, line, and sinker by too many who will respond in Pavlovian fashion. But then, to expect them to accept that truth is truth, objective of whatever spin Trump or his minions like Senator Graham wish to put on it, is quite a stretch.
8
Graham should be ashamed. But, slavish support for Trump requires an ability to suspend decency, honor, honesty, and self-respect. Graham has managed to do this, spectacularly. History will remember.
10
The only thing I disagree with is that Graham knows better. Clearly he does not. Shame on him and, frankly, shame on his constituents for electing him over and over. He is a disgrace, just like McConnell and other GOP members of Congress that SHOULD know better, but don’t, and are repeatedly sent back to Congress. Shame on the voters who put them there.
8
I read that Graham faces a primary challenger from his right. Think about that. Graham has abased himself repeatedly in an effort to show the voters of South Carolina that he is sufficiently loyal to Trump to deserve reelection. You would have thought that his rant at the Kavanaugh hearings would have done the trick. He’s making a fool of himself. All for a few more years to strut before the cameras and play a few more rounds of golf with Trump.
12
who is the challenger? I'd like to send him a check.
Money. These people are all about money and the power it brings. And, crushing, humiliating those less fortunate. It’s an ugly time. I don’t see it changing.
8
Mr. Graham’s spine, decency and morality died with John McCain. Shame on him. I will never, not ever, understand how supposedly educated legislators allow themselves to grovel at the feet of Donald Trump.
8
@Shlyoness
Amen. I will never understand it either.
"I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf.”
How many African-American lynching victims were denied the right to "confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf" before they were murdered? How many more had a supposed day in court but then were dragged from their jail cell and murdered?
Graham is not just endorsing Trump's casual, ignorant use of the word, he is effectively saying lynching has never happened in this country.
Does anyone doubt that even now, in 2019, the hatreds of the Civil War and the Jim Crow era are still the heat that most reliably brings Trump's base to the boil? And Graham is happy to throw another match on the fire. Disgusting, the pair of them.
13
That these shells of human beings continue to command our attention is an indictment on all of us.
If these empty men-trump,Graham, McCarthy and the rest-remain as our leaders then we can only blame ourselves for being silent in the face of their banal evilness.
4
As a Southerner, I am tuned into politicians who can find and embrace bigotry and hypocrisy. Fear them, America. Graham, an empty suit, bears no resemblance to the Jimmy Carter's, Al Gore's, Bob Graham's who share my accent. He's frighteningly ambitious and wholly unprincipled.
16
Bouie fails to note that the first public figure to claim he was the victim of a lynching by his political opponents was a black man named Clarence Thomas, during the hearings to confirm him as a Supreme Court Justice. So while Trump is despicable and the history of actual lynchings is disgraceful and tragic, the term has taken on a secondary metaphorical but nonetheless deliberately shocking meaning to convey being a victim of an unfair political process. Ironically, Trump is more often the perpetrator, as in his effort to criminalize Hillary Clinton.
5
The roots of "lynching" rest in the notion of 'vigilante justice', like what, during earlier times-preceeding our own history measured in hundreds of years, was meant to supplement or replace legal procedure.
What will happen to Donald Trump, and his sycophantal devotees-and that includes what we have come to refer to as Trump's 'base', rests within the omnipresent, objective, and ultimately the single most important defining measure of a man or woman-'the crosshairs of History'.
And make no mistrake about what that entails: into eternity, Trump will forever be subjected to a legacy in which he will be shown to have habitually, grossly, and fervently lied and exaggerated whenever he attemted to explain his thoughts and actions.
And what a legacy 'everyone Trump' will have to explain away-and that's forever!, as they languish suspended by their heels in front of every History of Our Presidents basic 101 American History Class, ad infinitum.
1
One of the saddest things is life is watching the complete corruption of a person's soul.
I watch a lot of people give allegiance to a vicious bully and wonder when they sold off off their dignity and why.........
8
Yes, Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump are nothing more than water boys for the ultra-right. After ramming those protesters, Trump had the audacity to say, " there were good people on both sides". And let us not forget the Koch brothers, and the NRA that support this kind hate speech.
The voters that put Donald Trump into office, from the states that he promised many unfulfilled dreams, will definitely vote him out, in 2020.
3
@John Metz Clark I don't believe the people in the states that voted him in office will change their minds. Because it will be viewed as admission that made a mistake. That they believed in the bribe by a con man. Public Republicans have shown they cannot admit that. Which is why many have dug in and refuse to adjust their public stance.
I would like to add to this that Graham is ignoring the fact that this is not a trial. This is akin to a grand jury proceeding. A hearing, never help in public, where evidence is presented to a group of people to determine if there is enough in that evidence to go to the next step, an indictment. The confrontation between accused and accuser occurs during the trial phase. Once the grand jury concludes it's work, they vote to decide whether to proceed with an indictment. Same will be true here. And then, and only if the House votes to actually impeach, the Senate gets to do it's job. And then we will all see that Graham has already decided guilt versus innocence before he gets to see the evidence presented. He should sit down, shut up, and wait his turn. There is a reason grand juries are held behind closed doors and to swear the jurors to secrecy. So guys like Graham can't get the chance to shoot off their mouths and taint the ultimate process of blind justice. He's a lawyer and should know better. He will play a role as a juror in the trial. Not as a lawyer. If a juror did what Graham has done, he would be thrown out of the jury box. But I just can't imagine Mike Pence will do that. Graham's got a lot at stake here. Imagine if he has to start paying for his rounds of golf.
5
What is Lindsay Graham’s excuse? He does not have one because his remarks are indicative of who he really is and what he truly believes. He defends this president because Lindsay Graham like the rest of the Republican Party embraces Trump’s racism.
4
What we saw this week was Trump ordering a mob to disrupted a criminal inquire.
Trump has always been hinting at violence.
3 weeks ago trump said
" We knew how to handle Whistle blowers in the old days", hinting to the crowd that violence affectedly shuts people up.
Trump also ordered people not to co-operate with investigations of any wrong doings involving him.
When Republicans stormed the hearing and disrupted it, this was plain and simple mob rule.
This is how many lynchings started.
In the past, these people testifying could have been attacked by the mob , and today we have a President egging people on to do just that.
A sad time for America.
8
"Donald Trump's behavior." Too many writers act as if his behavior is some kind of mystery. But when you delve into sociopathy (and psychopathy) and strive to understand what people who are sociopaths are like, there you will find why Trump behaves as he does. Sociopaths are very shallow; they are neither intellectuals nor ideologues. They don't care about anyone but themselves because their brains are unable to feel empathy. They just can't do it. All you can do with sociopaths is restrain them--that is all they really understand. You cannot reason with them. You may even have to use jail if no other restraint works.
5
Susan Rice accurately described Lindsey Graham this past week.
3
Lindsey comes from an area of the US that took pride in lynchings. The scar of racism is evident in his support for Trump. The real tragedy is that southern states like South Carolina have never really come to terms with their past. Closet racists are rampant throughout South Carolina and other Confederate states.
2
I have lived all over this country. Racism isn’t regional. To think so is a huge part of the problem
Well said, Mr. Bouie. Graham has no excuse for hitching himself to Trump, and he has destroyed his own reputation by doing so. Whatever spine Graham had seems to have been interred with John McCain.
Bouie's point about the misuse and memory-holing of lynching is well presented, and well taken.
But I was also struck by this little tidbit from Lindsey Graham: "I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf.”
Graham is almost certainly being disingenuous here. He surely knows that during an investigation of any kind — civil, criminal, impeachment — the accused will get his or her "day in court," but not at every step along the way.
Imagine if a murder suspect were allowed, from day one, to stand side by side with investigators to question potential witnesses as they are brought in.
Lindsey Graham is a loathsome, spineless liar who, like so many of his fellow politicians, prioritizes a single goal — his own perpetual re-election — ahead of all other values.
8
Three motives drive Lindsey Graham’s bizarre sycophancy towards Trump. One is his desire to win his reelection in 2020 in South Carolina, a state loaded with white nationalist Trump lovers. Second, Graham is driven by a desire to influence Trump’s policies. There may be a third motive, which could explain his obvious desperate attempts to protect Trump, even at a cost of destroying his former reputation: he is being blackmailed by Trump/Putin for some secret that, if revealed, would destroy him.
The first motive is the most likely if one assumes Graham has no true ideology or ethics and is entirely consumed with ambition. Under this scenario, Graham is a soulless cynic who do or say anything to say in office.
The second motive has already blown up. Trump has publicly scorned Graham, arguing he should stick to picking right wing judges. In essence, Trump told Graham to stay out of all other policies, such as the recent US betrayal of its putative Kurdish allies.
The third reason is entirely speculative, but is the only one that could show why Graham acts so desperate and willingly torches his reputation in the service of Trump, a truly despicable figure. If so, one can only imagine the scary kompromat.
3
Spot on the mark Mr. Bouie. Donald Trump most assuredly does not realize the horrific implications of the word lynching. And Trump is pressed to name them, other than Martin Luther King, Jr. the victim of a racist assassin, he couldn't name three martyrs who gave their lives for the cause of Civil Rights and the struggle racial equality in America. Does Trump know who Emmitt Till, Medger Evers, Michael Swarner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were and how they died? Most likely NO.
3
Mr. Graham’s current stance is a disgraceful travesty.
So much for what he stated during his interview on Axios!
Asked by Jonathan Swan if he would be open minded to support impeachment, he acquiesced and responded:
“Sure, I mean. Show me something that is a crime. If you can show me that Trump actually was engaged in a quid pro quo outside of a phone call, that would be very disturbing.
There you have it! Graham was teary eyed by the end of the interview. So was it because his arm was bent backwards or because he was ashamed. Shame on him for supporting the notion that the impeachment inquiry of the president is synonymous with being lynched!
1
Trying to figure Graham out, a long-time project for me, I stumbled on to a perhaps useful thought:
Lindsey wants and needs conflict; he's a fighter by nature. He also wants to win and gain attention, but those are obvious, well-known, and common.
Contentiousness may be a helpful trait for a lawyer, and, lord, he loves to contend:
As one vivid example, before he was for Trump, he was shockingly against him, calling him unfit for office and worse, all the time with that disdaining sneer worn with practiced perfection.
Seeing that Trump was popular in his state, however, Graham saw the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: (1) gain supporters, and (2) participate in legal or political argumentation as a facade for his innate contentiousness.
Such is a priority for him. Instead of legislating and attending to the needs of his constituents, he has time and abundant energy to argue endlessly on TV news shows and make well-crafted signs to use in the Senate to communicate his pet project: redeeming Trump.
It must keep him up at night, trying to create ever-better arguments for his self-imposed mission. But he likes it; it floats his boat.
It's disappointing, puzzling, and fascinating to watch, though.
Someone may pen an in-depth psychobiography of Graham someday. Many of us will read with great interest the story of a talented man fighting just to be fighting. He can't help himself; he's a victim of his personality. Many of us, in different ways, share such fates.
5
The most illuminating thing I have read about the fellow. Thank you for the comment. And yes, I look forward to some kind of biography someday.
3
He’s not That interesting . What’s interesting is that he was picked out for public presentation when he first entered congress. He was one of about four freshman congresspeople to be featured for a year when they were 1st year Representatives on PBS Newshour.
3
@Jk
You're welcome, Jk, and thanks for reading.
Graham is a fellow human being, of course, so he can't completely hide who he is from us. Unfortunately, many of us share in such human shortcomings. After all, we are but animals with clothes on, so we naturally harbor many violent, embarrassing traits, thoughts, and tendencies.
And yet many of us are, financially at least, thriving. We've invented the arts, music, and educated societies, extending our life expectancies. How great is that!
But, boy, if those powers are misused, which is easy to do, there's gonna be trouble in River City.
2
As a resident of South Carolina, for a long time I wanted to believe that Senator Graham was an "old school" Republican with moderate instincts - hawkish to be sure, but willing to compromise if necessary.
The last three years have revealed my beliefs to be a lie, and Mr. Graham to be a despicable hypocrite. As many comments note, he is facing reelection here in 2020, and unfortunately, President Trump remains popular in the state. Mr. Graham has made a cold calculation, aligning himself with the President to win reelection, and staying to close to the White House to affect policy where possible.
Mr. Graham does indeed "know better." He knows the horrible history of lynching in this state, and he knows that Mr. Trump is corrupt. But like Mr. Trump, Senator Graham craves power and influence. The kid from Central, SC loves nothing more than to be on camera and in the thick of things. He is willing to trade morality and the rule of law for political power.
In Columbia, SC today, President Trump will be the keynote speaker on the topic of justice at an event sponsored by Benedict College, a historically black college. Just think about that. In the meantime, we have an excellent Democratic candidate, Jaime Harrison, who's running against Senator Graham and who happens to be African-American. For all our sakes, I hope my fellow South Carolinians finally see Mr. Trump and Mr. Graham for the arrogant, power hungry men they truly are, and vote these horrible people out of office.
704
Why would an HBC invite trump as a speaker? Disgusting to give him that microphone!
35
@karen
The Democratic candidates were also invited and many of them will also be speaking; it's a multi-day event on justice and criminal justice reform. My understanding is that President Trump's speech is an invitation only, ticketed event, and it's not clear who will actually be there. We'll see how many students can actually attend.
16
@jrinsc
Well said.
Going forward, we might as well refer to Lindsay Graham BT and Lindsay Graham AT - Before Trump and After Trump.
"Despicable hypocrite" doesn't begin to describe him.
36
Thank you for focusing us on the enablers of Trump's autocratic behavior. Lindsey Graham is Exhibit A. The man has descended into the abyss and is now just a shell of a human being.
Before Donald Trump, I don't think I could say that any person truly disgusted me, but that is now what I, and I sense millions of others, feel for Trump, Graham and the other sycophants that surround them. They are truly destroying this great country.
Impeachment aside, there is only one remedy: get out the vote in 2020!
51
What a great column. It's so easy to get lost in the continual diatribe of Trumps rantings. You blink and there's a new twitter outrage from this child man.
"Graham hasn’t just embraced the president, he’s embraced Trump’s total shamelessness — his absolute failure to hold himself accountable to any worthwhile standard of character."
Insert nearly all of the GOP for Graham's and you've summed up the Republicans almost as a whole.
What a stain Trumps reign is going to be on American history, what a marker point for where it lost it's way and sped downhill.
28
Lindsay Graham is a puzzle to me.
He's not dumb, so I can only imagine that he knows that in 375 days, Trump will be sent packing.
He's not clueless, so he knows that 27% of South Carolinians are Black, and will not think kindly of these remarks. Most white folks too, though that's harder to measure.
He's not young (64), so he must be thinking about legacy. Then again, he has no kids, so it might be hard to be invested in the future.
He will come to regret this chapter in his life.
316
@Cousy
I'm not sure: Graham wants and need political fistfights; they give him the will to live, to get out of bed in the morning. It's just who he is.
12
@Cousy He will indeed, if there's any justice at all. But look at his eyes when he speaks. There is something seriously wrong there. He never engages anyone directly, never makes eye contact with reporters. They just roll around like a person unfocused. Eyes are the windows into the soul. What dark secrets do they hide?
36
@Cousy You see a puzzle, I see craven greed. Even as he contradicts his earlier stands on impeachment, and grovels in front of the corrupt would-be-dictator that is our President, the evidence is there for us all to see. His deep insensitivity to history ought to be enough to disqualify him as Senator. That he allows the President to usurp a word that is fraught with despicable history is hardly a surprise coming from the toady that is Lindsay Graham. But it’s disgusting.
26
I appreciate your opinion and the details in this country link, horrid as they are.
At the same time, why is it that people don’t recognize graham’s hypocrisy? His unfailing allegiance to a bigoted, misogynistic, dishonest, corrupt president who is unfit to govern. Actually, he doesn’t govern so much as dictate. We do not need a dictator.
Unless congress acts in the interest of the government or the voters take back control, I fear we will be in a worse position going forward, despite your attempt to educate readers. The division in the country is made all the more obvious by the faces in our government and the willingness of so many to abdicate their oaths of office and trample on the Constitution.
17
To Trump and company, lynching isn't a horrific, brutal act committed by the powerful against the powerless; it's just another word to be employed dishonestly.
184
@Harry Finch
Remember: He has all the best words. That probably points at the single most deplorable thing about him. If debate is a matter of "having the best words" it is totally meaningless and detached from the real world.
1
Jamelle,
Thank you for your eloquent review of the context of lynching, and how that term is sadly abused by Trump and Graham. But the Republican party only paid lip service in those unanimous Senate votes, and now with Trump, renounce even that. Trump, in his deeply racist rants, in his policies from tax to environmental rollbacks, in denying blacks housing in his properties, and in his entire demeaner, is far closer to being a perpretator, than a victim, of lynching.
9
Thank you for historical facts that are not taught in school. As for Lindsay Graham, his conscience was John McCain. When McCain died, we were left with this hollow suit of a senator. He is smart. But he is not courageous and, apparently, has no moral compass of his own. It is a disappointment and a shame.
14
You give far too much credit to Mr McCain. What conscience does it take to select Sarah Palin as a VP? He resisted Pres Obama at almost every turn. Don’t romanticize the dead, please.
@Frank John McCain is rolling in his grave. Least Lindsay can do is let him rest.
1
Both Trump and Graham need to take a short field trip and visit the National Museum of African American History, located a short distance from where they both work on a very aptly named street called Constitution Avenue. A southerner Senator and a former landlord, who in the past has been accused of racially motivated rental practices, can both benefit from a good history lesson.
11
Clarence Thomas turned the tables by claiming his hearings were a "high tech lynching," and it's hard to imagine this isn't part of a similar strategy.
Use wildly inappropriate language is straight out of the Republican playbook, and nothing is more inappropriate than this one.
Aside from attempting to trash an entirely constitutional process, don't forget how the dog whistling plays to the white base.
14
Thank you, Jamelle Bouie, for this timely reminder of the history of lynching in America.
Lindsey Graham has become the poster boy for self-debasement in service to Donald Trump. He's made the calculated choice to misrepresent the Constitution in order to ingratiate himself with Donald Trump and his alt-right base. In the process, Lindsey has lost his honor and his soul. He deserves to go down with the sinking Trumptanic.
21
Lindsay Graham’s job as a U.S. Senator is to be a check on the President, as described in the Constitution’s separation of the three branches of government.
His oath to serve in that capacity did not include asking him to disgracefully serve as 45’s cheerleader or his water boy. Why any South Carolinian would think Graham’s behavior is ok and is not ashamed, is the actual problem. Graham represents anyone who calls themselves a South Carolinian.
13
Just one clarification, 4000 is the approximate number only of documented lynchings, the ones we can put a name to; the actual number is likely many multiples larger.
18
Lindsay Grahams excuse is fear. He is afraid to speak against the president. He is also an opportunist. He has ascertained that backing Trump regardless of his crimes, is the key to his re-election. Of course he will cite a myriad of false moral arguments to support his ridiculous support but undaunted he presses on.
He is the textbook definition of a sycophant, a toady.
18
too bad we can't force him to make the statement while standing under the nation memorial. if pictures of the memorial chill me, maybe being there would have an effect on him.
9
Seriously, how can you be shocked anymore by Graham's behavior. He has proven to be a sell out to Trump on many prior occasions. Graham comes cheap a couple games of golf and the occasional White House consultation. Apparently Lindsey main claim to future fame is that he can be a puppy dog to powerful people of the moment.
I am a great admirer of John McCain. So the only thing that shocked me is that McCain was not a better judge of character of his close pal. Because Graham has turned into the kind of political weasel that I thought Senator McCain would have despised.
22
McCain also was not a very good judge of character when choosing a VP candidate. Perhaps one should look at more of his “friends.”
@Babel. Maybe Graham is trying to make up to trump for being a friend to his arch enemy, Sen. John McCain. The question is, "How low does Lindsay have to bow" to erase trump's memory of that friendship, if ever?
@Barney In Brooklyn Ask Steve Schmidt and the desperation vetting that went along with that one.
Above all Graham is politically shrewd, as well as being intelligent. He's betting on something, and I really wonder what it is because his bet is more than sizable.
6
@James F Traynor - Everyone in Trump's orbit ends up paying a price. How smart can Graham be if he tethers himself to Trump?
@DR
Because he knows something we don't?
Every word out of Trump's mouth is a projection onto someone else of his own thoughts or behavior. It is Trupmp and his administration that is going lawless trying to figuratively lynch all those who try to follow the rule of law.
What is wrong with Graham to support this? The only explanation I can think of is that Trump has unleashed the real Lindsey and he turns out to be a little man who needs to be next to power to appear tall. Look at his eyes during that interview when he supported Trump. They are the eyes of a man in a dark place who has sold his soul. He knows he can't turn back.
16
Graham's entire political career has been marked by hitching his wagon to the star of the moment. He has never done anything of note on his own. So now he's tied himself to Trump. His fall is going to be long and hard. And a joy to watch.
22
As a child of Italian immigrants, my parents taught us and burned into our collective being, just how many Italians were lynched in this country. My parents made sure we understood racism, stereotypes and downright prejudice. I can often remember my father who served in the Italian military in WWII, making sure his children understood that American was/is one of the most racist and fascist country on earth. In fact, when my father died in 2010, he made me take his ashes back to Italy as he wanted no further part of this racist country.
13
I'll say this.
I think that years from now this period in our history is going to be a lot like East/West Germany in that many people are going to look back on their behavior with shame and urgently try to pretend like it never happened.
16
I look at this picture and have the very unsettling thought that if I were living in South Carolina at the time, I too might be filled with joy that a black man had been killed, and those who killed him had been freed to kill again.
Fear breeds hate. I have long been a proponent of the return of the draft, so the children of the rich, of the white, of the poor, of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, scrub toilets and floors and work together and learn to appreciate their common humanity.
I am grateful for the many black leaders who so patiently, and against the tides of hate, stood their ground and educated the American people.
Does anyone doubt that if Trumpian autocracy gets its way, this picture will be repeated in many communities in America?
Hugh
197
@Hugh Massengill
I don’t doubt it. Lynching may be theoretical to a lot of white people who are not concerned because being white gives them a sense of security.
I’ve had a rising, palpable sense of fear for my biracial family since the beginning of this misbegotten administration.
For people who aren’t concerned about the possibility of another dark chapter like this one in American history, because it won’t happen to them:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
30
@Hugh Massengill
I appreciate and respect your honesty. I grew up in a racist home but as I matured it became more and more obvious that there was something wrong. The last straw was when a wimpy family member decided he needed a gun to complete his macho delusion. He returned from a shooting range one day with a target of the silhouette of a black man running. They hung it up and laughed at it. Eventually I left and never went back and haven’t spoken to or seen my family in 20 years. It was not just the depravity of such things but the laughing at the oppression of others while demanding every entitlement life has to offer that was beyond offensive. I admit objectivity takes effort but that’s not an excuse to be so devoid of decency, as you have shown in your comment.
31
@Hugh Massengill Thanks for the honesty. I am glad for you that you were not in that picture.
14
Oh my. I am ashamed. I live in Greenville, SC, and Graham is my Senator. For punishment in using such a hurtful word, he and Trump should be required to travel to Montgomery, visit the National Memorial and read the history of each lynching.
Graham is an embarrassment.
457
@Jcp For all our sakes, I have to hope you are actively engaged in supporting his opponent in next year's election, and encouraging people to get out and vote next November.
42
@Jcp
That wouldn’t solve anything, unfortunately trump would immediately turn that trip into a farce... he’d do something idiotic and inappropriate, he’d make a despicable rambling self aggrandizing speech that would surely be covered by the media, which would further energize his racist followers and embarrass the nation... Graham would just nod and go along with anything trump said, excusing the inexcusable and explaining away the unexplainable.
The memorial is a place to honor those that suffered, to educate those who are willing to learn...
Both these men care nothing for anyone else but themselves, least of all trump who only honors himself and is opposed to learning anything at all.
They are both garbage, it would serve no purpose to have their malicious presence intrude on such a solemn and meaningful place.
23
@Jcp They have visited memorials....they don't care. They're tired of having to be so politically correct all the time. It's a genuine struggle for them to keep up the facade. Racism is evil and so are they.
42
It is nice that the senate passed a bill that would make lynching a federal crime, now that the era of widespread racial murders has passed. In the 1930s a similar bill was twice introduced in congress. On the first occasion, FDR refused to support the measure out of a realistic fear that infuriated southern representatives from his own party would help defeat major New Deal legislation. The second time, if I remember correctly, he did support the bill, but by then his political influence had begun to wane, and the proposal again failed to pass.
Roosevelt's political calculation deserves scrutiny and perhaps condemnation, but at least he faced a dilemma in which either choice entailed a high cost to the country. Graham thinks only in terms of his own petty interests, and the verdict of historians will reflect none of the ambiguity that complicates the evaluation of FDR's actions.
If Graham sold his soul to the orange devil in exchange for access, how ironic that, on an issue that genuinely mattered to him (American policy toward the Kurds), that access did not translate into real influence. Too late, Graham may be learning the lesson taught by the history of earlier demagogues. The enablers, not the leader, undergo a transformation which erodes the difference between themselves and their master.
11
Mr. Bouie makes excellent points. Another reason that Graham cannot be excused from his callous remarks, is because he knows (as a lawyer) that his statement about how he's "never seen a situation" where the accused "cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses" is patently false. Every criminal trial begins with investigations and grand jury testimony done without confronting the accusers. During the trial, the accused gets opportunities to confront the accuser. Currently, the impeachment is at the investigation phase (in the House). When it reaches the trial phase (in the Senate) Trump will be able to face his accusers just like every other person accused of a crime.
37
Exactly!! These false whines about a lack of due process are infuriating, especially to me as an attorney to see other alleged attorneys either lie or show their ignorance.
2
As one of Donald Trump's chief apologists and enablers, Sen. Graham has compromised whatever moral integrity he once possessed. He may occasionally castigate a Trump decision, as he did recently with the President's rash withdrawal of US troops from Syria, but this is just lip service to his own empty conscience. Graham is now fully a partisan hack, no longer a patriot hero as he once postured himself when he ran the corridors of Washington in John McCain's shadow. There have been weak and callow men in Congress before, but has there even been a man as frightened of his own fecklessness as Lindsey Graham? He seeks the limelight to prove he casts a shadow. Did McCain hang out with him out of pity?
49
While I empathize with the reaction to the use of the word 'lynching', this article would be better if it were focused solely on the misuse of that word, since it is casually used by people in general, and not just on the right or in this administration.
Focusing only on trump & Graham's use of the word distracts us from the more egregious part of Graham's statement "this is un-American. I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf." This is one big huge whopper of a lie. Graham knows the procedure for impeachment is similar to a grand jury. The accused does not get to sit in on that procedure and determine what is or is not evidence against him/her. And it is not un-American, in fact, it is un-American to call it that. I would call it a violation of Graham's oath to the Constitution to say such a thing.
67
@Barbara
" it is casually used by people in general "
where , who ?
NEVER heard it casually or otherwise
I'm 66 yo
2
@thostageo
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/10/23/why-trump-used-lynching-metaphor/
just a few examples. I've never personally used the term, it is not widely used, but it is used. My point remains - by focusing on the word lynching, we play into trump's uncanny ability to rile everyone up, while Graham attacks our system of government unchecked. And I'm not saying we shouldn't review the use of this word... just not ignore the statement Graham should be impeached for.
Thank you for this thoughtful and sobering column. You write:
"As a lawmaker who represents that state [South Carolina] — who represents families and communities upended by racial terrorism past and present — Graham has a particular responsibility to that history. He owes his constituents a degree of sensitivity, an awareness of the weight of a word like 'lynching'.”
As a senator from South Carolina, Graham could have used the occasion to talk thoughtfully, carefully, solemnly and with sensitivity and sorrow about the awful weight of the word "lynching". Instead, he airily defended the president's use of the word. I don't expect much from Graham, but his lapse of judgment on this issue is particularly shocking.
60
Having abandoned any semblance of reasoned governance, Sen. Graham and his fellow Republicans now gnash their teeth, spew lies and vitriol in their attempt to cling to the coattails of arguably the most vile of Presidents in American history.
All this to remain in power!
It makes “term limits” seem worthy of consideration. It appears that the downside of experienced legislators is their tendency to overly value their aggregation of power to the detriment of democracy. Lindsey has plenty of company in this regard. It’s past due for a good House & Senate cleaning.
63
This is an excellent column. It is always a good idea for Americans to reflect on our history of lynching in our country and the lasting impact of slavery and racism that have never been fully addressed.
I do think we all need to stop giving Senator Graham and Trump's other apologists the benefit of the doubt, however. We have moved beyond "they should know better." We need to cease the narrative that they are somehow trapped in an unwinnable political situation or that they are 'just trying to survive in a Trump lead GOP.' This lets them off the hook way too easily and will allow them to spin their support in the future when they try to distance themselves from Trump in the future.
We should simply take the Graham, Trump, and the GOP at their word and conclude that they support White Supremacy and authoritarian rule.
63
When I read essays like this about Graham, I can't help but think that John McCain was not just his friend and frequent war-hawk mate, but also kept his more indecent opinions muted. The GOP needs McCain. Mr. Bouie mentions that Graham needs to express a sensitivity toward his South Carolina constituents but that is one of the many things the modern GOP is in rebellion against. It is trying to conserve a lost era where there was little to no sympathy for other humans.
44
Mr. Bouie: What a great column! I always enjoy reading your work, but this one really struck me. Thank you.
28
@Awells I HOPE THAT THIS COLUMN WILL BE CARRIED THROUGHOUT THE EDITORIAL PAGES OF NEWSPAPERS IN THE "FORMER LYNCHING STATES" AND READ BY MANY, ESPECIALLY MR. GRAHAM. THESE INJUSTICES ARE STILL PRESENT IN OUR AMERICAN PSYCHE AND PRESIDENT TRUMP'S RHETORIC REMINDS US THAT WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO AS A NATION TO RESOLVE OUR HISTORICAL CRIMES AND THE ONES WE ARE CURRENTLY INVOLVED IN(KURDS).
12
I read not only national news publications but occasionally local ones. S.C. papers recently reported that Graham leads ‘all’ Senators nationally in terms of campaign re-election funds raised.
There’s the USA writ large and then its segregated parts of varied concerns. We have to hand it to The GOP and their rich patrons as being far superior political strategists and tacticians than Dems for the past couple of decades yet also accomplishing that as a minority interest group!
If media is the voice, eyes and ears of The People whose intimately ‘whispering’ in their ears daily not shouting from a distance? Local representation matters and must be of a greater priority than one national leader. That Smaller areas are easier to manage for results is a political maxim that political campaigners must realize.
27
@Samuel Owen
When Dem Presidential Candidates hold campaign rallies locally it is not enough to stump on national issues of polices they must also attack local politicians up for re-election too!. That’s fair game because hypothetical, dishonest or incompetent Congress members are a governing issue.
2
That men like Graham are elected over and over to important governmental offices, is an indictment of universal suffrage and the society which created and nurtured the participants.
Voters racism, bigotry and prejudices will never be excised from their choices. It is simply the frailty of human behavior.
31
Mr. Bouie, thank you for the column pointing out the flawed analogy and gross historical misuse of the word "lynching."
Lynchings, killings happened because mobs used overwhelming force to carryout a judgment with extreme finality. Before the lynching, the victim had no propaganda organ, i.e. Fox News or the Republican party acting as a counter mob to prevent the murders. The victim did not have the awesome power of the Executive Branch of the United States government at his disposal to push back with a team of lawyers.
Trump is using all these vast amount of resources to prevent his removal from office. Regardless, when he is in fact impeached, that is not a lynching for he will be accorded all the Due Process of a Senate Hearing presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, as permitted by the United States Constitution.
"When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present."
Article I, Section 3, Clause 6
Should Trump be removed, the vote of 2016 still counts, for those who voted for Mike Pence will have their will carried out when he succeeds Trump. Thus, an impeachment does not reverse the 2016 vote.
52
They play at politics, a game of strategy. They represent their own careers, not the People.
44
@Gerard
Trump wanted the president of Ukraine put in a "public box" by announcing an investigation into Ukrainian involvement in 2016 and an investigation into Biden. But this was a trap.
Once Zemlinsky publicly came out for this, trump could withhold money and arms, forcing Ukraine to give up fighting putin. exactly what Putin ordered him to do I suspect.
There was no real quid pro quo because trump never intended to give them the money. It's far worse than bribery or extortion.
1
Thank you, Mr. Bouie. Your argument was persuasive and meaningful. However, it falls short when it asserts that Lindsey Graham should know better. I'm convinced that Graham does know better but he just doesn't care.
Lindsey Graham has never achieved fame because of his own actions. Instead he managed to hitch himself onto someone else. For the past two decades it was a case of "Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham." Now, he has successfully inserted himself into the aura of Donald Trump.
After Trump is gone, we'll find him" photo-bombing" another political leader. That's what he cares about.
119
Lindsey's excuse? He wants to make sure no one gets to the right of him, here in Dixie. In his last reelection , he faced a contentious primary and almost lost. He is also on video tape saying that 'everyone in Washington is there to get reelected. And if you're not, you shouldn't be there.' (I am para-phrasing his quote).
Hopefully, there are enough liberal thinkers moving to SC to vote him out; like we did in the first congressional district in 2018 with Joe Cunningham
149
Graham wants to keep his seat in the senate. He wants to keep his seat far more than he wants human decency and the rule of law to prevail. The bigger question is whether the majority of voters in South Carolina want him to keep his seat more than they care for human decency and the rule of law.
254
@Cynical
He should also know the difference between an inquiry and an indictment. The inquiry, with representation by members of both parties, is gathering evidence. If the evidence is strong enough the indictment becomes the impeachment. Then there is a trial, in. The Senate, where both sides have the full rights of our system of justice. The trial ends with a vote of guilty or not guilty.
34
Pass history with the voters in SC would indicate that Graham is in no danger. The voting record is that those voters will condone heinous acts from politicians who are rock ribbed conservatives.
8
@Cynical Sadly, the people of S. Carolina have been justifying their hatreds and fears for over 300 years and using their Christian religion to do it. Most people don’t know the history of how Christianity justified such bias because it allowed white planters to use black slave labor and NOT feel guilty or “unChristian.” This attitude predates American slave usage and comes from the Caribbean use and justification of slave labor to raise sugar cane. Humanity can justify all kinds of immoralities to support the bottom line.
12
My elderly parents live in South Carolina. My mother used to like Lindsay Graham because, she says, he was "like John McCain" - someone who seemed to think for himself and could get along with Democrats. No longer.
My mom says she will not vote for Graham again and despises him. There is no coming back to normalcy for Graham. Like Giuliani, he has forever ruined his reputation in the Trump era. Let's hope he gets voted out.
627
@JS27 I live in South Carolina and I am beyond disgusted with Lindsay Graham. Although I generally favor Democrats, I voted for Senator Graham early on in his career. Never again. In my opinion, he is an embarrassment to himself and every citizen in our beautiful state.
58
I have been around politicians all my life and what I do know is at some point, in public or private, they will reveal who they really are. Graham has chosen to reveal his true self in public. Graham in a NYT interview sometime back said he supports Trump because of the access he gets. Well, opportunism for Graham is more important than principles.
209
Linsey Graham is most certainly aware of the fact that Trump will indeed have the chance to defend himself, call witnesses, etc, IF the inquiry finds the evidence to proceed.
And he thinks he can compare the rationality of this process with a rope slung over a tree and a frenzied mob?
He and Trump are the ones calling for a mob.
342
@ST Just another form of projection. With trump there is no bottom to victimhood.
2
@ST -- Their seeming support/encouragement for right wing terrorism continues unabated.
Let's hope the Citizenry is moved to vote these horrible people OUT.
1
"The reason to condemn Trump and Graham for their “lynching” remarks is not to score a partisan point or because it will make a difference in their language or behavior. It’s because we haven’t actually resolved the trauma of the past. Historical spaces are still contested. The scars are still present."
Yes.
And because Trump and Graham were NOT lynched.
76
We are so deep into the nightmare of this administration that even the most heinous of behaviors by Republicans elicit only a cynical shrug by all, even Democrats. How low we have sunk!
My only hope is that if or when this horror show is over, people like McConnell, Graham, Pence, Barr, Gaetez, etc, will be suitably reviled and ostracized by all non-Republican, good people of honor.
There are no honorable Republicans left who will step up to the plate. Those who could do so are hiding in the shadows of their donors' wallets.
291
Well - Lindsay et al have gone so far down the rabbit hole that there really is no other way than continuing.
An about face now would look farsical so he has to support DJT.
In the aftermath he will most probably state that he was trying to contain DJT.
Voters memory is many times woefully short.
97
@Carl voters memories are nonexistent in the Republican Party unless it is something bad about a democrat that their media has sold them. ..... but I have to wonder..... was there really a reason for graham to make any defensive comment at all about "lynching"? he seems to be willfully digging the rabbit hole deeper.
I live about twenty minutes away from the Equal Justice Initiative's National Memorial for Peace and Justice in downtown Montgomery. Because of the grim nature of that memorial, I have not been able to bring myself to attend--I haven't been ready to face the vile reality of vigilante "justice" on the part of people who may have been ancestors of mine simply because my family has Southern roots.
How I hope none of my kin were involved in lynchings. I studied the photograph of the acquitted white men and their families, looking for resemblances to my own relatives.
But just yesterday, a friend and I discussed the "lynching" memorial and decided that we are going there next week. Maybe I will be able to handle the awful truths about human nature that the memorial seems to contain. Facing the worst about ourselves, the possibilities for evil that lie within all human beings--these things are not and should not be easy.
I am not surprised that our president, who demonstrates his intellectual laziness each time he opens his mouth or presses letters on his phone, has compared his treatment to that of a lynching. I am not surprised that Lindsey Graham has supported him. And in about thirty years--the length of time history usually requires for the truth to come out--I will not be surprised to learn that Trump and Graham and other supporters of this corrupt regime have been bought and paid for by Vladimir Putin.
Putin is not celebrated for his love of justice.
369
@TinyBlueDot I grew up and lived in the rural Deep South as a young adult. When I visited the memorial, I cried the entire time. I was embarrassed at first when I burst into tears, but then I saw that others were doing the same. It's an amazing memorial. I felt sad, afraid for my country under Trump and the GOP, but also thankful to the artist for giving me the chance to grieve.
178
@Panthiest
Just looking at the picture of it brings deep solemnity and sadness. I'm sure I would be in tears in that space. The artist certainly did their job well.
30
@TinyBlueDot I commend you on facing your struggles and heading to the Memorial. Of course it's going to be hard. Please remember, no matter how hard it is for you, remember those that didn't get to decide when they were ready to be lynched. It was foisted upon them and then summarily ignored by our country for far too long.
Thanks for sharing this and I hope others will read your remarks and join you next week. Your strength is our country's strength.
9
Thank you for this incredible column.
Perspective is subject to context, and the context you've provided us is rooted in history that none of us want to remember; therefore a forgotten perspective is inevitable. So, thank you for your work in bringing things back into focus.
129
It’a not that Trump doesn’t know about the atrocities. He doesn’t care.
As for Lindsey Graham, he rose to fame on the back of Sen. John McCain. Now that the real hero is gone, Graham is a shell of a man. He needs someone to prop him up. Trump apparently represents strength to him. There are times when he rises above himself. But he can’t sustain the momentum. He resorts to political legalize and uses what he perceives to be the best argument for the moment, even if it means he contradicts himself.
185
@Mary Doan you broach something I have been wondering about...... how could mccain not see the real graham? and by extension how could he not see Palin coming a mile away? we will never know the answer to that question but those are two pretty large lapses in judgement.
7
Graham's excuse is he's been taking money for so long to finance his political machine that he is just a tool for special interests. Three years ago he said Trump was unfit for office, now he's the next Lincoln. The solution is term limits and no more private campaign donations.
370
@John Reynolds
Agreed.
It's ironic that before he became president, Lincoln was a licensed bartender by profession. Perhaps the real "next Lincoln" is the woman Trump mocked as a "young bartender", Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
6
@KJ Lincoln was an attorney, and a sought after one at that. He served 4 terms in the State Legislature and one in the US House. Are you confusing the bar (as in attorneys are called to the bar) with working at a bar? And, just a hint, no licensing for bartenders in those days.
10
@John Reynolds
Term limits is not the answer; the effect of limiting congressional terms would be to pack the Senate and House with a rotation of naive newcomers, who would be even more at the mercy of a genuine "deep state" of lobbyists and unelected congressional staffers than the current Congress.
6
" I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where someone is accused of a major misconduct and cannot confront the accuser or call witnesses on their behalf.”
Um, yeah, it's called a Grand Jury Hearing. Happens all of the time. When the trial comes (with impeachment that would be the Senate part, Mr. Graham), then the accused can confront his accusers and call witnesses.
Don't be surprised at the hyperbole of Trump's description of his 'suffering.' He once said he was being treated worse than any other president, even Lincoln (who was, of course, assassinated).
806
@Anne-Marie Hislop
Trump has suffered unimaginably. You remember, he couldn't fight in the Vietnam war like my two cousins did, because of that unfortunate bone spur in his foot.
Poor guy.
51
@Anne-Marie Hislop
Exactly correct. Graham, the consummate sycophant, knows perfectly well that the right to confront one's accusers applies to trials and not hearings or investigations.
But it's a nice red-meat soundbite for their false-information "base."
60
@Anne-Marie Hislop
Lincoln wasn't the only one who was assassinated or suffered an attempted assassination. I can't even name off hand what Presidents were subjected but here goes, Lincoln, McKinley, Ford, Kennedy, Reagan, and there are probably more.
12
I think you are giving Trump too great a pass on this.
Of course he is aware of the history of lynching.
His use of the word was strategic, it was designed to inflame, and it did.
And while we are inflamed, we take out attention away...not only from the current investigations; Southern District of NY, House of Representatives, but also our mourning of the passing of a far more noble politician, Elijah Cummings.
561
@Ellen
Yes, his supporters celebrate lynchings. His use of the word was another signal to Trump's white supremacist base to be ready to commit violence on his behalf.
7
How much I look forward to Mr. Bouie's columns and newsletter. There have been many attempts in the past few days to respond to Trump's offense and Graham's defense of that offense, but I think this column provides the historical perspective as well as thoughtful outrage for Trump and Graham's ongoing assault on our nation's values.
197
This is a powerful statement. It provides, through a carefully constructed context, the tragedy for our country seen in the behavior of Mr. Graham. I am regularly astounded at the willingness of those such as he and Senator McConnell to cover for a man so unfit for his office, and who is so willing to put his own sad needs ahead of our nation's.
I find myself continually asking if there will be any moment when they put our nation and its people ahead of their strange loyalty to this shadow of a president.
401
@Laurence Carbonetti . I have to conclude that moment will come only when their calculation of their own political survival makes that switch a smart move. What profiles in courage they are not!
83
@Laurence Carbonetti : You write "I find myself continually asking if there will be any moment when they put our nation and its people ahead of their strange loyalty to this shadow of a president."
I ask that as well. I know it's been bandied about a lot, but really what we're seeing is less a political party than it is a cult, defending its leader at all costs. To crib something I read elsewhere, the last time we saw this kind of loyalty to a leader, people flew airplanes into skyscrapers.
42
@LizJ
Profiles in cowardice = Republican Leadership.
2
Thank you for this column. The only thing I would add is that Graham is representative of almost all of the Republican Party now. None of them seem to adhere to any worthwhile standards of character or decency. They are lighting a fuse they will not be able to control.....
746
@LS - agree, Trump and Graham have no exit strategy or end game.
65
@Cambridge101 oh but they do have an end game.
To rule unimpeded , for perpetuity. To rule the many with the few.
To suppress voter turnout to accomplish this.
To deny the rule of law and of civility, save as it benefits them.
That’s the end game. They don’t plan on existing at all.
81
@LS - yes, the fuse they embrace is Donald Trump.
Not only are Republicans unable to control the fuse - he controls and owns them. They don't speak without his or Mulvaney's permission. He orders them to stage an embarrassing protest at impeachment proceedings, and they comply and humiliate themselves.
The world is cringing and Republicans are either oblivious or cowards. Please get out the vote.
32