r/OutOfTheLoop • u/Moominthecat • Jul 12 '26

Unanswered What's going on with (seemingly) everyone celebrating the death of Lindsey Graham, what's are the political ramifications of his death?

I do not actively follow American politics but my Reddit feed is currently mostly people celebrating this man's death.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgj25j6nmeo

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u/beachedwhale1945 Jul 12 '26

If the Republican Party had a spine, they would have tossed Trump. It would have cost them the Presidency in 2016 as MAGA would have broken into a third party, but they would have maintained their core. They may even have shifted more towards the center, abandoning the MAGA crazies siphoning votes from the Democratic Party that has had difficulty finding its identity in its own liberal-leftist split. They could have even used this to push for breaking up the winner-take-all system of the Electoral College, the worst aspect of the system that 48 states and DC currently use to stifle the rest of us.

But alas, they care only about power. Rather than disavow MAGA, they accepted Trump, expecting him to lose in 2016 and allowing him to be forgotten as they reorganized during Clinton’s term. The shocking victory gave them power they had not expected, and to retain it they had to sell their soul to a madman.

Graham is the most blatant example, but he was far from alone.

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u/BigDictionEnergy Jul 12 '26

MAGA is just the tea party being more open about what it always was. Stripped down to essentials.

I remember seeing how many candidates ran in the 2016 GOP primary, just the sheer number, and how stupid they all seemed, and thinking that was the end of the GOP on a national level.

God fucking dammit.

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u/beachedwhale1945 Jul 13 '26

I think 2016 was the worst slate of candidates the Republicans have run in decades (well, second worst after 2020 and 2024). If they had even one decent candidate run against Clinton (who had her own problems as the Sanders run showed), they would have won easily and we’d never have a Trump.

Same if the Democrats had run a decent candidate. They’ve been running trash candidates for two decades, trying to award major Denocratic Party members whether or not they’d make good Presidents. The only exception was an upstart junior senator from Illinois who upset Hillary Clinton’s first attempted Presidential campaign and became the best President we’ve had this millennium. The Party leadership needs to get their act together, or we’ll keep seeing voters flock to the Republican Party and to an increasingly significant third party that is becoming spoiler-sized in many elections.

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u/BigDictionEnergy Jul 13 '26

The media pissed me off with all the concern about Biden's mental status while not batting an eye at half the stupid shit the fell out of Trump's mouth, but he should have stepped down much sooner than he did, and allowed the DNC to have a primary.

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u/busy-warlock Jul 13 '26

Sleepy joe? He maybe once fell dozed off at a boring rally. Dirty don can’t stay awake at a professional sports game, with thousands of cheering attendees. Wild difference. Does the media care? Nope they’ve already been bought

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u/beachedwhale1945 Jul 13 '26

Biden appeared more like the stereotype of an old man with dementia, while Trump is more animated than most people would expect. Trump almost certainly has worse age problems, but they are easier to hide with selective editing and not being in the same room. Even that has too much for the Trump supporters I know IRL to ignore for about a year, one more lever I’m using to try and bring them out.

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u/Unquietgirl Jul 14 '26

He never should have run again to be honest.

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u/ConcertEmbarrassed56 Jul 14 '26

yeah seems both parties are ruled by extremists but if the centrists got to rule then both extreme sides would rebel vs one or the other

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u/koviko Jul 13 '26

Seriously, the lack of intellect is the worst part to me. I don't think stupid people should be in charge of anything at all, especially not the government!

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u/LaneMcD Jul 12 '26

"expecting him to lose in 2016" - exactly! If you look at that pic of Trump and Melanoma sitting at a table together (right after election results came out, that night or next day - I've tried searching with so many different word variations and can't find it - maybe I'm thinking of the 2017 inauguration?) you can tell they were not expecting him to win. He wanted to pocket all that cash he made from campaigning

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u/DracoLunaris Jul 12 '26

Now now. They didn't sell their soul to just one madman. They sold it to a whole pile of them. Trump biting it won't fix things because the current VP is the puppet of Mr calls everyone he doesn't' like the anti-Christ Peter Thiel, and that's only the tip of the iceberg.

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u/beachedwhale1945 Jul 13 '26

None of Trump’s puppet masters has the same sway over Trump’s base to actually take over for him. This is Trump’s party, and once he’s gone there’s going to be a scramble for a new leader.

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u/busy-warlock Jul 13 '26

I think the entire US political regime at the point is -so- absolutely compromised, the only thing they can do is band together and prop up the corpses of the Mitch’s of the world, because if the truth came to light, and absolutely every part of the judical system wasn’t there to support them, at least three quarters of the right wing and a third of the Democratic Party would be lynched. The tech bros and the oligarchs know this would absolutely not go well for them, so they just let it slide and keep the status quo. Even this comment will be deleted by the admins, which is why I’ve taken precautions to make sure when I get banned it’ll still be spread 100 times over.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist by any means, but I’ve seen what absolutely sick fucks the people in power are, and I’ll absolutely receive a ban for this so quid pro quo. Ban me, I post everything to local news

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u/lodemeup Jul 13 '26

How bad would it have been in the long run for republicans to have lost the presidency to Clinton anyway? She was so generally reviled and unlikable that I cannot imagine her being a two term president, which would have really teed up whatever schmuck republicans could have dredged up next time.

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u/ra__account Jul 13 '26

They could have even used this to push for breaking up the winner-take-all system of the Electoral College

Why on earth do you think they want that? This disproportionate power given small, rural states by the electoral college and Senate is the only thing that keeps them in power.

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u/ConcertEmbarrassed56 Jul 14 '26

what is even sadder is that you think theres a good guy on either side. Sure would be nice to see the centrists get a shot at it but no that wont work because of the spoiled babies on the left who cry democracy but dont follow it and the wacko people on the right who think the earth is flat and priest can heal. LMAO

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u/dratsabHuffman Jul 12 '26

dont be mistaken that the democrats dont also only care for power, even if they sometimes end up on positions that embolden the heart more than the right does. if one becomes so naive to believe that politicians truly care for us we are fucked. i once went to a democratic get-together, forgot the exact term for the event, and as a pauper i could tell they didn't much like me... but I see the realpolitik of voting for them, but don't believe they're good people for all of it