Lindsey Graham: The senator, soldier and statesman who never backed down

“The man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic — the man who actually does the work.”

Theodore Roosevelt could have been describing Lindsey Graham.

I first came to know Lindsey not as Sen. Graham, but as Col. Graham, a man who regularly stepped away from his role as a senator to put on an Air Force uniform, go down range and train Afghan military lawyers.

He wanted to hear directly from the troops, see the mission with his own eyes and bring that ground truth back to Washington.

Lindsey didn’t just talk a big game about supporting our troops. He backed up every word with 33 years of service in the Air Force, eight years as a congressman and 23 years as South Carolina’s senator and elder statesman.

At every step, he fought to give our men and women in uniform the best training, the best equipment and every advantage over the enemy.

Regardless of party, Sen. Graham was fearless in asking hard questions to ensure we were serving those who served us.

I admired that instinct in him: Never make policy from a conference room when Americans are carrying it out in the field. Go there. Ask the uncomfortable questions. Listen to the sergeants and junior officers.

Then come home and do something about what they told you.

That hasn’t always been a popular way of writing policy. But Lindsey did not particularly care if it ruffled feathers or whose ointment he’d be the fly in.

He was there to do the work.

It was the same way when we served on the Hill together.

After the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Lindsey and I introduced resolutions in the Senate and House calling on the State Department to designate the Taliban for what they were: a foreign terrorist organization.

We pushed to freeze the regime’s assets and to deny it access to international funding.

We also demanded answers when reports emerged that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs had allegedly promised to warn his Chinese counterpart in advance of an American attack.

It’s a testament to how effective Lindsey was that it wasn’t long before Gen. Mark Milley himself felt compelled to sit down with us in an attempt to explain himself.

These were hills Lindsey was willing to die on.

He was clear-eyed about America’s enemies, fiercely protective of the constitutional chain of command and unwilling to let Washington legislate away our future. 

Lindsey brought a Gamecock’s fighting spirit to every cause he believed in. 

He was yet another convert to President Donald Trump and became one of his fiercest and most loyal allies.

He lived for a judiciary that serves the Constitution, the Founders’ intent and the American people.

He fought tooth and nail for President Trump’s Supreme Court and was fuming mad at the mistreatment of Brett Kavanaugh. 

In a sentence: He was eminently comfortable being in the minority. And, there were few arguments Lindsey lost.

He believed four things must always be true: America must lead, our allies must know we will stand with them, our enemies must fear the consequences of testing us, and our troops must never be sent into harm’s way without the tools they need to win.

Our foreign-policy successes are rooted in those beliefs, and they’ve already paid dividends.

Our hearts break for his sister, his nieces and the family who knew the man behind the senator, soldier and statesman.

President Trump has lost a trusted friend. South Carolina has lost a relentless champion. Our troops have lost one of their fiercest advocates.

I have lost a friend, a fellow veteran and a partner in the fight.

Rest easy, Colonel. We will take it from here.

Mike Waltz is the US ambassador to the United Nations