Lindsey Graham Embodied the Republican Party’s Authoritarian Drift

The best obituary of Lindsey Graham appeared not after his death on Saturday, but exactly a year before the event that would define the final stage of his career. On January 6, 2020, Rolling Stone published a profile of Graham by Mark Binelli that catalogued the South Carolina senator’s path from bipartisan dealmaker to MAGA disciple. It included this quote from Steve Schmidt, who managed John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign back when Graham was the maverick senator’s sidekick: People try…