What Lindsay Graham Never Had The Chance To Do

       It's Gospel truth that none of us knows the day or the hour when our soul will be required of us. And yet, whether one held U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham in esteem or contempt, who among us wasn't shocked to wake up to the news this morning that this man  who had loomed so large in the national consciousness for decades was dead? Not only did Lindsay Graham die suddenly last night, but only hours after returning from Ukraine, where he was involved in a diplomatic mission of the highest level with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

       Someone once told me they believed that we don't die until we've finished everything we need to do on earth. Appealing  as that thought may be, people die too early too often to put much stock in it.
        In any case, I don't believe it was true for Lindsay Graham. Though he accomplished much, for better or worse, during his lifetime, and his last undertaking during his time on earth was certainly a significant one that played out on the world stage, still I believe there was one more to-do Lindsay Graham probably intended to take care of someday, but now never will.
​      I believe that Senator Graham was likely planning, when the time was right and he felt it was safe, on renouncing Donald Trump. I say this because in the past, at times when Graham had nothing to lose and nothing to gain by being honest and standing up for his convictions, he did condemn Trump.
      Back in 2015 Graham excoriated Donald Trump as a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot." In the election year 2016 he said, "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed... and we will deserve it."  In those days he called Trump a jackass. He refused to vote for him in the 2016 Presidential election.
         But then a few months after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, Lindsay Graham turned from a fiery principled critic of Trump to Trump's most faithful ally and staunchest defender.
         That is, until the MAGA attack on the Capital in 2021, after which Graham seemed to have unearthed his moral righteousness, saying of his former relationship with Trump, "All I can say is a count me out. Enough is enough."
         But then a short time later, when it became clear that the members of the Republican Congress lacked the courage to convict Trump for his role in inciting the Capitol attack, Lindsay Graham once again tossed aside his integrity and followed the Republican majority in voting against Donald Trump's conviction. 
           And when Donald Trump's star once again began to rise, Lindsay Graham once again hitched the wagon of his political career to that star. 

         But in quiet moments of self-honesty, did Lindsay Graham not know that he sold his soul, and did he not plan someday, when  Donald Trump was out of office and influence, on repenting  his relationship with Trump and publicly buying back his soul and his legacy? 
         I'll bet he did. But even Lindsay Graham didn't know the day or the hour his soul would be required of him and his legacy set in time.

References:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/from-staunch-critic-to-fierce-ally-grahams-long-strange-and-consequential-friendship-with-trump

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgj25j6nmeo