The controversy over Ilhan Omar calling Lindsey Graham “compromised,” explained
Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, was once upon a time one of Donald Trump’s most vociferous critics in the Republican Party, even going so far as to tweet at one point that “if we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it.” He even referred to Trump on national television as “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.”
More recently, he’s emerged as one of Trump’s most strident allies in the Senate, a member who not only eschews open criticism of Trump but who loudly and proudly defends him at every possible opportunity. The flip has led to questions about why, exactly, he changed his mind — questions that have at times blended with Trump-era liberal paranoia about the role of the Russian government in politics.
Graham is also unmarried and has long been dogged by vague, totally unsubstantiated accusations of being a closeted gay man. Meanwhile, first-term Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is a left-wing member of Congress who has aligned herself with a range of anti-establishment causes including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel — a topic that is very divisive in Democratic Party politics.
