Dirty Delete is a weekly column that goes deep into the social media history of politicians that runs on Thursdays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
Let us crawl the web for you. Subscribe to web_crawlr here.
Analysis
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) changes positions more often than most people change shirts.
Graham has gone back on his word so many times in his three decades in politics that some have taken to calling him “Flip Flop Lindsey”—a fitting moniker that he has embraced.
Sometimes this has required him to do embarrassing turnabouts, such as his epic change of heart that saw him go from the last president’s biggest critic to his number one fan.
When the going gets tough, Graham gets going in whatever direction is most expedient.
Sure, he may have been one of the most hated people in the Senate. And sure, maybe Jake Tapper did epically own him with his own words about the former president.
Who could forget the time he called that same former president “a fucking idiot” who’s “unable to provide a coherent answer” on national television. (In his defense, he was reading someone else’s text).
Hell, even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)—who isn’t exactly known as the sanest member of Congress—accused him of being “unhinged” for tweeting that someone should assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It’s also undeniable that ratioing Graham’s tweets with his own words is practically a spectator sport at this point.
But much like a zombie in a horror film, just when you think he’s beaten, Graham rises from the ashes of his career and tosses a bone to the rabid members of his base.
The far-right loves it when Lindsey plays nasty. They were thrilled when he introduced a bill to eliminate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Cheers rang out among extremists when he flip-flopped on his 2016 assertion that presidents shouldn’t appoint United States Supreme Court justices in the last year of their term, which helped pave the way for Roe v. Wade to be overturned.
Online you can find Graham on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. He also has a website which you might enjoy if your kink is camouflage clad white dudes holding guns.
Why it matters
Politicians are notorious for going back on their word. Graham might be the worst offender of all. That’s probably why every outlet this side of Westeros has an op-ed blasting him for being a hypocrite.
Hell, the conservative National Review once described Graham’s awareness of his hypocrisy as among his “more charming qualities.”
Most people stand for something. Lindsey Graham isn’t most people.