US President Donald Trump once mocked John Bolton as a "warmonger" and even sacked the Republican hawk known for a combative style foreign policy as a National Security Adviser, particularly regarding Iran, North Korea, and Afghanistan.
However, with Trump embroiling the US and Israel in a significant conflict with Iran, war cheerleader Lindsey Graham appears to have surpassed Bolton in staunchly advocating for foreign wars, especially in the Middle East, so much so that he explicitly urges Americans to send their "sons and daughters" to war.
The Republican Senator from South Carolina was initially a vocal critic of Trump during the 2016 Republican primary — then running against Trump. He famously called Trump a "jackass" and warned against his candidacy.
Graham, however, shifted to staunch support after Trump election and a 2017 meeting.
Graham — a prominent supporter of the war on Iraq, though he criticised Bush and then Pentagon bosses for sending too few US troops — has prioritised foreign policy throughout his three decade service in the US Senate and House. His interventionist views, including calls for US strikes on Iran, had once clashed with Trump's "America First" approach.
However, he is now spearheading the rhetoric and narrative surrounding Trump's actions regarding Iran, and in fact taking credit for pushing a reluctant Trump to launch an unauthorised war against Iran, which has since February 28 left eight US soldiers dead, over 140 troops wounded and also killed over 1,300 Iranian military and civilian members including Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and 170 students and staff in all girls elementary school.
Tehran has since struck military and civilian sites across the Middle East, including in Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar, disrupted oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz surging global oil prices, amid accusations that the White House launched the war without preparing for the consequences.
Some 43,000 Americans have fled the volatile region in the past two weeks.
"I say Franklin Roosevelt, what do you say?" Graham recently told the Wall Street Journal, referencing former president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous "You have nothing to fear but fear itself" quote.
Graham admitted to WSJ that he spent months, including talks with hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and played a word-association game to manipulate Trump into launching attacks on Iran.
Graham raised Iran with Trump after his 2024 election over a game of golf, reminding him of his sabotage of Obama-era 2015 Iran nuclear deal and suggesting it was his chance to act.
The war cheerleader also made several trips to Israel, meeting with members of the country’s intelligence community, to influence Trump — who is otherwise known for his independent streak — for initiating war with Iran.
White House columnist Niall Stanage, flagged the WSJ expose on X, saying, "Just so we’re all clear — a new WSJ story has a US senator (Lindsey Graham) meeting a foreign intelligence agency and 'coaching' that foreign nation’s prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) on how to push Trump into bombing Iran."
"The WSJ has an article out today describing how Lindsey Graham plays toddler memory games with Trump and coaches Netanyahu on the things to say in order to get Trump do some more war," popular podcaster Mel noted.
'Religious war' narrative
Graham has been framing the war with Iran not merely as a geopolitical or security issue but as a fundamentally "religious war" that will determine the Middle East's future for "a thousand years."
His rhetoric positions the US-Israel war on Iran as a holy struggle between civilisations, with the US and Israel on one side defending against Iranian-led "jihad" or oppression.
His language often invokes biblical or end-times themes, aligning with evangelical Christian views that see the conflict as part of a larger prophetic struggle.
This includes references to remaking the region through the defeat of Iran's "mothership of terrorism," which he ties to religious motivations.
In Israel, Netanyahu, a known ally of Graham, has also characterised Iran as "Amalek". This invokes a biblical adversary mentioned in the Torah, portrayed as a force that must be remembered and confronted.
"To those who have a 'head in the sand' approach to radical Islam – it has been unsuccessful," Graham wrote on X earlier this week.
"President Trump's decision to use military force to stop Iran’s admitted march towards being able to build 10 to 11 nuclear bombs was the right decision in the nick of time. To our men and women in the region who are confronting this evil, you are making your country safer."
Ever since US and Israel launched their war on Iran, Graham has threatened Cuba and Saudi Arabia, called for ground troops in Iran, and acted as if he were the President of the United States.
Send sons and daughters into war
Graham, who is unmarried and has no children of his own, caused considerable controversy and indignation when he appeared on Fox News’s Hannity on Monday night, declaring to Sean Hannity's audience: "I am going back to South Carolina. I'm asking them to send their sons and daughters over to the Middle East."
His comments received quick attention from US Representative.Nancy Mace, who asked what would "possess anyone to say this?"
"I do not want to send South Carolina's sons and daughters into war with Iran," the fellow South Carolina Republican added in a social media post.
Referring to Graham as Lindsey 'I'm with Israel' Graham, Texas journalist Rachel Blevins noted, "I would say that this man has lost his ever-loving mind… but at this point, I’m not sure he had one to begin with…"
Meghan McCain, a conservative commentator and daughter of the late Senator John McCain, expressed her views candidly.
"Nothing like a single, childless, septuagenarian telling American mothers to send their children to go possibly die in a war," she wrote on X.
She also urged the Trump administration to stop sending Graham out as a surrogate, saying he is "scaring people and doing damage to whatever message you’re trying to sell to the American public about the Iran war."
Air Force veteran and Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna posted on social media, "There are some in the Senate that advocate for war everywhere. Lindsey Graham is one of them. He does NOT tell the President what to do, nor does he control Congress.
I have spoken with the administration a number of times, as well as other members of Congress over the last week or so, and nothing has changed regarding boots on the ground. NO BOOTS on the ground. If Senator Graham wants to go fight in a foreign conflict, let him be the first to volunteer."
'I'm not with you, I'm with Israel'
Graham's pro-Israel work was evident in a Fox News interview, where he professed his loyalty to Israel.
"To all the antisemites, to all the isolationists…I'm not with you, I'm with Israel, I will be with Israel to our dying day," he said, drawing a sharp reaction from MAGA conservatives who have been arguing that the US is essentially fighting Israel's war, which conflicts with Trump’s "America First" promises.
Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly immediately slammed Graham, saying in a post on X: "Att'n South Carolinians with doubts about the Iran war: your US Senator says explicitly 'I'm not with you, I'm with Israel.'"
"Let’s get real. The problem with [Lindsey] Graham isn't (just) that he's a homicidal maniac, it's that Trump likes and is listening to him, and Trump's favourite channel is parading him around like a Hefner bunny in stockings on every show."
A former US Army officer and defence expert, David T. Pyne, posted on X: "Traitorous Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Israel) admits his loyalty is not to America but to Israel, saying 'I'm not with you. I'm with Israel until my dying day.'"
