There’s not a lot I have to add to the reporting on Lindsey Graham’s sudden and unexpected death. He died yesterday evening after what his office is calling a “brief and sudden illness.” (Other unconfirmed reports point to a heart attack and cardiac arrest.) Obituaries are referring to him as a consistent foreign policy hawk, a stalwart Trump supporter. Both true. But there’s another feature of his personality and political career that is key to understanding the man. He always needed a daddy. Or let’s say a political leader. A top dog.
If you’re a podcast listener, I want you to check out The TPM Social Club, our second podcast which is hosted by reporter Josh Kovensky and publisher Joe Ragazzo. I particularly hope you check out the latest episode where Josh and Joe interview TPM’s Capitol Hill reporter Emine Yücel. They talk about covering Capitol Hill for TPM, being an international competition-level fencer and also her background as an immigrant from Turkey and reporting on Capitol Hill politics through the prism of a Turkish background and upbringing.
We’re now in the midst of one of these now and again collective Democratic meltdowns, filled with dooming laments, drama, intra-party attacks and insults, rending of clothes, “reckonings” and more. But there’s a fact, little discussed and under-appreciated, that is nestled in these collective freak-outs. This may sound nonsensical or perhaps a semantic point with no real meaning. But it’s foundational to how the Democratic Party functions and why it functions differently and often disappointingly compared to the GOP.
We hear lots of arguments in Democratic politics that the party’s base is its left wing. There’s a certain logic to that. It’s a center-left party so it’s left wing is its base and it’s filled out by more fair-weather voters or less ideological ones. In a sense it’s really their party or they’re the legitimate owners of it as soon as corporate interests and softies and other interlopers can be kicked to the curb. But it’s not. The most obvious reason is that are just too few of them. But they are also very different, sociologically, ideologically, demographically from the rest of the party. This isn’t just a dig on the left. The same applies to white liberals. There are dramatically more of them. But they are still really, really different from much of the rest of the party.
We’re looking good to hit $200,000 by the close of day tomorrow in this year’s Annual TPM Journalism Fund Drive. We can’t thank you enough. Truly. If you’d like to join us and make a contribution just click right here. We run these drives in waves. $200,000 is the first big milestone, then $250,000. When we hit $400,000 the goal is in sight and then the momentum picks up again. We go in waves of going full time in drive mode, ease up, before pushing again. We appreciate both your generosity as well as your patience as we work through this critical part of our enterprise, our business model, how we make all of this work. Thanks.
We’re now more than a third of the way toward our goal of raising $500,000 in this year’s Annual TPM Journalism Fund Drive. It’s sounds repetitive or cliche. But thank you so much. Your commitment to having our back means so much to our operation. We need to get to $200,000 by the end of Friday to stay on track toward this critical goal. If you haven’t taken a moment yet to contribute, I get it. I’m constantly putting stuff like this off. You’ve got to stop what you’re doing, probably in the middle of the work day. Please take that moment right now, just 90 seconds. We’ve set it up to be super easy. You don’t even have to take out your wallet. Take a moment, literally right now, this moment, and join us. Click right here. We’ll put the money to really good use.
I’ve been reading TPM since my junior year of college (I graduated in 2003, so pretty early in the TPM journey), and from the beginning, it’s done news the way I respect most: it has a perspective and a point of view, but it follows the reporting and respects the facts. The notion that news can or should be a neutral glass pane is farcical, and TPM is one of the first outlets I found in my formative years that didn’t pretend to do the “just the facts, ma’am” kabuki dance.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” the statement said. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
