Lonely Lindsey Graham died tethered to the man who humiliated him

[QueerDuck]

https://www.advocate.com/opinion/lindsey-graham-died-trump-shame

Lindsey Graham died Saturday at 71, and I have to be honest with you: in the eight years of writing for this outlet, I don't think I've written about anyone more than I've written about him — except, of course, Donald Trump.

(snip) ✂️

The first is the oldest rumor in Washington: that Lindsey Graham was gay. I want to be careful here, because I have no idea whether that was true. He was, in the old-fashioned phrase, a "confirmed bachelor,” who never married, never seriously linked to a woman in public life, and that vacuum was enough for people to fill in the blank themselves.

I'm not going to pretend I know what was true in Graham’s private life. But I will offer my personal opinion. My grandfather used to say, “Where there’s fire, there’s smoke,” reversing an old axiom when he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a rumor about someone was true.

That’s what I’ll say about Graham. He always denied it, but I always snickered when he did.

(snip) ✂️

[Bluetus]

1. Here's a lesson we can take away.

Try every day to live your life in such a way that when you die, people do not have to struggle mightily to find anything even remotely gracious to say about you.

For example, I rarely appreciated John McCain's politics, but I had no difficulty finding good things to remember about him.

[Buckeyeblue]

2. Yes. John McCain earned my respect with the way he ran for president

He shut down the racists attacks on Obama, as much as he could. And he was gracious in defeat. He never said the shit that Moscow Mitch did about wanting Obama to fail.

Graham, on the other hand, was dirty. And slimy. And shameless. And some of what we have now is partially his fault.

It's also interesting how no one was interested in pretending that he is still alive. He wasn't even cold before the announcement went out.

[erronis]

3. Gee. I'm struggling mightily to make sure there is nothing nice to say about me when I die.

Just a "good riddance" and then the earth covering.

[DET]

4. I Find it Terribly Sad

That he spent the last years of his life beholden to a psychopath who was undoubtedly blackmailing him.

[malaise]

5. If denying who he was mattered more than being associated with a

racist, sexual assault perpetrator, best friend of the pedo king, lowlife vulgarian monster, so be it. That speaks volumes. What a birthday present to himself - dead two days after turning 71.

[GPV]

6. If had truly loved himself, his life would have been

so different, and likely wouldn't have included Dump at a personal level.

[malaise]

7. Precisely

More than once I heard my paternal granny say “show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are”.

[GPV]

8. The only grieving I do is for the people they hurt and their

former child selves. I suspect many twisted people weren't born that way. Even Trump and Dubya, two of the men I've despised most, I can only feel sadness for the childhoods they must have had.

[malaise]

9. +1,000

Damaged kids sure do a lot of damage as adults.

[GPV]

10. And it's a hell of a long road and commitment to grow yourself

up a better way, so I understand why some people lean into their dysfunction.