Lindsey Graham: The crazy man of the Senate

Every time Senator Lindsey Graham opens his mouth, crazy things fly out.  Is there something wrong with this guy?

It's not for nothing that a MorningConsult poll released Tuesday pegged him at the third most unpopular senator, trailed by only John McCain and Mitch McConnell.

But there are methods to the madness of McCain and McConnell.  In Graham's case, the loathing is justified, given his out-of-control statements, signaling an unserious mind, unmoored from reality.

His latest was a call for 5,000 to 6,000 U.S. ground troops in Syria, backseat-driving the Trump administration, which seems to already have a handle on the situation.  He told Meet the Press:

We're relying too much on the Kurds. More armed forces, 5,000 or 6,000, would attract more regional fighters to destroy ISIL.

You need a safe haven quickly, so people can regroup inside of Syria. Then you train the opposition to go after Assad. That's how he's taken out by his own people with our efforts. And you tell the Russians if you continue to bomb the people we train, we'll shoot you down.

...and...

I want more American troops, 5,000 or 6,000, like we have in Iraq, to help destroy ISIL.

It's as though the Bush years never happened with this guy.  All of those things have been tried.  They've all been found wanting.  The Syrian charmers we trained as freedom-fighters back then took their shiny new weapons and joined ISIS.  Now this armchair general wants to risk 6,000 more American lives for this scheme?  Why 6,000?  Why not 20,000?  Why not 1,000?  Does he know what he's talking about?  And a war with Russia?  Like it's some trivial afterthought?  How blithely he puts American lives on the line for his been-there-done-that "prescriptions."

UPDATE: Oh, wait, I erred – Graham's latest verbal diarrheaic was his new recommendation that barrel bombs be President Trump's new red line with Assad, not chemical weapons.  Keep on micromanaging, fool.

Less than a week earlier, he was calling for 7,000 troops.  He was an easy target for Fox News's Tucker Carlson.

[Carlson] brought up Graham's proposal and asked about the cost. Graham didn't have a number ready, and Carlson asked, "Did you not think through what the cost might be?"

Graham responded that it's "minimal compared to the threats we face" and that "our national security interest can't be monetized."

Sounds about par for someone who always leaves the costs to the other guy.

He took a gratuitous, pointless dig at House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes last month, apparently attempting to suck up to the leftist mainstream media, who, a couple weeks ago, were piling on.  What did he accomplish by that?  Nothing, other than undermine his own party.  A disgusted former governor Mike Huckabee wondered "what uniform he puts on each morning."  The Washington Times said that both Graham and Sen. John McCain were providing political cover for Democrats in their witch hunt on Nunes.

Prior to that, he was threatening President Trump with impeachment if he dared bring back waterboarding for terrorists.  Expending American lives on the ground in foreign quagmires doesn't bother him, but making a terrorist uncomfortable does.

Prior to that, he was calling for more warfare against Russia, poking the bear to win headlines for himself, declaring 2017 "the year of kicking Russia in the ass" over the increasingly flimsy claims that it hacked the U.S. election, which he seems to think are fact.

Not only are all these statements unhinged, but they have a pattern of irresponsibility.  Let the other guy pay the cost, let the other guy expend the blood and treasure, let the wars begin, and let the home party go downhill.  Is this the talk of someone who should be in any position of authority, let alone be given a soapbox?  Obviously, he was passed over for the Senate Russian hacking panel for a reason.  And he certainly was rejected by the voters during the primary, winning virtually no votes.

It hasn't stopped his motor mouth, however – that constant braying about things he knows nothing about.  If anything, it seems to have made it worse.  When will this jackass get the hook from the voters?

If you experience technical problems, please write to helpdesk@americanthinker.com