Lindsey Graham’s funeral: a celebration of war

The US senator’s parting gift could be the escalation of the Ukraine and Iran conflicts into a brutal world war Vladimir Zelensky and Benjamin Netanyahu led a procession at US Senator Lindsey Graham’s funeral service, as they sought to realize Graham’s lifelong ambition of dragging the US deeper into catastrophic foreign wars. Graham’s casket was carried into the US Capitol on Tuesday, ahead of a funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral. A member of the House of Representatives for eight years and a Senator for 23, Graham died suddenly of aortic dissection as a result of heart disease on July 11. Graham’s legacy is one of constant agitation for US involvement in foreign wars. At the time of his death, Graham – who in 2022 called for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin – was working on an anti-Russian sanctions bill, and had just returned from Kiev, where he toured a drone factory and apparently expressed glee that the weaponry there would be used to kill Russians. On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal published video footage of Graham reacting to the opening strikes of the US-Israeli war on Iran in February. “I almost cried,” the Republican lawmaker said in the footage. “I mean, like, how long have we been pushing this? It’s here. I talked with Trump this morning. Holy Jack. It’s here. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.” Even in his own comments at Graham’s funeral, Trump repeatedly referred to the South Carolina Senator’s enthusiasm for conflict. “He was extremely hawkish,” Trump told mourners. “He never saw a war that he didn’t like…he wanted it for the good of our country.” Graham was an avatar of the Bush-era neoconservatism that still holds the Republican establishment in a death grip, and two attendees in particular arrived at his funeral service determined to give him in death what he longed for in life: a massive expansion of US involvement in Iran and Ukraine.

Zelensky’s big bet Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday morning, arriving one after another for their respective sit-downs with the US president. Zelensky, who met with Graham no fewer than 10 times in Kiev since the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, described the Senator as “a true friend of Ukraine.” In a post on X, Zelensky said that he used the meeting to push for the production of Patriot missiles in Ukraine “and several other ideas that could help.” A good meeting with President Trump @POTUS at the Oval Office. Thank you for everything we do together to protect the lives of Ukrainians and advance peace. First and foremost, I offered President Trump our condolences on the passing of Lindsey Graham. He was a true friend of… pic.twitter.com/56yoaeqb2B — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 28, 2026 Zelensky uses every trip to the US and Europe to beg for weapons, money, and sanctions on Russia. However, he arrived in Washington on Tuesday with a gift for Trump, according to Fox News: “Evidence that Russia is assisting Iran in targeting US bases in the Middle East.” Zelensky is likely gambling that by presenting the correct ‘evidence’, he can link the US’ de-facto proxy war against Russia with its kinetic war against Iran, and draw the US into open conflict with Russia. Read more Zelensky attacked Caspian Sea cargo ship at Israel’s behest – Iran A series of recent actions by Ukraine seem to vindicate this theory. On Saturday, Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency confirmed that it had struck an Iranian container ship in the Caspian Sea, which was allegedly transporting drone components to Russia. Despite Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas