Meghan McCain is Begging Trump to Yank Lindsey Graham Off TV
Bulwark Takes
The Bulwark
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 10 March 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sam Stein and Will Saletan give their takes on why Lindsey Graham is suddenly everywhere celebrating the escalation against Iran and why even some Republicans are alarmed by his rhetoric. As Graham cheers the bombing campaign and openly talks about taking on other regimes around the world, critics including Meghan McCain warn that his messaging is scaring voters and pushing the U.S. toward endless wars. Sam and Will trace Graham’s long obsession with regime change, how he’s learned to appeal to Donald Trump, and why this moment may represent the culmination of a decades-long foreign policy vision.
Listen to Will's 2023 series on Lindsey Graham here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJNKzTkCZE9sb384PfewA7Gur01abBrcS
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everyone, it's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at The Bullwark, and I'm joined by Will Salatin, |
| 0:05.2 | fly fisherman extraordinaire. Love the hat, love the vest. |
| 0:09.5 | Will is here because we are talking about something, or someone I should say, who I think |
| 0:14.9 | you probably are the foremost expert. I don't think that's like hyperbole in this case. |
| 0:22.4 | I think my wife got jealous, |
| 0:27.1 | yeah, because I spent so much time studying this guy. Yeah. We are talking about Lindsey Graham. |
| 0:35.0 | So Lindsey Graham is having a classic moment. He might be, this might be like Nirvana for him, |
| 0:38.9 | because we're bombing Iran, and he is on cable cable all the time and he's incredibly excited about what is happening. He seems to have gotten Trump's ear, |
| 0:44.0 | but it's it's alarming some people, including people who would normally be, I don't know, |
| 0:49.8 | empathetic, sympathetic towards his worldview, I would suppose. So let's set the stage here, |
| 0:54.4 | and then Will's just going to, you know, go crazy. But Lindsey Graham went on the shows yesterday, |
| 1:00.3 | primarily Fox News, and he was asked about what's going on in Iran. Obviously, there's a lot |
| 1:04.7 | going on in Iran, including some incredible bombing campaigns, really horrible destruction, |
| 1:09.3 | the death of what appears to be 170 school girls and so on and so |
| 1:13.3 | forth. And his response to all this is that, just wait, just wait, because it's going to get |
| 1:18.5 | so much bloodier. So here's Lindsay Graham talking about blowing people to smithereens over the next |
| 1:24.4 | two weeks. Doing it. President Trump is in the process of doing it. They're going to lose and we're going |
| 1:30.8 | to win. Israel in the United States, you just wait to see what comes in the next two weeks. |
| 1:36.7 | The next two weeks meaning what? |
| 1:40.2 | We're going to blow the hell out of these people. This regime is in a death row now. |
| 1:45.0 | It is going to be on its knees. |
| 1:48.0 | It's going to fall. |
... |
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