Lindsey Graham 2.0 gonna Lindsey Graham 2.0. I don’t know what’s gotten into him since the Kavanaugh hearing but it’s probably the single greatest political awakening of our time.

The background here is that it was revealed that John McCain, or at least his staff, had a role in pushing and legitimizing the Steele dossier within the government and media. We now know that document was only slightly more credible than CNN on any given night. Trump, being who he is, did not take that lying down and took a few shots at the now deceased Senator for doing so.

In response, media outlets who had no problem labeling John McCain a white supremacist just a decade ago have suddenly discovered they loved the guy. Because Sen. Lindsey Graham was so close to McCain, they’ve seen that as a wedge issue to push in order to slap at the President.

Graham has decided he’s having none of that.

Lindsey Graham calls out the media: "To all those people who bring up this narrative, you just hate Trump. You don’t really care about McCain & me. … This is a game. You’re not offended about me & McCain, you’re trying to use me to get to Trump. I’m not playing that game." pic.twitter.com/qqR40EbojS

— Matt Wolking (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@MattWolking) March 28, 2019

This is exactly right.

Did I like Trump’s comments on McCain? No. In fact, I wrote an entire piece on why I thought they were both morally wrong and politically stupid. Yet, I also recognize that the newfound respect the media has for John McCain is only prompted by their selfish desire to use him to attack Trump. They aren’t actually offended about anything and should not be given any moral high ground from which to cast stones.

Graham knows this too. He also didn’t approve of Trump’s comments, as he’s clearly said over and over, but he was elected to do a job. His job is to move the ball forward on policy and oversight, not to do the Democrat’s bidding because he disagrees with tweets.

The selective, clearly calculated faux outrage of the media always centers on hurting whatever Republican happens to being in office at the time. The moment a Republican leaves office, they suddenly become “the good conservative” simply to be used as a political wedge. We’ve seen this with George Bush, Mitt Romney, and now John McCain, all figures the media savaged as hateful racists, dumb, warmongers, or all of the above when they still held serious political power.

Graham isn’t going to play that game and neither should anyone else.