The unexpected death of Senator Lindsey Graham, who was one of Trump’s closest friends and eventually became one of his most reliable political allies, was attributed by his office to a “brief and sudden illness.” Nevertheless, because he showed no signs of illness during his last public appearance in Kiev and had just visited a secret drone factory there, some of Russia’s friends and foes alike have conspiracy theorized that Putin took him out. Each is of course pursuing different narrative goals.
One theory being pushed by Russia’s friends is that Graham was killed during a Russian strike on another Ukrainian drone factory that he secretly visited, but Trump confirmed that he spoke to Graham the night before he passed after he already returned to the US. It’s implausible that he of all people, who’s known to be very emotional, would cover up the killing of his close friend by Putin. It’s even more implausible that the anti-Russian deep state would too and thus eschew a chance to further escalate against Russia.
A relatively less convoluted theory is that Putin got Graham poised in Kiev with a toxin that mimicked a heart attack and was timed to take effect some hours after he returned to the US to avoid suspicion. The problems with this scenario are threefold: 1) Putin won’t even take out Ukrainian figures for reasons that only he can account for; 2) Graham was a figurehead of the anti-Russian US establishment whose death won’t change their policies; and 3) Putin doesn’t want to provoke Trump into escalating any further.
While it’s true that some leading Russian figures threatened Graham in the past, it’s par for the course to talk smack about one’s wartime adversaries, and Graham most certainly was Russia’s adversary since he sincerely believed in the anti-Russian cause of his country’s establishment and deep state. To that end, he championed the most hawkish anti-Russian and pro-Ukrainian policies, even up till his death since he was preparing to push through his radical sanctions bill targeting Russia’s oil clients before his passing.
Even so, seeing as how Graham was a figurehead of the anti-Russian US establishment whose death won’t change their policies as was mentioned, it’s difficult to believe that the risk-averse Putin would take the chance of provoking Trump into crossing all of Russia’s red lines in revenge by killing Graham. Those among Russia’s friends who claim that he did so likely want clicks, clout, and to boost their side’s morale, while those among Russia’s foes want to provoke Trump into further escalating against Russia.
The narrative convergence between these polar opposite groups, each in pursuit of different goals, lends false credence to the general conspiracy theory that Putin killed Graham because average folks might wrongly assume that there’s some truth to it if those two rivals agree that he did it. While Russia’s foes won’t be persuaded to change tack due to their hostile political motives, those who consider themselves its friends should promptly do so, otherwise they’re inadvertently doing the US deep state’s bidding.
All in all, the “post-truth” era in which Graham’s unexpected death took place made it inevitable that conspiracy theories would follow, with Putin being a politically convenient suspect due to anti-Russian hawk Graham having just visited a drone factory in Kiev. Social media brainrot and the competition for clicks have resulted in a race to the bottom whereby most influencers on all sides try to appeal to the lowest common denominator of IQ. This contextualizes the conspiracy theories about Graham’s death.
