Lindsey Graham Wants Your Kids to Fight His War

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Just about everything involving this illegal war with Iran infuriates me, but maybe nothing more than the fact that the world is being run by old men who will never have to face the consequences of the decisions they’re making.

And if you listen to Trump or Lindsey Graham or Bibi Netanyahu and the rest of the people who seem absolutely thirsty for this conflict—one that’s getting people killed, destabilizing the global economy, and scaring the shit out of basically everyone—they sound completely disconnected from the reality of how people are actually living their lives right now.

I want to focus on Lindsey Graham for a second, because yesterday he said a couple of things that I genuinely cannot believe a United States senator said out loud.

First, he went on Fox News and said that he stands with Israel and not with the rest of us. That’s a pretty shocking thing to hear from a United States senator from South Carolina—not Tel Aviv. Watching a U.S. senator put another country ahead of his own is deeply disturbing, especially when this conflict with Iran is very clearly not in the best interest of the American people. If it were, they’d be able to make a clear argument for it.

Second, Graham said he’s going to go home to South Carolina, look his constituents in the eye, and tell them they should be willing to send their sons and daughters to Iran to fight this war.

Every Republican elected official in this country should be asked whether they agree with Lindsey Graham—that our sons and daughters should be sent overseas to fight yet another illegal forever war in the Middle East.

A war that will mostly benefit a handful of aging politicians still stuck in foreign policy frameworks from decades ago, while defense contractors and oil companies cash in and the rest of us get left behind to pick up the pieces.

And somehow, after two decades of disastrous Middle East wars that cost trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives, these people still want to drag us into another one.

Because when it comes to foreign conflicts, the people running this administration are always ready to pull the trigger.

Once again, this country will move heaven and earth for whatever foreign conflict they deem must happen so defense contractors can watch their stock prices go up.

All while American men and women in uniform are put in harm’s way and families back home are trying to figure out how the hell they’re supposed to afford groceries, gas, or their mortgage.

But when it comes to solving problems here at home? Suddenly we can’t do anything.

We can’t fix our infrastructure. We can’t build bridges or roads or move this country forward. According to Republicans, we can’t make sure people don’t go bankrupt when they get sick. We can’t do anything about kids drowning in student loan debt who are desperate just to buy a house, start a family, or build some kind of stability.

We can’t do any of that.

But my God, we can spend billions of dollars a day blowing shit up halfway around the world.

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And I’m far from some dove who thinks we shouldn’t have a strong military or shouldn’t use it. I absolutely believe America should have the strongest, most lethal fighting force on the planet. I want that. And I want us to use it when it’s actually in the best interest of this country—as I believe it is in Ukraine, defending an ally from Russian aggression.

Yet somehow war-mongering Republicans can’t even get behind that, even as Putin continues trying to fracture our alliances and destabilize a country that should be in NATO.

And here’s the part that should make every American furious.

The same people pushing this conflict are surrounded by people who stand to make money from it.

Just last month, Eric Trump invested in a $1.5 billion merger involving an Israeli drone company that builds AI-guided military drones now being used by militaries around the world—including systems the Pentagon is increasingly interested in buying.

Donald Trump Jr. is tied to another drone company targeting Pentagon contracts as the Department of Defense ramps up drone procurement as a central pillar of modern warfare.

Think about that for a second.

Politicians are talking about sending your sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends, and neighbors into another Middle East conflict while the people closest to the president are investing in companies that profit from said war.

This is exactly how the system works.

Wars get sold to the public with speeches about strength and security. Meanwhile, the people with proximity to power position themselves to make money from the chaos that follows.

And then ordinary Americans are the ones who pay for it—with their taxes, their economic stability, and sometimes with their lives or their kids’ lives.

So yes, this conflict with Iran is poorly conceived, illegal, and immoral. But it’s also being pushed by a group of thirsty old men who will never personally face the consequences of their actions.

Lindsey Graham doesn’t have kids he’s sending to war like many of us do. Lindsey Graham will never have to live with the consequences of what he’s advocating for.

Neither will Donald Trump.

You know who will?

My son.

And the truth is Trump and the rest don’t give a shit about this conflict. What he cares about is looking strong, feeling strong, and putting money in his pocket. I’m sure there are plenty of places where he, Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and the rest of them are making money off this conflict—through investments in the Middle East or somewhere else.

That’s what he actually cares about.

And Netanyahu clearly cares about doing whatever he can to avoid facing the voters in his own country—where he’d very likely be voted out—let alone dealing with the criminal charges hanging over his head.

So what this really comes down to is a group of corrupt old men making terrible decisions for their people.

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The people of Israel are trapped by Netanyahu.

The people of the United States are trapped by Donald Trump.

The people of Iran are trapped by a regime that oppresses them.

And the people of South Carolina are trapped by a United States senator who seems far more interested in pushing Israel’s agenda than in doing anything to improve his own state.

I hope the people of South Carolina wise up in the next election and consider voting for someone else, because Lindsey Graham has made it pretty clear over the past few weeks that he doesn’t give a shit about them.

And if I’m being honest, moments like this are exhausting.

I’m sitting here trying to get back into the rhythm of work after surgery, catching up on the news, trying to figure out what my life is going to look like physically over the next few months—and everywhere I turn it feels like the same story.

The same old men.

The same reckless decisions.

The same people who seem completely disconnected from the day-to-day reality of Americans who are struggling to pay their bills, raise their families, and just build a stable life.

Some days it makes you feel stuck. Like you’re watching the same disaster unfold over and over again and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

I struggle with that feeling more than I’d like to admit—the paralysis, the anger, the knowledge that the people running this country just don’t give a shit about the consequences of what they’re doing.

But every time I start drifting into that headspace, the anger kicks in.

Because when you step back and look at what’s actually happening—politicians talking about sending American kids into another war while the people around them are pouring money into the industries that profit from those wars—it should make your blood boil.

It makes mine boil.

And that anger is the only thing that cuts through the feeling of helplessness.

It’s the thing that reminds me these people aren’t untouchable. They aren’t kings. They only have the power we keep giving them.

These are the same politicians who ran for office promising to make Americans’ lives better.

Instead, they’re dragging us toward another war while the problems people are actually dealing with at home keep getting ignored.

They get to posture on television.

They get to tweet tough-guy nonsense.

They get to feel powerful.

And the rest of us get stuck living with the consequences.

That’s the deal they’ve been offering for years.

Maybe it’s time voters stopped accepting it.

Because if people like Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump, and JD Vance are willing to gamble with our lives, our economy, and our future just so they can look tough and their friends can profit from the chaos, then the least we can do is make sure they don’t keep their jobs.

November is coming.

And between now and then we should remind these people—loudly and constantly—that voters are paying attention.

We see the corruption.

We see the reckless bullshit.

And we’re done with it.

Every single one of these fucks should be scared shitless about what’s waiting for them in November.

Including Lindsey fucking Graham.