The sudden death of South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham over the weekend unsurprisingly has triggered a debate about his legacy as a lawmaker and the impact of his influence on the country and its politics. Also unsurprisingly, that debate has prompted some very strong feelings, particularly considering Graham’s about-face alliance with and enabling of Donald Trump. Below are some highlights from the takes thus far.

. “I’m not sure there was a more deft, pure politician in the Senate in this era”

At Politico Magazine, Jonathan Martin takes stock of Graham’s power and love of politicking:

In South Carolina, Washington and especially overseas, he wielded enormous influence over federal spending, the courts and national security. No other Republican in the last decade did more to nudge President Donald Trump toward projecting American force while retaining traditional alliances than the orphaned son of rural South Carolina who learned politics in a pool hall.And I’m not sure there was a more deft, pure politician in the Senate in this era than Graham. What other Republican could defy his party on immigration, the environment and much else — yet skate through primaries in South Carolina three times since 2014?

In South Carolina, Washington and especially overseas, he wielded enormous influence over federal spending, the courts and national security. No other Republican in the last decade did more to nudge President Donald Trump toward projecting American force while retaining traditional alliances than the orphaned son of rural South Carolina who learned politics in a pool hall.

And I’m not sure there was a more deft, pure politician in the Senate in this era than Graham. What other Republican could defy his party on immigration, the environment and much else — yet skate through primaries in South Carolina three times since 2014?

And he explains that Graham’s cynical one-eighty on Trump should have come as no surprise:

That access to the corridors of power came with a price. Graham, as much as any GOP lawmaker, embodied the bargain Republicans made after Trump’s hostile takeover of the party. The choice was to adapt or leave, and that was no choice at all for Graham, who was first elected to Congress in 1994.Politics was his life, his love, even his oxygen. As with 20th-century giants of the Capitol such as Richard B. Russell, Graham was a lifelong bachelor, married only to the work.And nobody I’ve covered got more joy from serving in office nor more deeply craved the influence it conferred. He’d always laugh about speculation that he’d join the cabinet — as if Graham would ever willingly leave the Senate.So, yes, if that meant horrifying so many of his Democratic friends and traditionalist Republican allies by cultivating Trump, so be it. That’s what he did.

That access to the corridors of power came with a price. Graham, as much as any GOP lawmaker, embodied the bargain Republicans made after Trump’s hostile takeover of the party. The choice was to adapt or leave, and that was no choice at all for Graham, who was first elected to Congress in 1994.

Politics was his life, his love, even his oxygen. As with 20th-century giants of the Capitol such as Richard B. Russell, Graham was a lifelong bachelor, married only to the work.

And nobody I’ve covered got more joy from serving in office nor more deeply craved the influence it conferred. He’d always laugh about speculation that he’d join the cabinet — as if Graham would ever willingly leave the Senate.

So, yes, if that meant horrifying so many of his Democratic friends and traditionalist Republican allies by cultivating Trump, so be it. That’s what he did.

. “A 99 instead of a 100”

That’s just one of Trump’s varied (and very Trumpian) tributes to his longtime ally and friend. (Graham lost a point because he was briefly upset about that time Trump-supporting insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol.) Read the rest of Trump’s comments about Graham here.

. Graham’s policy goals (and the Lindsey-less GOP) face an uncertain future

Vox’s Benjy Sarlin wonders what happens next:

On foreign policy, the Iran war failed to achieve its goals, and many hawks have been disappointed in Trump’s efforts (currently imperiled) to negotiate a ceasefire and potential peace agreement with the regime they hoped to permanently remove. The war’s unpopularity and its close association with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu have also helped fuel an ongoing bipartisan backlash to America’s close relationship with Israel — another cause Graham championed.Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance, another former Trump critic who amassed power after an about-face, has close ties with many of the MAGA leaders most critical of Graham’s perspective. It’s possible he, or someone like him, inherits the party instead of more old-school conservatives like Rubio, who share more of Graham’s worldview. That extends to domestic policy, where Graham’s vision for a more demographically inclusive party, which he never fully abandoned, has run up against a resurgence of open white nationalism empowered in part by Trump’s destruction of political taboos and establishment guardrails. And then there’s the threat to American democracy — free speech, fair elections, impartial justice — that Graham believed was manageable under Trump while so many of his former colleagues feared otherwise.It would be ironic if, in finally achieving the apotheosis of his personal vision for Trump, Graham discredited it for a generation of conservatives and empowered successors who loathed him and everything he stood for.

On foreign policy, the Iran war failed to achieve its goals, and many hawks have been disappointed in Trump’s efforts (currently imperiled) to negotiate a ceasefire and potential peace agreement with the regime they hoped to permanently remove. The war’s unpopularity and its close association with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu have also helped fuel an ongoing bipartisan backlash to America’s close relationship with Israel — another cause Graham championed.

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance, another former Trump critic who amassed power after an about-face, has close ties with many of the MAGA........

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