The importance of being Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham may be the most misunderstood figure in Donald Trump’s Washington. For many, the Republican senator from South Carolina is the lickspittle who abandoned his principles for access to a dangerous populist. For the populists, Graham is an interloper, worming his way into the president’s inner circle and persuading him to keep fighting the endless wars Trump campaigned against. Neither version, however, quite captures the role that Graham plays in Trump’s chaotic presidency. He is neither a Svengali nor a suck-up. Rather, he is an honest friend, willing to do something few others in Trump’s inner circle will do: Tell him when he is wrong. That is the Graham that emerges from Bob...