When a previously undisclosed recording of a politician causes a controversy, it’s generally because he or she is heard saying or doing something provocative. In recent weeks, however, this model has been turned on its head.
In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack, for example, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was surreptitiously recorded talking about Donald Trump and the then-president’s responsibility for the insurrectionist violence. In the behind-the-scenes tapes, the chamber’s top Republican lawmaker actually came across pretty well: McCarthy is heard drawing ethical boundaries and telling his ostensible GOP allies that he was prepared to do something somewhat courageous.
The real problem, of course, is that McCarthy quickly retreated, abandoned his plan to be brave, and spent the rest of 2021 covering for Donald Trump, despite obviously knowing better.
Evidently, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is in the same boat. Business Insider reported:
New audiotapes have surfaced of Sen. Lindsey Graham, a known Trump ally, criticizing Trump and praising Biden after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The tapes were played on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” during an interview segment with New York Times reporters Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin. Martin interviewed Graham on January 6 directly after the riot, and the senator spoke candidly about then-President-elect Joe Biden and the former president, Trump.
The South Carolinian covered a fair amount of ground, especially about the significance of the attack on the Capitol. “Moments like this reset,” Graham said. “People will calm down. People will say, ‘I don’t want to be associated with that.’ This is a group within a group. What this does, there will be a rallying effect for a while, (then) the country says, ‘We’re better than this.’”
The senator went on to say that Joe Biden struck him as the ideal leader given the circumstances, adding, “I mean, how mad can you get at Joe Biden?”
As for the outgoing president, Graham concluded that Trump “went too far.”
Around the same time, the senator personally reviewed Trump’s voter fraud allegations and found them to be pitiful, more suitable for “third grade” than national politics.








