A Republican told Sen. Lindsey Graham, ‘You broke my heart.’ How he replied matters | Opinion
Imagine a world where complicated issues are explored thoughtfully. By people who care about their communities and get to hold their elected leaders accountable. Not in an embarrassing, disruptive “heckler’s veto” or a gotcha-question-meant-for-a-viral-video kind of way. But where people have the desire, time, space and ability to ask difficult, probing questions of their leaders. Where answers don’t come in rat-a-tat-tat soundbites — or simply sound as if they’re rehearsed.
For an hour Monday, that world existed at the Columbia Rotary Club meeting at Seawell’s.
There, Sen. Lindsey Graham faced a roomful of 80 people who braved the rain to hear what the South Carolinian closest to the president of the United States had to say about the Horry County fires, South Carolina charter schools, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, nuclear power, the debt, entitlements, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, the Department of Government Efficiency aka DOGE, manufacturing, immigration and President Donald Trump.
One exchange really stood out. Rotarian John Bakhaus told Graham he’d broken his heart.
Bakhaus was talking about the day last month when Trump and Vice President JD Vance — depending on your point of view — either absolutely embarrassed themselves and shamed the United States or shrewdly stood up to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by dressing him down on camera at the Oval Office and shelving the two countries’ mineral extraction deal.
That day, Graham strode to a bank of microphones and tried to spin the journalists around him.
“What did I think?” Graham began. “Complete, utter disaster....
“Somebody asked me, ‘Am I embarrassed about Trump?’” he said. “I have never been more proud of the president. I was very proud of JD Vance standing up for our country. We want to be helpful. What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again. I think most Americans saw a guy that they would not want to go in business with. The way he handled the meeting, the way he confronted the president, was just over the top, so I think the relationship between Ukraine and America is important, vitally important, but can Zelenskyy do a deal with the United States? After what I saw, I don’t know.”
And thus, Graham joined the effort by Trump Cabinet members and other supporters to call “up” “down” and “in” “out,” one most Americans did not believe because Trump and Vance did in fact malign an invited guest and wartime ally against Russia in a moment Trump called made for TV.
If democracy dies in darkness, decency and diplomacy had forks stuck in them before our eyes.
Bakhaus recalled Graham’s defense of and delight in Trump when he asked his question, and the two discussed a complex matter of state as complex matters of state should be discussed.
“I’m a lifetime Republican and a supporter of yours over the years,” Bakhaus told Graham. “I kind of wish you were president right now, honestly.... Anyway, my comment is, and I’d like you to comment on my comment basically. The negotiating session between Zelenskyy and President Trump a short time ago, televised, which in my opinion should not have happened. It should have been done in private, anything that sensitive should not be on public television.
“But I think his intention was to embarrass a duly elected president of a country at war, and it really made me sad, and I’ve thought some Republicans would speak out about that, and I heard you after that session comment on the fact that Zelenskyy was disrespectful or whatever, I didn’t see any of that in his comments. I really felt sorry for the man, and you broke my heart with your comments.”
You broke my heart with your comments.
Some brief applause was followed by the start of Graham’s reply: “Sorry about that.”
“I’ve been working my ass off to get this deal done,” he continued. “I’ve been to Ukraine eight times. Trying to sell this deal. And I met with President Zelenskyy along with 10 senators the morning before the meeting. The guy sleeps two hours a night. He’s gonna go down in history as a Churchill-type leader.
“But you gotta remember Churchill lost in 1945 because all he knew was war, and when they had an election, he lost. Do you remember that? Isn’t it hard to believe that Churchill lost in 1945? It’s not for me. I understand it better. I told President Zelenskyy, let’s don’t litigate security guarantees around the minerals deal. You’re not gonna get security guarantees in the mineral deal. He (Trump) may say something about Putin you don’t like, but let’s just stay focused.
“JD Vance and I actually helped craft the minerals deal. For 30 days, it was on again, off again. Why did we want to put it on TV? To show unity between the countries. I wanted Putin to see the signing in Washington of a deal that would integrate our economies and give us a stake in Ukraine we don’t have today.
“The last question was a Polish journalist who was taking a shot at Trump about being too friendly to Putin, and JD jumped in for Trump and the rest is history. Zelenskyy jumps in with JD and they go back and forth and it should have been done off camera. I agree with that. But trust me on this one. I know exactly what went on, more than anybody in the world, and they screwed it up. It’s back on track. Trump received a letter from Zelenskyy, saying, ‘I regret what happened,’ and we’re good to go.”
Graham’s response is remarkable for several reasons.
One, it began with an apology, something that is all too rare in life, let alone politics, today.
Two, it offered praise to Zelenskyy, who history will record as a freedom fighter. This time, Graham didn’t disrespect him or dismiss him as someone the U.S. shouldn’t be in business with.
Three, it was more professorial than political. That bit about Churchill? That was great. Of course everyone remembers Churchill saying, “We shall fight on the beaches,” but who remembers that Churchill lost the British election of July 1945?
Four, it had context and clarity, showing what was at stake for Graham — who helped negotiate the minerals deal — and the world — where Russia’s Vladimir Putin is widely seen as the threat.
Five, and most importantly, it didn’t pin all the blame for the Oval Office debacle on Zelenskyy.
“They screwed it up,” he said. They.
One day earlier, on Sunday, Graham had cautioned in a Fox News interview that pulling the plug on Ukraine “would be worse than Afghanistan.” And he also said, “Until we have a ceasefire, I would give Ukraine what they need in terms of intelligence and weapons to defend themselves,” sending a necessary message directly to Trump, who had paused both several days ago.
Imagine that. You might not know it from most TV or social media. But we do live in a world in which people may actually see politicians in the president’s party disagree with him. And in a world in which, when they don’t, those people may ask politicians why they broke their heart, and get an answer that offers both a mea culpa and something substantial to chew on.
The world is complex. If only we’d see and hear that more often.
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 6:00 AM.