Lindsey Graham, who has died aged 71, was a political survivor.
His career as a Republican senator served as a telling barometer for the dramatically changing climate in his political party – and America – in the Donald Trump era.
While there were certain issues central to Graham’s political identity – including a hawkish foreign policy that focused on containing Russian global ambitions, support for Israel and regime change in Iran – his 23-year career in the Senate was marked by a willingness to adapt to the gale-force change of political winds that accompanied Trump’s rise to power.
Shortly after being elected to represent South Carolina in the Senate in 2002, Graham became a close ally of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who, while a staunch conservative, developed a national reputation for political independence.
When Graham ran for president in 2015, the idea of cooling partisan tensions and working with political opponents was one of his central messages.