Tap Dancing With Trump: Lindsey Graham’s Quest for Relevance

Lindsey Graham’s moment, it seemed, came connected the evening of Jan. 6. With crews inactive cleaning up the humor and breached solid near by the mob that conscionable hours earlier had stormed the Capitol, helium took the Senate level to declare, “Count maine out” and “Enough is enough.”

Half a twelvemonth later, a relaxed Mr. Graham, sitting successful his Senate bureau down a table strewn with balled napkins and bare Coke Zero bottles, says helium did not mean what astir everybody other thought helium meant.

“That was taken as, ‘I’m out, number maine out,’ that somehow, you know, that I’m done with the president,” helium said. “No! What I was trying to accidental to my colleagues and to the state was, ‘This process has travel to a conclusion.’ The president had entree to the courts. He was capable to marque his lawsuit to authorities legislators done hearings. He was disappointed helium fell short. It didn’t enactment out. It was implicit for me.”

What was not implicit for the legislator from South Carolina was his improbable — to galore people, confounding — narration with that president, Donald J. Trump.

For 4 years, Mr. Graham, a antheral who had erstwhile called Mr. Trump “a race-baiting, xenophobic bigot,” exemplified the accommodations that truthful galore Republicans made to the precedent-breaking president, lone much vividly, volubly and candidly.

But Mr. Graham’s reaffirmed devotion has travel to correspond thing much remarkable: his party’s headlong march into the acold reaches of Trumpism. That the senator is making regular Palm Beach pilgrimages arsenic supplicant to an exiled erstwhile president who inspired the Capitol onslaught and continues to undermine antiauthoritarian norms underscores however afloat his enactment has departed from the accepted blimpish ideologies of politicians similar Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney and Mr. Graham’s adjacent person John McCain.

To critics of Mr. Graham, and of Mr. Trump, that enabling comes astatine tremendous cost. It tin beryllium seen, for example, successful Republicans’ efforts to torpedo the investigations of the Capitol riot and successful the mode the party, with overmuch of its basal successful thrall to Mr. Trump’s stolen-election lie, is enacting a question of vote-suppressing authorities successful battleground states.

Mr. Graham, of course, describes his relation successful acold little apocalyptic terms. Even arsenic helium proclaims — from nether the hard regard of a half-dozen photos of Mr. McCain — that the Republican Party is present “the Trump party,” adjacent arsenic helium goes connected Fox to state that the enactment can’t “move forward” without the antheral who doubly mislaid the fashionable vote, Mr. Graham casts himself arsenic a singular unit for moderation and sanity.

“What I accidental to him is, ‘Do you privation January the 6th to beryllium your governmental obituary?’” helium said. “‘Because if you don’t get implicit it, it’s going to be.’”

Many of Mr. Graham’s aged friends connected some sides of the aisle — and helium inactive does not deficiency for them — grudgingly accepted arsenic governmental exigency his archetypal crook to Mr. Trump. His deviations from blimpish orthodoxy, they understood, had near him precariously mistrusted backmost home. Now, though, they fearfulness helium has reached a constituent of nary return.

“Trump is unspeakable for the country, he’s unspeakable for the Republican Party and, arsenic acold arsenic I’m concerned, he’s unspeakable for Lindsey,” said Mark Salter, a adjacent McCain person who was the ghostwriter for Mr. Graham’s autobiography.

“Lindsey is playing high-risk politics,” said Senator Dick Durbin, a wide Democrat from Illinois who considers Mr. Graham a friend. “He is pinning the hopes of the Republican Party connected a precise unstable person.”

What makes Lindsey run?

Over the past 4 years, pundits and governmental analysts person endlessly teased the question. Yet what emerges from interviews with much than 60 radical adjacent to him, and with the legislator himself, is simply a communicative little of translation than of gyration — of an infinitely adaptable relation seeking validation successful the proximity to power. It is that yearning for relevance, rooted successful what helium and others described arsenic a puerility of privation and loss, that makes Mr. Graham’s communicative much than conscionable a lawsuit survey of governmental endurance successful the property of Trump.

Raised conscionable this broadside of poorness and near parentless early, Mr. Graham, 66, has from his schoolhouse days chosen to state himself with protective figures helium calls “alpha dogs,” men much almighty than himself — disparate, adjacent antagonistic, figures similar Mr. Trump and Mr. McCain, the onetime captive of warfare truthful famously disparaged by Mr. Trump. Indeed, toward the extremity of his life, Mr. McCain privately remarked that his person was drawn to the president for the affirmation.

“To beryllium portion of a shot team, you don’t person to beryllium the quarterback, right?” Mr. Graham said successful the interview. “I mean, there’s a worth successful being portion of something.”

It was successful that role, amid unrelenting unit from Mr. Trump and his sons, that Mr. Graham called Georgia’s apical elections authoritative successful November to inquire astir the ballot tally successful the state, which Mr. Trump mislaid by astir 12,000. That telephone is present portion of a transgression probe of the Trump camp’s actions successful Georgia.

Yet thing Mr. Graham does oregon says seems capable to fulfill the Trumps. That has near the self-described conciliator struggling to make bully volition connected some sides of the governmental divide.

In mid-November, arsenic helium was publically urging Mr. Trump to support up the predetermination fight, Mr. Graham made a antecedently unreported telephone telephone to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., to revive a relationship damaged by his telephone for a peculiar authoritative to analyse the overseas concern dealings of Mr. Biden’s lad Hunter.

It was short, and not particularly sweet, according to 3 radical with nonstop cognition of the exchange. Mr. Graham told Mr. Biden that, successful attacking Hunter, helium had done lone the bare minimum to fulfill Trump supporters backmost home. (A Graham spokesperson disputed that account.)

Mr. Biden, who viewed Mr. Graham’s connection arsenic an unforgivable onslaught connected his family. responded by saying helium would enactment with immoderate Republican, but dismissed the attack arsenic Mr. Graham trying to person it some ways, 2 radical adjacent to the president said.

“Lindsey’s been a idiosyncratic disappointment,” Mr. Biden said a fewer days later, “because I was a idiosyncratic person of his.”

From Humble Beginnings

It is simply a truism of governmental biography that play affords a model into some benignant and soul. And it has surely played an important relation successful sustaining the precarious but durable Trump-Graham partnership. (That enslaved was connected show successful May, erstwhile the 2 men staged a Trump Graham Golf Classic fund-raiser, with an introduction interest of $25,000.)

Still, the senator’s predominant impromptu trips to Mar-a-Lago stay a spot of a puzzlement to the erstwhile president.

“Jesus, Lindsey indispensable really, truly similar to play golf,” Mr. Trump precocious told an aide.

The crippled — and the presumption conferred by playing with Mr. Trump — is nary tiny happening to a antheral who grew up connected the creaky little rungs of the mediate class, surviving successful the backmost country of his family’s beer-and-shot excavation hall, the Sanitary Cafe, successful Central, S.C., a mill municipality astatine the midpoint of the freight enactment betwixt Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C.

His parents, Millie and F.J. Graham — known to everyone successful municipality arsenic Dude — worked 14-hour days and slept successful the cramped flat adjacent to the bar’s 2 bathrooms, their room separated by a curtain from the smoky tavern, with its jukebox, pinball machines and peeling laminate-wood counter. The aboriginal legislator shared a azygous country with his parents, his sister, Darline, and the occasional patron, often coated successful mill dust, who would rotation successful tipsily to ticker TV with the family.

Mr. Graham was precise adjacent to some parents, and helium finds it hard to sermon their nonaccomplishment without choking up. But his parent was the warmer presence; her hubby was a wry but undemonstrative World War II seasoned devoted to his household but preoccupied with keeping the concern afloat and prone, successful Mr. Graham’s aboriginal years, to drinking.

“He had a pugnacious broadside to him. He kept a weapon down the counter,” the senator’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, recalled successful a caller interview, adding, “You knew that Mr. Dude was a kind, bully man, but you weren’t going to messiness with him.”

It fell mostly to Mr. Graham, 9 years older, to beryllium genitor to his sister. From his aboriginal teens, she recalled, it was Lindsey who helped her with her homework, Lindsey who gave her medicine erstwhile she was sick. Not excessively galore years later, it would beryllium Lindsey who told her that their parent was dying. “Lindsey took maine to the extremity of the hall” astatine the hospital, she said. “He told maine helium didn’t cognize if she was going to marque it.”

The Grahams did not person the wealth oregon the clip for existent vacations, truthful to enslaved with his father, Lindsey decided they should instrumentality up golf. They began playing astatine a chewed-up region course, and it became specified a play ritual that, to prevention connected rental fees, Dude Graham yet bought an aged electrical cart that could beryllium charged, free, astatine the course’s cart shed.

Shortly aft Mr. Graham began attending the University of South Carolina, his parent was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. On weekends, helium would thrust a autobus location to look aft his sister. “It was conscionable acheronian and lonely without him there,” she said.

Fifteen months aft their parent died, Ms. Nordone, inactive successful mediate school, woke up to observe Dude Graham dead, from a bosom attack.

“Don’t worry,” her member told her, “I’ll ever instrumentality attraction of you,” which helium did arsenic helium crushed his mode done instrumentality school.

Had this puerility led Mr. Graham to question retired begetter figures successful his big life? “That’s a pugnacious question,” she replied. “I conscionable don’t know.”

Either way, his quicksilver caput and self-lacerating consciousness of wit made him a magnet for mentors and large brothers. Two of the earliest were his precocious schoolhouse coach, Alpheus Lee Curtis, and Colonel Pete Sercer, the caput of Air Force R.O.T.C. astatine the University of South Carolina, who guided him toward his archetypal career, arsenic a subject lawyer, serving mostly successful Europe.

Another mentor was Larry Brandt, his instrumentality spouse erstwhile helium returned to South Carolina. In an interview, Mr. Brandt recalled that Mr. Graham’s vocation successful authorities began erstwhile helium was approached by some the section Republican and Democratic parties successful 1992 to tally for a authorities House spot held by an unpopular Democrat.

“Lindsey came to maine and said, ‘What bash you think?’” said Mr. Brandt, a lifelong Democrat. “Lindsey and I talked a batch implicit clip astir issues, and there’s nary uncertainty Lindsey was a Democrat connected each societal issues.”

Ultimately, helium said, Mr. Graham’s determination came down to calculation much than heavy partisan feeling: The Democratic superior would beryllium competitive; if helium ran arsenic a Republican, helium would beryllium capable to give himself to the wide election.

He won, and wrong a fewer years was elected to Congress, which successful 1999 led to a career-making show arsenic a House manager successful President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. Mr. McCain was truthful impressed with the barbed, folksy one-liners that helium invited Mr. Graham backmost to his Senate office, wherever helium declared himself a instrumentality — and, oh, would Mr. Graham endorse him for president successful 2000?

After Mr. Graham’s predetermination to the Senate successful 2002, the 2 became inseparable, communicating by flip-phone, often respective times an hour, with Mr. Graham serving arsenic sounding board, soother and tactical adviser. Their power peaked arsenic they supported the Iraq warfare earlier joining forces to question the Bush administration’s strategy and interrogation methods. They shared a imaginativeness for the Republican Party — inclusive, center-right, hawkish connected overseas policy, much mean connected migration and different home issues.

But that perfect had agelong been fading erstwhile Mr. Graham joined Mr. McCain astatine his ranch successful Sedona, Ariz., connected predetermination nighttime 2016. Mr. Graham inactive believed Hillary Clinton would triumph successful a romp, yet determination helium was, incredulously watching the returns travel successful for Mr. Trump, uttering profanities implicit and implicit and over.

“I was successful daze for a week,” Mr. Graham recalled. It did not instrumentality him agelong to marque a decision. “Am I going to beryllium warring a rear-guard enactment here? Or americium I going to effort to enactment with him?”

‘An Abiding Need to Be successful the Room’

Mr. McCain, whose ain statesmanlike aspirations ended aft his nonaccomplishment to Barack Obama successful 2008, had urged Mr. Graham to tally successful 2016. But helium warned his person against engaging successful a one-on-one verbal brawl with Mr. Trump. Mr. Graham did not listen.

“I privation to speech to the Trump supporters for a minute. I don’t cognize who you are and wherefore you similar this guy,” Mr. Graham said connected CNN successful precocious 2015, earlier quitting the race. “Here’s what you’re buying: He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic bigot. He doesn’t correspond my party.”

Yet scarcely two months aft Mr. Trump’s inauguration, a grinning Mr. Graham could beryllium recovered successful the bureau of the White House property secretary, Sean Spicer, chatting with Kellyanne Conway, 1 of the president’s apical advisers.

The legislator had been orchestrating his West Wing appearance, steadily softening his disapproval of Mr. Trump connected Fox, and moving immoderate of the network’s pro-Trump hosts, with the cognition that the president would beryllium watching. He had besides had meal with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Mr. Graham’s beingness bewildered immoderate Trump aides, but not radical who knew him. “He has an abiding request to beryllium successful the room, nary substance what the cost,” said Hollis Felkel, a seasoned South Carolina Republican governmental consultant.

Mr. Graham said helium was determination to merchantability the president connected a much hawkish overseas argumentation astatine a clip erstwhile Mr. Trump was vowing speedy withdrawals from Afghanistan. He was surprised, helium said, however affable the president was. Indeed, to perceive Mr. Graham speech astir his interactions with Mr. Trump is to beryllium struck by however overmuch helium seems to relish them.

“He came successful and helium was precise gracious, similar he’s trying to merchantability maine a condo, showed maine around,” Mr. Graham recalled.

Mr. Graham said helium reciprocated by praising his host’s governmental skills and pledging to enactment him erstwhile helium could, particularly connected judicial nominations. He soon followed up with a flurry of telephone conversations connected politics, gossip and golf.

That led to the prize Mr. Graham wanted from the start: an invitation to Mr. Trump’s nine successful Virginia.

“Where it each changed is erstwhile we went for golf,” Mr. Graham said.

“The legislator closest to Trump was Lindsey Graham, and it’s not adjacent a question,” Mr. Bannon said. “Have you met Lindsey Graham? I similar him, and I deliberation he’s the worst.”

Like Mr. McCain, Mr. Trump was drawn to Mr. Graham’s ambidextrous, pragmatic authorities — and his strategical amiability.

“People seemingly recovered the operation of my flimsy stature and gabby quality comical,” Mr. Graham wrote successful his 2015 memoir, referring to a coping strategy learned successful childhood. “I was expected to entertain folks. And I knew the much audacious I was the much entertaining I would be.”

Mr. Trump besides told his unit that helium preferred the institution of radical helium had turned — erstwhile enemies who had travel to spot that helium was really a bully feline they could respect.

Mr. McCain was decidedly not turned. While helium understood the request to marque bid with the party’s leader, helium told Mr. Graham flatly that the president “is not 1 of us.”

He kept his temper successful cheque until Mr. Graham started raving astir however “such a big, older guy” could enactment up an 18-hole people that astir matched his age, according to a communal friend.

“My ass helium changeable a 70!” Mr. McCain yelled.

“John was conscionable amazed and to definite grade disappointed, but not truly angry, with the closeness of the Lindsey Graham narration with Trump,” said Joseph Lieberman, a erstwhile Democratic legislator from Connecticut who was adjacent to some lawmakers.

When Mr. McCain’s assertive encephalon tumor was diagnosed successful the summertime of 2017, Mr. Graham compartmentalized, comforting his person and courting Mr. Trump.

The president enlisted Mr. Graham and different McCain ally, Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, to triumph implicit Mr. McCain connected a cardinal run promise, repealing Obamacare, and Mr. Graham eagerly agreed. Both assured White House officials they had persuaded Mr. McCain to ballot “yes,” according to erstwhile West Wing aides progressive successful the talks.

They had not. On July 28, a dying Mr. McCain returned to Washington to present his defiant thumbs-down, and it seemed, for a moment, that Mr. Trump’s grip connected the enactment was not arsenic choky arsenic helium claimed.

There would beryllium 1 much act. The McCain household had insisted that the president and his entourage would not beryllium invited astatine the senator’s authorities funeral, but Ivanka Trump, who had collaborated with Mr. McCain’s wife, Cindy, connected the contented of quality trafficking, insisted connected attending. It was Mr. Graham who persuaded Ms. McCain to reluctantly widen an invitation to Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner.

Afterward, Mr. McCain’s girl Meghan angrily told the late-night big Stephen Colbert, “My begetter had been precise wide astir the enactment betwixt the McCains and the Trumps.”

The astir communal root of flare-ups was Afghanistan. During 1 play outing, the 2 men got into a screaming lucifer aft Mr. Graham said helium would alternatively woody with a weaponry sidesplitting civilians successful Kabul “than successful Times Square.”

Mr. Trump barked an expletive, shouted, “You guys person been incorrect for 20 years,” and stomped off, according to a idiosyncratic who witnessed the exchange.

A fewer minutes later, they were chatting amiably arsenic if thing had happened, the idiosyncratic said.

Some of the president’s apical advisers were increasing annoyed by Mr. Graham’s pesky omnipresence — finagling flights connected Air Force One, showing up astatine the West Wing connected small notice. “Sometimes he’d conscionable similar to beryllium with the president successful the eating country disconnected the Oval astatine the extremity of the day,” a erstwhile elder White House authoritative said.

In aboriginal 2019, arsenic the Trumps were sitting down to dinner, Mr. Graham phoned up the president’s assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, to accidental helium was coming up to the White House residence with Ted Cruz, the legislator from Texas, to sermon a program to code 1 of the galore crises plaguing the administration.

Mr. Trump obliged, Melania Trump felt enactment upon and thing came of it, aides acquainted with the occurrence said.

‘I’m the Senator From South Carolina’

Mr. McCain’s decease successful August 2018 had been a profound nonaccomplishment for Mr. Graham, and during the interrogation successful his office, helium astir broke down describing the hours helium spent astatine his friend’s infirmary bedside, holding his hand, during those last days successful Arizona.

Yet helium besides acknowledged that the dissolution of the concern had freed him to look aft his ain governmental interests, which entailed cozying up to the right-wing populists who progressively dominated his enactment successful South Carolina.

“I jokingly notation to Senator Graham arsenic Senator Graham 1.0 and the Senator Graham 2.0 who came on during the Trump years, the 2.0 being the preferred upgrade,” said Nate Leupp, president of the Greenville County Republicans and 1 of respective enactment leaders successful South Carolina who said they had agelong been wary of the senator’s “maverick alliances.”

Mr. Graham’s 2016 statesmanlike superior bid — a spot of a lark, intended to vault him to the nationalist signifier arsenic a solo enactment — had been a humiliating reminder of however susceptible helium was astatine home: When helium dropped retired successful December 2015, helium was polling successful azygous digits successful South Carolina.

His McCain-esque positions connected migration and trade, helium admits, were portion of the problem. “I adore John McCain. Yeah, he’s done much to mentor maine and assistance maine than immoderate azygous idiosyncratic successful politics,” Mr. Graham said. “But having said that, I’m the legislator from South Carolina.”

Perhaps the astir delicate contented for Mr. Graham was his bipartisan grounds connected judicial appointments.

Mr. Graham had agelong argued that presidents deserved to person their judicial nominees confirmed, and successful 2010, helium voted for Mr. Obama’s archetypal Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan. It came astatine a cost: Anti-abortion protesters successful South Carolina hanged him successful effigy, and erstwhile helium ran for re-election successful 2014, six superior opponents popped up, each hammering him for being excessively wide connected the courts.

Mr. Graham has played down the episode, but it intelligibly scarred him.

“I person triplets, and I would astir apt bash anything, including breaking the law, to support them. He’s got a Senate seat,” Mick Mulvaney, the erstwhile acting White House main of staff, said of Mr. Graham connected a caller podcast.

So erstwhile a 2nd Supreme Court vacancy opened up successful aboriginal 2016, Mr. Graham signed connected to Mr. McConnell’s refusal to let a Senate ballot connected the information of Merrick Garland, connected the grounds that it came excessively adjacent to the November election.

And respective radical described a akin determination to beryllium his blimpish bona fides successful what was astir apt Mr. Graham’s astir memorable nationalist show successful the work of Mr. Trump: his outraged defence of Brett M. Kavanaugh, whom helium had known for a decade, against intersexual misconduct allegations during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings successful September 2018.

“You’re legitimizing the astir despicable happening I person seen successful my clip successful politics!” Mr. Graham said.

Yet if Mr. Graham’s show won him kudos from skeptics backmost home, it did not construe into information up of his re-election campaign. The predetermination became a referendum, of sorts, connected Mr. Graham’s shotgun conversion to Trumpism.

In mid-2019, his eventual Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, began raising tens of millions of dollars from donors nationwide. And aft a mid-September 2020 canvass showed the candidates successful a dormant heat, Mr. Harrison raised $1 cardinal successful 24 hours, portion of a $57 cardinal quarter, the richest for immoderate Senate campaigner successful history.

“I’m getting overwhelmed,” Mr. Graham lamented to Sean Hannity connected Fox. “LindseyGraham.com. Help me.”

Behind the scenes, Mr. McConnell tapped his nationalist fund-raising network, channeling $10 cardinal to Mr. Graham’s cause, and 2 Ohio-based dark-money groups chipped successful $4.4 million.

As for Mr. Trump, helium made 1 quality with Mr. Graham successful South Carolina and chopped 1 run ad. But helium did fto Mr. Graham rise wealth disconnected his brand, and, successful the end, the legislator raked successful about $111 million, astir 9 times what helium had raised successful 2014 and astir arsenic overmuch arsenic Mr. Harrison.

Mr. Graham won by 10 points.

After the Election

Even with a renewed six-year lease connected nationalist life, Mr. Graham hasn’t stopped pat dancing.

In the days pursuing the election, helium scrambled to enactment connected Mr. Trump’s bully side, publically urging him not to concede until helium had exhausted each his ineligible challenges and listening calmly connected late-night telephone calls arsenic the president raged astir a stolen election. He adjacent wrote a $500,000 cheque to assistance Mr. Trump’s ineligible defense.

But privately helium was already reaching retired to Mr. Biden and counseling Mr. Trump to ramp down his rhetoric. And helium steadfastly refused to look astatine quality conferences with Mr. Trump’s ineligible squad oregon repetition their mendacious claims — which annoyed the president and infuriated his lad Donald Jr., ever a Graham skeptic, retweeting stories with a “#whereslindsey” hashtag erstwhile helium felt the legislator was not lasting up for his father.

The biggest root of residual choler wrong the Trump bubble was Mr. Graham’s refusal, arsenic president of the Judiciary Committee, to acquiesce to White House demands for hearings into Hunter Biden’s concern dealings.

Mr. Graham said each the close things connected Fox, and hinted helium would get to the bottommost of the matter. But his unit advised him that it was intolerable to archer world from disinformation, truthful helium delayed and deliberated, happily deferring to the homeland information committee.

He had a amended narration with the president’s mediate son, Eric, yet he, too, was increasing frustrated that the legislator would not adjacent retweet claims of predetermination fraud. At a household meeting, helium fumed that Mr. Graham had ever been “weak” and would wage a terms due to the fact that his begetter would beryllium the astir almighty Republican for years to come, according to a governmental adjutant who was wrong earshot. Mr. Trump was moving the senator, too, according to radical acquainted with the exchanges.

Mr. Graham said that what happened adjacent had thing to bash with the unit bearing down connected him. But connected Nov. 13, helium called Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia caput of state, the archetypal of a bid of interventions Mr. Trump and his allies were to marque into the tallying of the results successful Georgia.

Mr. Raffensperger has said that Mr. Graham asked if determination was a ineligible way, utilizing the authorities courts, to flip retired each mail-in votes from counties with precocious rates of questionable signatures. And a Raffensperger adjutant who was connected the telephone said successful an interrogation that Mr. Graham’s extremity was getting arsenic galore ballots thrown retired arsenic possible.

Even so, helium made nary overt petition to discard ballots, according to another Raffensperger aide, Gabriel Sterling. As such, prosecutors investigating the Trump camp’s actions successful Georgia would astir apt person trouble establishing immoderate wrongdoing by Mr. Graham.

In the interview, Mr. Graham laughed disconnected the thought that helium had done thing wrong, saying helium had called “Ratzenberger” simply to inquire astir auditing signatures.

Around the aforesaid time, helium made different call, to Governor Ducey successful Arizona. His aim, Mr. Graham said, was not to overturn Mr. Biden’s constrictive triumph but to antagonistic the “garbage” Mr. Trump was getting from his ain ineligible team, according to an adjutant who was fixed a readout.

In Mr. Graham’s mind, helium had threaded the needle: He had professed loyalty and worth to Mr. Trump portion taking an unequivocal nationalist stand, arsenic Mr. Biden’s inauguration approached, opposing efforts to artifact certification of the election.

Then came Jan. 6, and his presumed declaration of independence.

Mr. Graham, successful fact, began softening his code astir immediately, pursuing a tongue-lashing from the president and a confrontation, 2 days aft the Capitol assault, with dozens of Trump supporters at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, chanting: “Traitor! Traitor!”

By Jan. 13, erstwhile Mr. Trump was impeached connected charges of inciting the riot, Mr. Graham was backmost connected board, offering proposal connected however to quell a imaginable revolt by Republican senators. What followed, successful the eyes of galore Senate colleagues, was a frenzied overcorrection.

Mr. Graham has go an ever-more-frequent look connected Fox, denying the beingness of systemic racism and decrying national assistance to Black farmers arsenic “reparations.” He posted a video of himself firing an AR-15 bought arsenic extortion from marauding “gangs” and forcefully backed Ms. Cheney’s expulsion from House leadership. He has embraced the culture-war grandstanding that helium and Mr. McCain mocked erstwhile they were a squad — precocious saying helium would “go to war” against students astatine the University of Notre Dame for trying to artifact a Chick-fil-A connected field implicit the anti-L.G.B.T.-rights authorities of its executives.

Yet determination are signs Mr. Graham whitethorn beryllium playing an inside-outside game. He has placed himself astatine the halfway of a monthslong effort to draught bipartisan police-reform authorities and precocious met with the Rev. Al Sharpton to perceive him retired connected the bill. And erstwhile helium tested affirmative for Covid-19 aft being inoculated, helium made a constituent of telling vaccine deniers successful his ain enactment to get their shots.

During his near-weekly golfing trips to Mar-a-Lago, helium said, helium is inactive trying to transportation Mr. Trump to “take it down a notch.” He remains convinced helium tin get him to play by the rules, and not the different mode around.

Many of the radical who person known him longest are not truthful sure.

From his bureau successful Walhalla, conscionable up the roadworthy from Central, Mr. Graham’s aged instrumentality partner, Mr. Brandt, has been reasoning astir thing the legislator told him during a sojourn 8 oregon 9 years ago.

“Larry, you are excessively honorable to past successful Washington,” Mr. Graham said. “Eighty-five percent of the radical determination would merchantability their mothers to support their jobs.”

Mr. Brandt ran into Mr. Graham astatine a section edifice successful 2017, arsenic the legislator was opening to tribunal Mr. Trump. Mr. Brandt took him to task, reminding him of their “85 percent” conversation. “I said, ‘Lindsey, don’t merchantability your mother,’” helium recalled.

Two years later, Mr. Graham called to accidental helium was coming backmost to town, and could they person dinner? Mr. Brandt said helium was anxious to spot him — and to springiness him an earful astir his relationship with the president. Mr. Graham said sure, and promised to ringing back.

“I’m inactive waiting connected that call,” Mr. Brandt said.