Within hours of Senator Lindsey Graham's death on July 12, "Rest in Hell" was trending on X. Not from anonymous trolls in some forgotten corner of the internet. From verified accounts, political commentators, and — in a detail that should stop everyone cold — Iranian state television, which used the phrase to congratulate the Iranian people on the South Carolina senator's passing.
The Islamic Republic of Iran and the American progressive movement, celebrating the same death, with the same words, on the same day.
As Twitchy documented, the outpouring was immediate and coordinated in its cruelty. Jackson Hinkle posted that "Lindsey Graham was a demon." Political commentator Steve Schmidt called Graham a "simple, tragic man" who "lacked a moral core." One user with the handle Ginsengaddict dispensed with any pretense entirely: "Dead fascists get no sympathy... Their deaths are a net good."
Comedian Margaret Cho didn't even wait 12 hours before she danced on Graham's grave. And she also suggested that Mitch McConnell and President Trump were next.
Some Democrats did manage basic decency. Senator Cory Booker posted a video tribute. Representative Ro Khanna offered respectful words. But these were exceptions swimming against a current of venom that dominated the platform for the better part of the day. The restraint of a handful of elected officials couldn't offset the bile pouring from the broader progressive infrastructure — the commentators, the activists, the media figures who set the cultural tone for the Democratic base.
Now run the thought experiment we're all already running. Imagine a conservative senator — any conservative senator — dying, and within hours "Rest in Hell" trending because right-wing accounts were celebrating. Imagine Fox News hosts calling the deceased a demon. Imagine Russian state television congratulating its citizens on the death.
There would be congressional statements. Network specials. Think pieces about the "crisis of civility" and "the dangerous rhetoric of the American right." Senators who didn't condemn it fast enough would face pressure campaigns. Social media platforms would issue statements about "hateful content."
When it comes from the left, it's just Saturday.
Graham was a complicated figure. He frustrated conservatives regularly — his willingness to work across the aisle was, depending on the week, either his greatest asset or his most maddening quality. He wasn't everyone's favorite Republican. He didn't need to be. The question isn't whether you agreed with Lindsey Graham on every vote. The question is whether a United States senator deserves more than five hours of breathing room before the grave-dancing starts.
The people who spent the last decade lecturing the country about "tone" and "norms" and "the erosion of democratic discourse" couldn't manage a single afternoon of silence. Glenn Thrush, Spencer Hakimian, and dozens of other public-facing accounts weighed in with commentary that ranged from cold indifference to open celebration.
Iranian state TV didn't need to manufacture anti-American propaganda this weekend. They just retweeted the American left.
