Lindsey Graham: The best way to punish Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election is to re-elect him
By 
Not the Onion:
Graham bitterly opposed convicting Trump in the Senate. Now he opposes convicting him either at the federal level (because the Justice Department is subordinate to Biden) or the state or local level (because they are “liberal jurisdictions”). Instead, he deems the sole legitimate venue for holding Trump accountable to be “at the ballot box.”
Yet Graham has endorsed Trump’s presidential candidacy! Which is to say, despite all his crocodile tears about preserving norms, he believes Trump’s scheme to install himself as an unelected autocrat should not be punished at all but rewarded. The choice becomes clearer when you grasp that this is the true question: not how, but whether, to penalize Trump’s crime.
The overwhelming majority — indeed, practically all — Republicans would prefer an after the fact blessing of Trump’s campaign to install himself as an unelected autocrat, by rewarding him with another presidency, than voting for Joe Biden or any other Democrat.
The extent to which this is true of “independents” who voted for Trump in 2020 will be critical in regard to whether Trump is re-elected next year.
But the hard truth is that around 45% of the American electorate doesn’t care, or doesn’t care enough, that Trump attempted a coup three years ago. They’re going to vote for him again anyway. And Lindsey Graham’s position — that Trump should face literally no consequences for that crime — is theirs as well.