Foreign Policy Shift
The loss of Senator Lindsey Graham underscores a trend in the U.S. Senate. The internationalist wing of both parties weakens and the populist wing strengthens. Consider the departures of Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas on the Republican side, and Jeanne Shaheen on the Democratic side. Shaheen, for instance, supported the Iraq War and opposed withdrawal from Afghanistan. McConnell, Cornyn, and Graham full-throatedly supported funding for Ukraine, among other decidedly non-MAGA foreign policy objectives. In early March, upon the launch of the Iran War, the America First foreign policy that Donald Trump touted and then abandoned in his second term went from the mainstream Republican position to a fringe one almost overnight. Then Iran went sour and various champions of U.S. intervention abroad died and retired. Divisions on foreign policy will dominate the 2028 presidential nominations of both parties. These divisions will reveal themselves subtly and overtly.
Maine Mess Gets Messier
Maine Democrats snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The disastrous end of the Graham Platner campaign just gets worse. The same establishment that sought to block Platner’s bid well before the rape allegation now controls the process to replace him as the party’s U.S. Senate nominee. Watch my latest @RightWingWilderness episode that discusses the seven Democrat dwarfs seeking the nomination and why the corrupt process to pick a winner—why no primary as in South Carolina—ultimately delivers a sacrificial loser to Senator Susan Collins in November.
Inflation Forever
First Class Forever stamps increased from 78 cents to 82 cents on Sunday. The price of a postage stamp has jumped 100 percent since 2011. In 1970, a first-class stamp cost six cents, 15 cents in 1980, and 25 cents in 1990.
Spain Beckons
I soon walk the alleys of Toledo, lay on the beaches of Malaga, attend a bullfight in Seville, and visit churches in Madrid to atone for excursion to the bullfight (suggestions welcome from experienced travelers!). Probably my journey interrupts Spectator A.M. for a day next week (but not likely this week). I include a few of my favorite Spain-themed songs below…
King of Spain—The Tallest Man on Earth
Spanish Bombs—The Clash
Never Been to Spain—Three Dog Night
Daniel—Elton John
Holiday in Spain—Counting Crows
Letter: Jiminy Crickets, Indeed
Daniel,
May Lindsay Graham rest in peace with his friend John McCain. I imagine their politics here will not matter so much there. How they treated their family, friends, and strangers here maybe more so will.
Live footage of grandpa running and getting thrown like a ragdoll may be the most incredible thing I have ever seen. I do hope he is alright. I know I could never run like that, unless of course a fast-approaching buffalo was running behind me. Jiminy Crickets.
Jim Jackson
Zebulon, North Carolina
Daniel J. Flynn
Daniel J. Flynn, a senior editor of The American Spectator, serves as a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution for the 2024-2025 academic year. His books include Cult City: Harvey Milk, Jim Jones, and 10 Days That Shook San Francisco, Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America, A Conservative History of the American Left, and Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas. In 2025, he releases his magnum opus, The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer.