The Lindsey Graham Conspiracy Theories Are Already Running WildHere’s why I don’t think they’ll stick.
A PROMINENT 71-YEAR-OLD can’t just die of cardiovascular disease these days. Instead, judging by some people’s reactions to the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), there has to be a hidden hand at play. “Was Lindsey Graham assassinated by Russia or Iran?” asked right-wing activist Laura Loomer, adding that Vladimir Putin–friendly American podcaster Tucker Carlson should be investigated by the FBI just to be sure. “Lindsey Graham dying out of the blue like this doesn’t make any sense at all,” wrote conservative activist Matt Van Swol, in a message reposted by former Trump spokesman Sean Spicer. And on it went. Conservative columnist Marc Thiessen suggested that Graham, who recently visited Ukraine, might be just the latest Putin foe to fall victim to an assassination. (Graham apparently died of an aortic dissection, and Thiessen was commenting on a post noting that “Graham has dealt with blood pressure issues since his 40s. His father also died of cardiac arrest at age 69.”) Former CBS News reporter-turned-conspiracy theorist Lara Logan, meanwhile, is dabbling in numerology, scrutinizing the timing of Donald Trump’s posts about Graham’s death to see if they hold clues. “This doesn’t look like a guy who would die hours later,” commented billionaire Bill Ackman on a video of a not-particularly-healthy-looking Graham. Ackman—who, like the other people quoted above, is not a physician—later deleted the tweet. The rush to avoid the obvious explanation for Graham’s death—that Graham died of heart disease, as 71-year-old men with busy schedules sometimes do—offers a glimpse into the dynamics of the MAGA internet in 2026. It’s a place where nothing is as it seems, and even something as simple as an older man dying is grist for the conspiracy theory mill. Studying conspiracy theorists, academic Michael Barkun noted that one core tenet is their belief that nothing that happens is a coincidence. So Graham can’t just die randomly in a way that more or less fits with his actuarial table—he had to have been killed by a secret team of Russian assassins waiting around in Kyiv for an American senator to show up, or by opponents of the SAVE Act, or because he once was vaccinated for COVID. What’s different now is that these conspiracy theories are being given winks or even direct oxygen from the top levels of the government. For example, FBI Director Kash Patel, after posting an anodyne tribute to Graham’s legacy, inexplicably insinuated that the senator’s death may have involved a crime that would require the bureau’s assistance to investigate. “The FBI is assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available,” Patel wrote, sparking even more conspiracy theories. On Monday afternoon, FBI agents were spotted at Graham’s home—reportedly out of an abundance of caution. Share MOST OF THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES about Graham’s death center on a Russian assassination, perhaps with help from Iran. “Was he poisoned by a foreign adversary either abroad or upon returning to the US?” Loomer asked. “There should be an investigation into his death. Especially after Iran called for his death less than one week ago.” It makes a certain sense that this is the direction these theories would go. I’ll admit that Putin does love killing his enemies in weird ways, including poisons that can cause cardiovascular dysfunction and be hard to trace. But there is an utter lack of evidence of poisoning with respect to Graham. And that does not simply mean it was a well-disguised poisoning. Ultimately, I’m skeptical about how long-lived any conspiracy theory about Graham’s death can go; mainly because of the current orientation of the MAGA right. Share The Bulwark Consider that Graham’s death happened just a few days after alleged Charlie Kirk killer Tyler Robinson was in court for a hearing in his case. While Candace Owens and her allies have managed to mold Kirk’s death into a story about Israel—and there are few things conspiracy theorists love more than a story about Israel—there’s just not a huge appetite on the American right to get mad about Putin killing a senator who wasn’t particularly loved by the party’s base. In part, that’s because the right’s biggest conspiracy theorists tend to be supportive of Putin. But Carlson and Owens both visited Russia: Carlson did a long and pretty softball sitdown interview with Putin in 2024, and Owens attended the drone-dogged St. Petersburg International Economic Forum earlier this year. Owens’s ally Elizabeth Lane, another promoter of Kirk conspiracy theories, has extensive ties to Russian intelligence. The idea that they would turn around and claim Putin was responsible for Graham’s death seems far-fetched. On the flip side, the thesis that Graham was murdered by Russian intelligence has been picked up by a smattering of Israel and Ukraine hawks, and some people who generally suspect an uncertain “something” is up here. But those voices are far less prominent in online MAGA circles. There is Loomer. But she only belatedly backed Ukraine as a counter to Carlson’s and Owens’s embrace of Putin. Barring developments in an FBI investigation into Graham’s death, it seems unlikely to become a MAGA touchstone. More likely is that the movement will rather quickly move on. Perhaps that’s the ultimate insult to the legacy of Graham, who was ridiculed by Trump just a day after his death for backing away from his criticisms of the January 6th insurrection: Even the conspiracy theorists won’t be moved by him. Leave a comment |