A new video shows the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was cheerleading the war effort from his office as President Donald Trump launched strikes on Iran in February.
“I talked to Trump this morning; he’s jacked. He said, ‘Best thing I’ve ever done.’ He loves blowing stuff up,” Graham told a documentary crew, according to footage obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper said documentary filmmaker Alex Holder had been following Graham from 2023 until his sudden death earlier this month at the age of 71.
In the February footage, Graham laughs as he watches Trump on television announce the strikes on Iran that initiated the war.
“Look what we’ve done here. I almost cried,” he said. “How long have we been pushing this?”
In the footage obtained by the Journal, Graham also made a prediction on when the war would end that would turn out to be wildly optimistic.
“In three to four weeks, we’re going to have them in a spot where they start losing control of some cities,” he said. “Get the Arabs more openly involved tomorrow, and then have almost irreversible momentum.”
Trump himself has repeatedly claimed the war would be over in a matter of weeks and has declared victory multiple times.
This week will mark five months since the war began.
The war has destabilized the region and caused the deaths of at least 18 U.S. service members, with more than 600 wounded.
It’s also caused the price of oil to surge, which in turn has caused the price of gasoline to jump. Americans are paying about $1 more per gallon now than they were a year ago, according to AAA.
The war has also cost U.S. taxpayers at least $37 billion so far, according to the Pentagon, although analysts believe the real cost is much higher.
The war has had another impact: Trump’s approval rating, already low, has dropped even further, and could cost Republicans at the ballot box in November’s midterm elections.