'The View' Hosts Clash Over Lindsey Graham's Legacy After His Sudden Death

The View’s discussion of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death quickly turned into a debate over decency, grief and the political legacy he leaves behind.

The South Carolina Republican died July 11 at 71. Preliminary findings from the D.C. Medical Examiner’s office said Graham died of an aortic dissection. On July 13, the ABC hosts addressed both the ugly online reaction to his death and the sharp criticism of his years as one of President Donald Trump’s most loyal allies.

Ana Navarro, who said she knew Graham personally for years, began by condemning people who had celebrated his death online.

“I saw a lot of posts online this week kind of celebrating his death and rejoicing,” Navarro said. “And listen, I know that Trump does that. He did it with Bob Mueller, he did it with John McCain, he did it with Rob Reiner. But it’s inhumane and lacking empathy.”

“The dead person is dead and can’t hear you and can’t read your posts,” Navarro said. “But his family, his sister who he adopted when she was 13 because both of their parents died, is alive, and is hearing it.”

Sara Haines agreed, saying she was disturbed by posts arguing people should not humanize Graham.

“You don’t have to humanize a human,” Haines said. “There were people that loved him, there were people that cared for him, and whether I disagreed with him completely or not, he’s gone. So my heart goes out to the people around him that are suffering.”

“For me, there was a Lindsey before Trump and a Lindsey after Trump,” Navarro said. “There were two completely different Lindseys.”

Sunny Hostin said Graham had been on The View several times and recalled speaking with Meghan McCain about him.

“She was very close to him and was very disappointed in the change that she saw after John McCain died,” Hostin said.

Hostin described Graham as “this political chameleon” and quoted political strategist Steve Schmidt, who worked on John McCain’s 2008 campaign.

“He was a lonely and unprincipled man who betrayed his country for power and his decency for attention,” Hostin said, citing Schmidt.

She also pointed to Graham’s own past criticism of Trump, including his 2016 warning, “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed, and we will deserve it.”

By 2026, Hostin noted, Graham had called Trump “the greatest president of all time,” suggested changing the Nobel Prize to “the Trump Prize” and told him, “Mr. President, you’re not far behind God.”

Whoopi Goldberg summed up the tension more briefly.

“He was a complicated cat, and there’s no getting around that,” she said. “God rest his soul.”