Q&A: Lindsey Graham's legacy, UK's new PM and why is a 'trash can' standing for office?

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:00)
The Israelis talked about liberating the Iranian people and finally putting their future in their own hands. That hasn't happened, it hasn't happened, and it hasn't happened.

**Jamie Rubin** (0:09)
I just howled with laughter.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:11)
No, no, let me say I am very impressed that you've even heard about Count Binface. He does have this structure around him that is a bin.

**Jamie Rubin** (0:19)
They think it's all a joke and that he's a joke, and they need to show him to be a joke.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:25)
This was always an experiment for me.

**Jamie Rubin** (0:27)
And the experiment continues.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:29)
That's about as deep as I'm getting there, Theresa, on Instagram. Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Q&A episode of The Ex Files with me, Christiane Amanpour in London.

**Jamie Rubin** (0:42)
And Jamie Rubin in New York.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:44)
And of course, this is where we answer your questions, so we're going to get started. Jamie, since I'm right here talking, I'm going to take the first one. Keira on TikTok, does Lindsey Graham's death give the Democrats a better chance of winning the Senate in the midterms? How much of an impact do you think his death could have on domestic US politics?

**Jamie Rubin** (1:02)
I don't think it will have a big impact on actual politics politics, meaning the makeup of the Senate, because I don't believe that the shift in South Carolina will go from a Republican to a Democrat. South Carolina is a pretty serious red state, and there's no indication of any change there. But Lindsey Graham was a prominent member of whatever you want to call them, but they were the hardline use of force Republicans left over from the pro-Araq war group of Republicans, the former so-called neocons. He was, I would say, the most prominent member of that group in public life, other than Marco Rubio, but Rubio has adopted some very different views now that he's working for President Trump. So I think that wing of the party is going to have a voice less loud. Lindsey Graham was a very effective senator in getting his views known and talking to President Trump and being on TV and playing a prominent role in the debates and playing a prominent role in the discussion about what the United States should do in the world and almost always was on the side of a bigger and stronger and more military-oriented role for the United States. That wing of the Republican Party is going to be weaker, I think.

**Christiane Amanpour** (2:20)
Yeah, and I was saying in the main episode that I had last interviewed him in a sort of a sort of a roundtable context at the Munich Security Conference, it was about Iran and he was very hardline on Iran. I can't remember where he ended up, Jamie, when it was clear that the war was not going well.
Do you remember? Because clearly people were beginning to say to Trump, stop it now.

**Jamie Rubin** (2:41)
Yeah, he didn't like it. He said it was he was basically opposed to the question, the memorandum, but didn't question it so hard that he broke his relationship with Trump because he had told reporters he was determined to be relevant. And to be relevant, he had to stay friends with Donald Trump. And so he limited his criticism while behind the scenes pushing for Trump to take a more, let's call it militaristic stance.
He found a way in public to minimize his criticism so that he didn't break with Trump. That was his political skill, if you call it that.

**Christiane Amanpour** (3:14)
I know, sometimes I wonder, a couple of years ago or a year ago, I think it was in Trump, yeah, it was the beginning of the Trump second term, and he hadn't fully got all his cabinet. They were being, you know, they're being approved or not.
And I remember talking to a senator, a Republican senator in the Munich Security Conference, who said that she would vote for Hegseth, the very controversial Secretary of Defense. He was really controversial during the run up to, you know, to the approval by the Senate and remains very controversial, but would probably because she wanted, in a different way, she said, but to be relevant and to be there for her constituents and at the table. Sometimes I think that's a pretty, you know, double-edged sword of a decision, because Hegseth has proven to be still incredibly controversial. And some even suggest that maybe he's not giving Trump all the facts about the military ability and the military results of the war on Iran.