Trump should honor Lindsey Graham with strong Ukraine, Iran and Taiwan policies

Opinion>Opinions - International The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill Trump should honor Lindsey Graham with strong Ukraine, Iran and Taiwan policies Comments: by Joseph Bosco, opinion contributor - 07/15/26 10:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Joseph Bosco, opinion contributor - 07/15/26 10:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied

Associated Press U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. answers a question from a media member near damaged Russian vehicles on display in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

“You don’t have the cards,” President Trump scornfully told President Volodymyr Zelensky during his disastrous White House meeting last February. Vice President JD Vance and Trump lambasted the embattled Ukrainian leader.

Today, that shameful diplomatic moment seems geopolitical light years away after last week’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, which Trump described as full of allied “unity” and “love.”

The mutual respect and near-affection was most notable between Trump and Zelensky, who exchanged admiring comments at the event. Trump’s newfound respect for the diminutive Ukrainian stems in no small part from his publicly stated disdain for perceived “losers” and admiration, almost adulation, for acclaimed winners, whether in sports or international power politics.

Trump would have to be entirely blind and politically obtuse not to have noticed that the tide of war in Ukraine is turning decisively against the brutal Russian invaders. That sense of a new reality was reflected in his performance at the NATO meeting.

The bulk of the credit for Ukraine’s battlefield success in pushing the Russians incrementally back belongs to Zelensky and his incredibly brave, freedom-loving citizens. It is also true, as Zelensky readily acknowledges, that the West’s weapons support has been instrumental in enabling Ukraine to hold its own against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s onslaught.

But the tragic sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) over the weekend deprives Ukraine of one of its most vocal and most important supporters in the U.S. government.

Graham’s understanding of the moral and strategic implications of the war in Ukraine, and his close political and personal relationship with Trump, undoubtedly contributed to the U.S. president’s more positive attitude toward Ukraine and his firmer tone toward Putin. Trump said that both Putin and Zelensky wanted the war over. Of course, he neglected to say that each wants it ended on his own terms, diametrically opposite one another. Ukraine wants Russia to stop invading and brutalizing its country. Russian troops are under Putin’s direct orders to keep fighting until Ukraine capitulates.

Graham, who visited with Zelensky last week in Kiev, said he was never more optimistic that a solution is achievable. He also expressed good feelings about the prospects on passage of the bipartisan legislation he was pushing to impose sanctions on countries still buying Russian oil and gas. If his untimely death were to impede passage, it would constitute a major victory for Putin and the small coterie of autocratic, anti-Western countries supporting Russia’s conquest of Ukraine — that is, China, North Korea and Iran. And it would validate the effectiveness of the multi-front, non-nuclear campaign against Western values and interests.

To combat that Moscow- and Beijing-led strategy, and to honor Graham’s memory, Trump should pull out all the stops on U.S.-Ukraine policy by expediting Patriot technology-sharing with Ukraine to enable it to strike deep into Russia against key military and dual-use targets. He should also declare publicly, and advise Putin privately, that the United States is unequivocally committed to Ukraine’s military security and political independence and will do whatever is necessary to further those objectives.

At the same time, Trump should defeat the Putin-Xi Jinping strategy of distraction, deflection and division by coordinating on a military-civilian campaign of regime change in Iran, as well as by providing all that Taiwan needs to deter and defeat a Chinese invasion or blockade of Taiwan.

These simultaneous tasks will be costly and dangerous — as when the Allies confronted challenges from Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and Imperial Japan. But they will be far less costly in the long run than allowing the new axis of evil to succeed. Graham, Trump’s friend, political adviser and national security confidante, would argue that only Trump can rally America and its allies to pull it off.

Graham strongly supported Trump’s commitment that Iran will never possess a nuclear weapon. Given a half-century of history with the Islamic Republic, the only way that can be assured is by the removal of the fanatic and apocalyptic regime whose very raison d’etre and governing principles are expressed in the words: “Death to Israel, Death to America.”

Joseph Bosco served as China country director for the secretary of Defense from 2005 to 2006 and as Asia-Pacific director of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief from 2009 to 2010. He is a nonresident fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies, a member of the advisory board of the Global Taiwan Institute and member of the advisory board of the Vandenberg Coalition.