Lindsey Graham Died. Trump Wants to Blow Up a Mountain.

Senator Lindsey Graham died Sunday morning from an aortic dissection. He was 71. Grant's assessment of his legacy is honest: a foreign policy expert who never met a war he wouldn't support, a politician who publicly and privately knew what kind of man Trump was and chose loyalty anyway. Trump's eulogy was mostly about getting a bill passed. Grant plays it.With Graham gone, South Carolina's governor needed to appoint a replacement. Trump wanted Graham's sister, who has spent her career on the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and the state workforce development board. She was sworn in today. Republicans now have to find someone to run for Graham's seat in less than 120 days in a race that was already only three points ahead of the Democratic challenger.On Iran: Trump has formally rebranded the war as Operation Guardian of Hormuz and notified Congress of new hostilities. Legal experts Grant spoke with say this doesn't work. The war powers clock doesn't reset because you rename the operation. We are 106 days past the 30-day war Trump promised would never happen and well past the 90-day war powers deadline with no Congressional authorization.Trump also threatened a 20% toll on Strait of Hormuz shipping, which his own Secretary of State said three weeks ago would end 80 years of the world order and trigger a global economic collapse. He reversed it in 24 hours after his Middle Eastern allies talked him down. He is still threatening to blow up Pickaxe Mountain, an Iranian nuclear stronghold buried under 300 to 2,000 feet of solid granite. The US does not currently have a non-nuclear weapon capable of reaching it.And Grant ran the McConnell proof-of-life photo through reverse image search, AI detection software, error level analysis, and compression mapping. His conclusion: the photo is real. Mitch McConnell is alive.CHAPTERS0:00 Trump renamed the Iran war, wants to blow up a mountain, and Lindsey Graham is dead2:00 Operation Guardian of Hormuz: why renaming the war doesn't reset the war powers clock4:30 106 days in: the only legal path forward is Congress, which leaves for summer in 6 days6:00 The 20% Strait of Hormuz toll: what it would actually do to the global economy8:30 Rubio said this was a bad idea three weeks ago. Trump did it anyway. Then reversed it in 24 hours.10:00 Pickaxe Mountain: why Trump's threat to blow it up is either a nuclear threat or a bluff12:00 The math: leveling Pickaxe Mountain would require 1,600 times the force of the Hiroshima bomb13:30 Sponsor: SaySo News15:00 Lindsey Graham dies at 71: his legacy, his reversals, and what Trump said at his eulogy18:00 Graham's sister gets his Senate seat. The political world expected the lieutenant governor.20:00Who runs for Graham's seat in South Carolina with 120 days to go22:00 Mitch McConnell is alive. Grant ran the photo through every detector he has. Here's what he found.26:00 Why the McConnell conspiracy doesn't work: the number of people who would have to stay quiet28:00 Grant's journalism rule: don't believe a conspiracy when entropy is just as likelyThis episode is sponsored by SaySo. SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySoSupport the showFollow along on social media SaySo: @GrantHermes X: @GrantHermesInsta: @Grant__HermesTiktok: Grant_Hermes