Every Friday I tell myself the same thing. Surely this is the week we’ve reached the outer edge of political absurdity. Surely we’ve exhausted the supply of constitutional pratfalls, ethical face-plants, and public officials willing to humiliate themselves in exchange for another invitation to Sunday brunch with the powerful. Then Washington hears those thoughts, smiles politely, says, “Hold my beer,” and digs another level beneath the basement.

I’m speaking to you this week from Switzerland, where trains arrive on time, governments generally function as advertised, and people still seem to believe that institutions exist to serve the public rather than themselves. Spend a few days in a place where competence is considered ordinary and then open an American news feed. The contrast is enough to give you altitude sickness without ever climbing a mountain.

Politics has always been messy. That’s hardly a revelation. Ambition, ego, vanity, self-interest—those have been traveling companions since the first human discovered that organizing other people was easier than working alongside them. What has changed isn’t the existence of hypocrisy. What has changed is that hypocrisy has stopped being embarrassing.

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There was a time when politicians at least made an effort to reconcile today’s position with yesterday’s speech. They’d invent an explanation, manufacture a rationale, or hide behind carefully crafted language. Today they don’t bother. They simply declare they’ve “evolved,” their consultants nod approvingly, donors write another check, cable television marvels at their “growth,” and everyone else is expected to applaud the performance.

We’ve reached the point where consistency is treated like a character defect.

Enter Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham in White House drag

Every political era seems to produce one public figure who becomes larger than himself—a symbol rather than simply a senator, governor, or president. Lindsey Graham has become that symbol, not because he’s uniquely hypocritical, but because his transformation happened so publicly that everyone watched it unfold in real time.

This is the same Lindsey Graham who, years ago, described Donald Trump in terms that left little room for ambiguity. Those remarks are part of the public record. They weren’t whispered at a cocktail party or attributed anonymously to unnamed sources. They were delivered plainly and unmistakably.

Years later, that same Lindsey Graham became one of Donald Trump’s most reliable defenders.

People are certainly free to change their minds. Intelligent people should be willing to reconsider evidence and revise conclusions. That’s not hypocrisy. That’s intellectual honesty.

But changing your mind is one thing.

Changing your identity is something else entirely.

The Part Nobody Wants to Talk About

The full conversation in the video above and wherever you get podcasts. Search: The Cary Harrison Files.

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