Apparently the late Senator Lindsey Graham's hawkish neocon legacy will continue to reverberate from beyond the grave. The 71-year old lawmaker died Saturday night "from a brief and sudden illness" - immediately after returning from Ukraine where he had toured drone and weapons factories.
President Trump is expected to support the passage of a new bipartisan Russia sanctions package that was long spearheaded by Graham, according to CNN citing a White House official.
The South Carolina senator spent years trying to finally advance it across the finish line, but the Trump administration entered the White House loudly pushing diplomacy with Moscow and the idea that a swift end to the over four-year long war could be achieved by Trump's direct mediation and negotiating prowess. The policy reached an apex with the Trumpm-Putin Alaska summit, but failed to take off from there.
Instead, the world is currently witnessing the war's biggest escalatory phase in years, especially given the nightly major Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy sites and infrastructure. Russia's aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities, including on the capital, has in turn stepped up.
The sanctions legislation would be America's toughest anti-Moscow move yet, greatly expanding on the original Sanctioning Russia Act:
Rather than requiring a presidential determination that Moscow had rejected peace efforts or violated a peace agreement, many sanctions would automatically take effect within 30 days of enactment.
The revised legislation would substantially broaden sanctions beyond Russian officials and financial institutions to include investment, sovereign debt, shipping, energy exports, uranium imports, financial messaging services, and other sectors of Russia's economy.
The legislation would also authorize the president to impose steep tariffs on imports from countries that continue purchasing Russian oil, natural gas, and uranium.
Pro-Ukraine hawks are salivating, with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, having announced that passing the bill would serve as a "fitting memorial" to Graham and everything he represented.
"There can be no more fitting memorial to Lindsey, his legacy, or the causes he fought for, than to pass this legislation and realize his long-held dream of an independent and secure Ukraine," she said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) agreed. He told reporters Monday that passing the legislation "would be a great legacy, great tribute to Lindsey."
GOP Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio said Sunday on Face the Nation, "This bill would be an important symbolism to say, 'We're going to be with Ukraine.' And I certainly hope the Senate moves it this week." Yet such a passage is only going to more deeply embed the United States in a lose-lose proxy war with Moscow which could soon spiral dangerously into a WW3-style nuclear armed confrontation.