'The Atlantic' Host: Trump Played Politics on Graham 'Before the Body's Even Cold'

As a member of the Group Chat on Monday's edition of  CNN This Morning , Adam Harris, a podcast host at the adamantly anti-Trump The Atlantic , couldn't resist injecting politics — and doing so in remarkably tasteless fashion — into the discussion of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's death and legacy.

Harris began by recalling the "very sort of vicious campaign" of 2016, when Graham was running for president and trading barbs with Trump. The language was so harsh, Harris said, that if he used such language in a Group Chat, "I'm not necessarily coming back to the group chat after that."

Moments later, the conversation turned to Trump's warm words for Graham. Trump had noted that the senator was "full of vim and vigor" and pushing hard for the Save America Act right up to the end. CNN host Audie Cornish pointed out: "I noticed the president still managed to mention his chief priority right now, the priority that is inadvertently holding up almost everything else."

Harris pounced at that opportunity:

"You know, it's interesting that the president mentioned him as, you know, a great politician. Because he [Trump] immediately starts playing politics as, Lindsey Graham -- before the body's even cold, necessarily, right?"

Harris's comment may not have been vicious, but, without a doubt, it was utterly tasteless. 

We'll have to see whether, on that basis, he's barred from the Group Chat.

Then again, it's precisely that kind of tasteless attack on Trump that might score Harris future CNN appearances.

CNN This Morning
7/13/26
6:02 am EDT

AUDIE CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Eleanor Mueller, White House economy policy reporter at Semafor, Elena Schneider, national political reporter at Notus, and Adam Harris, co-host of Radio Atlantic. Thank you guys for being with me here on this Monday morning.

And I have to say, I think it was a surprise and shock to everybody, because Lindsey Graham had very much been on the road. We're going to talk about his foreign policy approach in, later in the show.

But first, I wanna talk about him as reflecting the arc of the Republican Party itself, going from anti-Trump to bear-hug Trump.

Adam, can you talk about sort of how you were thinking about his legacy this morning?

ADAM HARRIS: Yeah. You know, I, I, I -- when you think about the 2016 campaign, it was a very, sort of vicious campaign in terms of, of the language that they were, that they were using to describe each other --

CORNISH: When Graham was running for president --

HARRIS: -- for president, and, and he's, he's calling President Trump all sorts of names, things that, that, you know, if, if we're in a group chat, I'm not, I'm not necessarily coming back to the group chat after that.

CORNISH: Yeah, exactly.

. . . 

Lastly, I wanna talk about the the president remembering him. Here was Trump on Sunday, talking to CNN, about what he'd like to see happen next, and his words for the late senator.
[
DONALD TRUMP: He was pushing very, very hard, you probably know, he wanted to do the Save America Act, and he was talking about that. He was full of vim and vigor. 

He was tired. He said, "I'm tired, because it's a long trip."

But other than that, he was, he was fine.

CORNISH: I noticed the president still managed to mention his chief priority right now, the priority that is inadvertently holding up almost everything else.

HARRIS: You know, it's interesting that, that the president mentioned him as, you know, a great politician. Because [Trump] immediately starts playing politics as, as soon as, as, Lindsey Graham is -- before the body's even cold, necessarily, right?