TERM LIMITS: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham died of a burst aorta in his Capitol Hill home Saturday night, according to preliminary reports. He was 71.

  Graham had just been re-nominated to a 5^th term and was scheduled to appear yesterday morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

  Always an outspoken advocate of military force overseas, Graham was a supporter both of Israel and Ukraine in their fights with adversaries.

  But in recent years Graham became an example of how an independent and outspoken politician could be reduced to a sycophant by Donald Trump. “You know how you make America great again?” Graham said in a CNN interview in 2015. “Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.”

  Graham called Trump “a race baiting xenophobic religious bigot.” Then he drank the Cool Aid. Celebrating his victory in the South Carolina primary last month with Trump’s endorsement, Graham said, “Mr. President, you’re not far behind God.”

  The two had become golfing buddies and Trump called Graham “a true patriot.” 

  As chair of the Judiciary Committee, Graham helped shape American jurisprudence for years to come. He presided over the appointment of 200 federal judges who had been selected for their rightward leanings.

  Graham had a part in blocking President Obama’s selection of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court and the confirmation of Amy Cney Barrett under President Trump. He defended court nominee Brett Kavanagh who was accused of sexual assault during his confirmation hearings.

  Graham was widely assumed to be closeted gay even while he opposed marriage equality and gay rights. The senator never married, had no children, and never appeared to have a romantic partner but always denied being gay. The publication for gay interests, The Advocate, said that, “For LGBTQ+ Americans, Graham leaves behind three decades of opposition to many of the community’s most significant civil rights advances.”

MISSING MAN FORMATION: With the loss of Lindsey Graham the senate Republicans are missing two powerful figures as Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell remains in the hospital since June 14^th. 

  McConnell yesterday issued a picture of himself with his wife Elaine Chao and a statement that he suffered a fall and came down with pneumonia. The statement said;  “My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages.”

  The statement said he’s now at a rehabilitation facility. 

PRESSING MATTERS: The White House ordered FBI director Kash Patel to oversee the investigation into an information leak that resulted in The NY Times reporting that President Trump’s new Air Force One donated by Qatar lacks a full set of security measures.  The investigation resulted in Times reporters being issued subpoenas to testify about the matter.

  The press is getting under Trump’s skin. He posted a long screed on his Truth Social about winning elections and failing to win the adoration of journalists. 

  He wrote, “It’s incredible! I win the Election IN A LANDSLIDE against the entire Dumocrat Party, and almost 100% negative news,” and that “All of their Readership, Ratings, and Viewership, are ‘tanking’ because the Public understands they are, as I have said right from the beginning, ‘FAKE NEWS!’”

  He is particularly outraged with NY Times reporter Maggie Haberman, as he wrote, “especially Maggot Hagerman, one of the most unattractive people in the News ‘Business,’ and her lightweight assistant, Jonathan Swan, and The Failing New York Times itself, which spends all of its energy on negative stories about me.”

  And then he drifted off into the “Dumocrats” being communists.

DESIGNS OF GLORY: Unable to end the war in Ukraine or the war he instigated with Iran, Trump is obsessed with re-doing the White House. He has installed signage in gold lettering that says such things as “The West Wing” and “The Oval Office” as if the people who work there including himself don’t know their way around. He put similar gold lettering over his “Presidential Walk of Fame” along the West Colonnade as well as gold filigree decorations on the walls like the ones in the Oval Office.

  Like Charlie the Tuna, Trump believes he has good taste.

  The President posted, “The Radical Left Dumocrats criticize me for spending so much time bringing our White House back to the Glory of 100 years ago — Actually, it will be far better than that, and they will not shame us for bringing our Great and Brilliant Monuments to the past and the future back to levels never seen before.”

ON THE PITCH: The World Cup is down to four teams with the semi-final matches.  France plays Spain tomorrow in Dallas and England goes against Argentina Wednesday in Atlanta.

  All eyes are on Argentina and its star Lionel Messi, who said his team’s return to domination “is not normal” while acknowledging that the next opponent, England, is a “powerhouse.”

THE OBIT PAGE: Actor Sam Neil who starred in the “Jurassic Park” series of movies died today in Sydney, Australia. He was 78.

  Born in Northern Ireland and raised in New Zealand, Neill had an accent hard to place. Among 150 film and television credits, he also appeared in two seasons of the British television series “Peaky Blinders.”

 Neill had been treated for T-cell lymphoma in recent years but his family said he was cancer free when he died.

THE SPIN RACK: Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is divorcing her husband Bryon, who was outed as having a cross-dressing fetish. — Raging fire killed at least 27 people in a Bangkok bar where the exit doors may have been blocked.

BELOW THE FOLD: Complaining about bad calls in major league soccer is as much a part of the game as faking injury. But the World Cup has given players something new to complain about, the “Video Assisted Referee” system that has been finding microscopic errors in calls by human refs. Some VAR is sucking the human element out of the game.