Lindsey Graham Monday:

Lindsey Graham Sunday:

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday he believes “a bureaucratic coup” led by enemies of President Trump is taking place at the Justice Department, and the senator asked that a new special counsel be appointed to investigate.

Graham, a veteran member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the comments on “Fox News Sunday” in response to questions about a report that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein suggested secretly recording Trump and possibly using the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.

Lindsey Graham in Bob Woodward's book, according to the Daily Beast:

Graham, a recurring Trump golfing buddy, appears to have developed a vocabulary that hits all the right notes in his conversations with the president—warning of hits to his legacy, and trash-talking the Obama foreign policy brain trust at which Trump himself has taken aim.

On Brett Kavanaugh, on Rod Rosenstein, on Barack Obama, he's trying to be Trump's most loyal pal. I think I know why, and I have a hunch as to how it will work out for him.

You may believe the Russians are blackmailing Graham, but I think he has his eye on a job in the post-midterms Trump administration -- attorney general (as a replacement for Jeff Sessions) or defense secretary (Jim Mattis is said to be on the outs with Trump).

But I suspect the president is playing Graham for a chump. Trump is pretending to be friendly with Graham, but I think he's treating him just the way he treated Chris Christie. He's dangling the prospect of a top position in the administration that he never plans to offer. Trump regarded Christie as basically a mascot. I think he's treating Graham the same way.

We'll probably find out soon enough -- that Saturday Night Massacre might start on Thursday, although Mattis probably won't be gone until November. But I think Graham will find he's been suckered.

Steve M. blogs at No More Mr. Nice Blog, where this article first appeared.