2026-07-13T04:00:25.656Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
参议员林赛·格雷厄姆的去世，以及前多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔参议员的长期住院治疗，都令人唏嘘地提醒着人们：时间终将击败那些曾拥有巨大权力、无处不在的政治生涯。
但参议院共和党时代的落幕，只是更广泛趋势中的一个数据点：美国政治的板块正在发生移动，被推迟的代际变革已然迫近，两党围绕意识形态未来的斗争愈演愈烈，而领导人正竭力缓解选民对经济保障受损和海外战争的焦虑。
唐纳德·特朗普总统正一如既往地强势运用权力，试图延缓政治时钟的转动，摆脱跛脚鸭的诅咒。但他痴迷于为自己的总统任期打造实体纪念物，这也反映出这位80岁的连任总统深陷于对政治遗产的执念之中。
待到11月中期选举的选票统计完毕，关于他十多年来对共和党牢牢掌控之后将何去何从的问题，将变得无法回避。
民主党内部也早已浮现出类似的接班危机，激进派反叛者正在挑战建制派的权力。格雷厄姆·普拉特纳的竞选惨败——他被迫退出对决定参议院控制权至关重要的缅因州参议员席位的角逐——表明，帮助特朗普在2024年赢得白宫的内部与体制性缺陷依然存在。
旧政治秩序正在土崩瓦解的这种观感，因两党都未能拿出有力方案来缓解民生负担危机而愈发强烈。
尽管特朗普吹嘘美国经济处于“黄金时代”，但大多数选民对此并不认同；与此同时，他正在升级与伊朗的战争，还警告这场战争可能引发新一轮大萧条。他还拒绝签署一项关乎民众最紧迫问题之一——经济适用房——的新法案，因为共和党参议员不会通过一项迎合他关于选民欺诈谎言的议案。
民主党人也显得同样自私自利，他们在内斗中争论着党的灵魂所在。民主党领导人也因要求组建新的、更年轻的领导班子而陷入动荡，民主社会主义者则抓住民众的经济焦虑，呼吁党转向极左翼。与此同时，建制派担心失去政治中间派。
民意调查几乎没有迹象表明民主党已经修复了选民破碎的信任。虽然特朗普的深度不得人心或许足以在11月为民主党带来蓝色浪潮，但目前看不到民主党已经明确了中期选举的竞选纲领，更不用说能打动选民了。
该党的内部分歧在其最知名的候选人之一、密歇根州参议院初选进步派竞争者阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德身上凸显出来。周日，他为扩大自己的吸引力而坚称自己“不是社会主义者”。他在接受CNN记者马努·拉朱采访时表示：“我信仰资本主义。我只是认为资本主义必须受到监管。”
在某些方面，民主党正经历着十年前特朗普在共和党内部点燃的那种反建制变革——对抗的正是像麦康奈尔这样的领导人。
共和党革命的缩影便是格雷厄姆的意识形态灵活性。他曾是一名传统鹰派、不折不扣的新保守主义者，是里根时代外交政策的遗留人物，所秉持的理念大多为特朗普所鄙视。但后来他却成了总统的密友。
特朗普在主动脉撕裂突发去世前不久曾与格雷厄姆交谈，他表示自己的朋友当时“精力充沛、干劲十足”。总统在CNN的《国情咨文》节目中对杰克·塔珀说，格雷厄姆的去世是“巨大的损失”，并补充道：“他是一位伟大的政治家。天生的政治家。”
他们的亲密关系愈发引人注目，因为格雷厄姆曾是参议员约翰·麦凯恩的挚友，后者是最后几位敢于对抗特朗普的共和党重量级人物之一。2018年去世的麦凯恩的众多政治圈内人士都认为格雷厄姆背叛了他们，因为特朗普在麦凯恩去世后不断嘲讽这位长期担任亚利桑那州参议员的前辈。
批评人士还称，格雷厄姆有一种趋炎附势的卑劣倾向，无论谁掌权，他都会靠拢过去。但也有迹象表明，这位南卡罗来纳州参议员从特朗普那里获得了一定影响力，尤其是在他暗示总统可能最终会支持国会因乌克兰战争而加强对俄罗斯制裁的尝试之后。格雷厄姆去世前不久还访问了这个饱受战争蹂躏但仍不屈服的国家。
格雷厄姆作为特朗普亲信的角色，让他在参议院拥有了一定影响力。他可以作为国会山共和党人与总统之间的沟通者。他游走于共和党意识形态分歧的核心地带。在众多热情洋溢的悼词中，几位民主党人尽管指出与格雷厄姆存在深刻的政治分歧，但也都认可他的幽默感、友谊，以及日益罕见的跨党派合作意愿。
“我们许多人都称他为‘特朗普的说客’。如果我们想知道总统在想什么，或者他可能会在某件事上如何被打动，我们都会去找林赛来商量，”加利福尼亚州民主党众议员亚当·希夫在NBC的《与媒体见面》节目中说道。
格雷厄姆这种不同寻常的跨党派桥梁角色如今已成为历史。他的去世还将给共和党领导人带来其他短期的麻烦。
特朗普肯定会试图扩大一场巩固其“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）遗产的竞选活动，通过快速初选来挑选他朋友在南卡罗来纳州参议员席位的继任者。这位总统优先推进的选举登记收紧法案——批评人士认为这是为了影响中期选举——刚刚失去了一位重要支持者。乌克兰和以色列也是如此，这两个国家在格雷厄姆的鹰派世界观中占据重要地位。两国都将他视为与特朗普沟通的渠道，以及本身就极具影响力的声音。
随着前参议院多数党领袖麦康奈尔将于明年1月退休，这两个国家也很快将失去另一位坚定的支持者。这位资深参议员的遗产将在他回到肯塔基州后长久留存，尤其是考虑到他为最高法院带来强大保守派多数所发挥的作用。
麦康奈尔的政治谢幕因他不愿透露住院治疗的细节而蒙上阴影。上周，CNN独家报道称，这位84岁的参议员在6月被救护车从华盛顿的家中送往医院。
周日，麦康奈尔在等待已久的一份声明中告诉肯塔基州民众，他没有中风或心脏病发作，医生也没有发现肿瘤，但他曾摔倒并患上轻度肺炎。这位前共和党领袖目前正在康复中心，他承诺将尽快重返参议院。
麦康奈尔于1984年首次当选参议员。与他的主要对手之一、民主党前众议院议长南希·佩洛西一样，他可以声称自己拥有21世纪初最具影响力的政治生涯之一。而格雷厄姆自2003年以来一直担任他的参议院席位。
明年，参议院将需要适应没有这两位共和党巨头的局面，这是最新的迹象表明，曾主导华盛顿政坛——就格雷厄姆而言，还主导过政治脱口秀——的一代领导人正在退出舞台。
在国家处于危险时刻，政治体系似乎无法满足选民最基本的需求，两党都面临着围绕意识形态和接班问题的新斗争，目前尚不清楚谁将填补这一权力真空。
Graham’s death highlights a power shift and a new question: What’s coming next in Washington?
2026-07-13T04:00:25.656Z / CNN
The death of Sen. Lindsey Graham and the long hospitalization of Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former majority leader, are poignant reminders that time conquers even political careers marked by great power and ubiquity.
But a closing era in the Senate GOP is also one data point in a wider trend: The tectonic plates of US politics are shifting as postponed generational change beckons, battles rage over the ideological futures of both parties, and leaders struggle to ease voter anxiety over eroded economic security and war abroad.
President Donald Trump is wielding power as relentlessly as ever to try to slow the political clock and to dispel the curse of the lame duck. But his fixation with physical monuments to his presidency also speaks to the mindset of an 80-year-old second-termer consumed by legacy.
Once votes are counted after the midterm election in November, the question of what follows his decadelong stranglehold on the GOP will become irresistible.
A parallel succession crisis is already stirring in the Democratic Party, as insurgent progressives challenge establishment power. The debacle over Graham Platner — forced to fold his campaign for the critical Maine Senate seat that could decide the chamber’s fate — suggests the internal and institutional failings that helped Trump win the White House in 2024 persist.
This sense that the old political order is crumbling is reinforced by the failure of either party to offer strong solutions to dispel an affordability crisis.
While Trump boasts of an economic “golden age” that doesn’t ring true for most voters, he’s escalating the war with Iran, which he’s warned could cause a new Great Depression. And he refused to sign a new bill tackling one of the most pressing issues for families — affordable housing — because GOP senators won’t pass a measure indulging his voter fraud falsehoods.
Democrats risk looking just as self-absorbed as they feud over the party’s soul. Democratic leaders are also being rattled with demands for a new, younger corps to take the helm, and democratic socialists are keying into economic angst by demanding a sharp left turn. The establishment, meanwhile, fears losing the political center.
There’s little sign in opinion polls that Democrats have restored the fractured trust of voters. And while Trump’s deep unpopularity might be enough to deliver a blue wave in November, there’s no sense that the party has even crystallized its midterm message yet, never mind broken through to voters.
The party’s internal schism was highlighted by one of its most high-profile candidates, progressive Michigan Senate primary contender Abdul El-Sayed, who sought to widen his appeal Sunday by insisting he’s not “a socialist.” He told CNN’s Manu Raju, “I believe in capitalism. I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.”
In some ways, Democrats are navigating the kind of anti-establishment transformation ignited by Trump — against leaders like McConnell — in the GOP a decade ago.
The Republican’s Party revolution was epitomized by Graham’s ideological pliancy. Once he was a traditional hawk, a down-the-line neoconservative and remnant of Reagan-era foreign policy who stood for much that Trump despised. Yet he became a confidant of the president.
Trump, who spoke to Graham shortly before his sudden death after an aortic tear, said his friend had been full of “vim and vigor.” The president told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Graham’s passing was “a terrible loss” and added: “He was a great politician. He was a natural.”
Their closeness was all the more remarkable since Graham had been best friends with Sen. John McCain, one of the last Republican giants to stand up to Trump. Many in the political circle of McCain, who died in 2018, felt betrayed by Graham, given Trump’s incessant mockery of the longtime Arizona senator after his passing.
Critics also claimed Graham harbored a craven tendency to sidle up to power — no matter who held it. But there were some signs that the South Carolina senator bought some influence with Trump, especially after he indicated the president might finally embrace an attempt by Congress to tighten sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Graham visited the war-torn but defiant nation just before he died.
Graham’s role as a courtier to Trump gave him a measure of influence in the Senate. He could serve as an interlocutor with the president with the Republican Party on Capitol Hill. He operated at the fulcrum of the party’s ideological divides. And in warm tributes, several Democrats, while noting deep political differences with Graham, noted his good humor, friendships and increasingly rare willingness to work across party lines.
“Many of us consider him the Trump whisperer. If we wanted to know what the president’s thinking was, or how he might be moved on something, you would go to Lindsey to discuss,” Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Graham’s unusual bridge across party lines is now history. And his death will cause other short-term complications for GOP leaders.
Trump is certain to try to widen a campaign to cement his MAGA legacy by choosing his friend’s replacement in South Carolina in a sprint primary election. The president’s priority bill tightening election registration — which critics see as an attempt to sway the midterms — just lost a huge supporter. So did Ukraine and Israel, which loomed large in Graham’s hawkish worldview. Both nations valued him as a conduit to Trump and an influential voice in his own right.
Those two nations will also soon lose another staunch supporter as former Senate Majority Leader McConnell is due to retire in January. The veteran senator’s legacy will endure long after he’s returned to Kentucky, particularly given his role in delivering a robust conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
McConnell’s swan song has been tainted by his reluctance to provide details of a hospital stay. Last week, CNN exclusively reported that the senator, 84, was taken from his Washington home by ambulance in June.
On Sunday, McConnell told Kentuckians in a long-awaited statement that he hadn’t had a stroke or a heart attack, and that physicians found no tumors, but that he experienced a fall and then a mild case of pneumonia. The former GOP leader, now in a rehabilitation center, vowed to return to the Senate as soon as possible.
McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984. Like one of his chief adversaries, Democratic former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he can lay claim to one of the most consequential political careers of the early 21st century. And Graham had held his Senate seat since 2003.
The chamber will take some getting used to next year without either Republican titan, in the latest sign that a generation of leaders that dominated Washington politics — and in Graham’s case, political talk shows — is leaving the stage.
At a perilous national moment, when the political system seems unable to answer voters’ most basic needs and both parties face emerging fights over ideology and succession, it is not yet clear who will fill the vacuum.
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