Those who wait to see donald trump found criminally responsible (again) for his alleged wrongdoing will have to lower his expectations. Like my MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubinthe Republican’s electoral victory will effectively condemn the prosecutors ongoing cases against him.

Similarly, NBC News reported In the wake of the election, Justice Department officials “have been evaluating how to close the two federal criminal cases” before Trump takes office, “to comply with the department’s longstanding policy that a sitting president not can be prosecuted.”

Time will tell if special prosecutor Jack Smith will resign before Inauguration Day; the president-elect has already promised to do so fire (and possibly deport) the prosecutor, but either way, it would appear that their cases will not proceed, despite their merits.

It was in this context that Senator Lindsey Graham sent a message a message of sorts to Smith via social media the morning after Election Day. The South Carolina Republican wrote:

So, a few things.

First, as the sycophantic senator probably knows, there is literally no evidence to suggest that Smith’s cases are “politically motivated.”

Second, if Graham believes the Supreme Court ruling (written entirely by Republican-appointed justices) immunizing presidents from accountability is worth celebrating, I would encourage him. to take another look.

But even if we leave aside these relevant details, it is also worth appreciating how different this is from a position Graham took in the recent past.

In 2017, for example, when Trump wanted to fire then-special counsel Robert Mueller, it was Graham who told reporters that if the then-president got rid of the then-special counsel, “it could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.”

The South Carolinian added that the system needed “a check and balance here,” and the senator even passed legislation that would prevent a president from acting unilaterally to remove a special counsel.

Months later, Graham also said it would be “corrupt” for Trump to fire a special prosecutor investigating him, adding that a president stopping an investigation without cause “would be a constitutional crisis.”

There is certainly one relevant detail that is different: Mueller did not indict Trump and Smith did, but Graham’s evolution on this says a lot about his partisan perspective.

This post updates our Related Previous Coverage.