Trump’s Efforts to Exploit Graham’s Death Hit a Greed Bump

Donald Trump is neither shy nor subtle about exploiting the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to advance his own agenda. On Sunday, for example, the president said that, right before the lawmaker passed away, he got a call from him and that Graham was “pushing the SAVE America Act like crazy.”

That, of course, is the official (and misleading) name of the GOP’s voter suppression bill that is Trump’s top legislative priority. The president hopes that its passage could guarantee Republican victories for 100 years in the long run and, more immediately, keep the Democrats from seizing control of at least one chamber of Congress in the midterms. Preserving his party’s majority is crucial for Trump because that virtually assures that he is not subject to any kind of oversight.

On Monday, the president again invoked the late senator’s name to get lawmakers to do his bidding.

“In honor of Senator Lindsey Graham, a big supporter, the US Senate should pass the Clarity Act,” Trump said in a social media post. “China, and many other countries, would like to take complete and total control of this major financial ‘happening,’ as well as AI, where we are now leading, but where they are fighting hard. Don’t let China win on either subject!!!”

The Clarity Act is a crypto industry-friendly bill that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) hopes to bring to the floor this month.

However, its prospects aren’t great, which is probably why Trump played his Graham card.

First of all, American voters may not understand why Congress is trying to pass a pro-crypto bill instead of working on things they care about.

This just isn’t a priority for anybody other than lawmakers, who are receiving a lot of money from they crypto industry, and some tech bros.

It’s certainly pales in comparison to what other Americans want Congress to do: address the affordability crisis.

In addition, the Clarity Act also continues to face opposition from the powerful banking industry.

In a letter to Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the country’s state banking associations said on Monday that, while the bill has seen some improvements, “significant questions” remain that have to be addressed.

Another potential problem is that Trump’s crypto adviser Patrick Witt is taking leave ahead of any vote to participate in mandatory military training.

However, perhaps the biggest obstacle the bill faces is the president’s greed.

Last month, Trump’s financial disclosure forms revealed that he made nearly $1.5 billion from various crypto ventures that lined his own pockets while leaving small investors holding the bag.

This has caused Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the ranking Democrat on the Banking Committee, to highlight the lack of ethics restrictions in the legislation.

In a letter to Thune and Schumer, she argued that there are “significant flaws in the current draft that have raised concerns about risks to national security, financial stability, consumer protection, and ethics.”

These concerns, according to Warren, “have become even more pressing in light of the President’s 2025 financial disclosure, which underscores the severity of his crypto-related conflicts of interest.”

Trump’s self-dealing is so blatant that even Republicans are not rushing to defend him for once.

And they may not want to stick out their necks for him to block Democratic efforts to insert some ethics rule in the Clarity Act to secure their support for the bill, especially because regular Americans are struggling while the Trumps are laughing all the way to the bank/crypto exchange.

“The crypto legislation heading to the Senate floor must prevent the President, Vice President, senior administration officials, members of Congress, and their families from profiting off the crypto industry,” Warren demanded. “Anything less would be a flagrant giveaway to the President and his family at the expense of the public.”

Of course, if these kinds of provisions are included and the president is precluded from lining his own pockets through his crypto schemes, then he may no longer be willing to sign the bill that he now urges the Senate to pass.

Then again, the odds are lengthening that this will even become an issue. Back in February, bettors on the prediction market Polymarket believed that there was an 82 percent chance that the Clarity Act would pass this year.

As of Tuesday, that number has plunged to 33 percent.