Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz openly prioritize Israel’s agenda—Graham visits every two weeks, Cruz secured $1.8–$1.9M from AIPAC—over their own states’, pushing U.S. military strikes on Iran while dismissing American casualties. Bipartisan deference to Netanyahu contrasts with disrespect for U.S. presidents, fueled by Adelson family funding like $15M against Democratic challengers. Despite Israel receiving $3.8B annually in U.S. aid, critics argue their influence is distorting American politics, even as public skepticism rises, especially among younger voters. A 2026 debate with Coleman Hughes will test these claims. [Automatically generated summary]
There are certain things that ought to be shocking in our politics, but because they become so commonplace over such a long period of time, we become accustomed to them to the point that they become normalized.
And I think if we take a step back and really look at how bizarre it is, we'll rediscover the fact that it is extraordinary, that it's incredibly aberrational.
Such is the case, in my view, maybe the leading issue is the way in which so many American politicians are voted into office at a national level by American citizens to work on their interest and the interest of the country.
And instead, once they get into office, they very brazenly and overtly, don't even hide it, instead make their priority the interest of this one foreign country, Israel.
Now, it's not uncommon that members of Congress, especially in a kind of diverse country like the United States, if they have some ethnic identity, they focus somewhat on or find themselves more attached to that identity.
If someone's of Albanian descent, they may care more about Albania, maybe go there a little bit more often, think about it a little more.
Someone is Italian or Irish, same thing, lots of different examples.
Maybe the only thing that even is in the same universe when it comes to Israel is the fact that we have a lot of people in very influential positions whose families came from Cuba and Venezuela.
There are large immigrant communities, especially in South Florida, but throughout Florida as well.
And they basically are inculcated with the idea, even if they're born in the United States, like say Marco Rubio is, members of Congress are.
They grew up in these immigrant communities.
And the ethos of that immigrant community is it's the job of the United States to fix our countries.
The United States military should be sent to Venezuela and Cuba and change the governments that we dislike so we can go back or just feel better about our country.
Lindsey Graham's Israel Obsession00:07:14
And that is an example of someone who comes from a certain place or a certain ethnic origin who ends up focusing on other countries because of that.
But there's nothing that compares to Israel in terms of potency or how systematized it is, how bipartisan it is.
And also, Marco Rubio, though I do think he's motivated by his lifelong dream and that of his family and community to have the United States change the government of Cuba, is focused on a million different other things.
This Cuba is not his overarching priority the way it is.
Israel is for so many politicians.
And there's probably no more egregious example than that of this than the senator from South Carolina, supposedly representing the people of South Carolina, Lindsey Graham.
Lindsey Graham so blatantly, so obviously, so explicitly cares most about Israel.
And everything else comes after, including the interest of the people in his state, South Carolina, who need all sorts of programs, all sorts of attention, all sorts of help.
Many, many problems in South Carolina, grave problems.
He pays lip service at most, and sometimes he doesn't even bother to do that.
Here is just one example.
Lindsey Graham is in Israel, of course, this week, ran right to Israel.
And Benjamin Netyahu's official account posts about it with the trophies and bounties that he collects from American politicians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today at his Jerusalem office with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham.
And there you see he posts videos and photos.
And here's one of the photos that Netanyahu posted.
Look at them all just beaming, especially Lindsey Graham, so honored and happy when he's in Netanyahu.
And he himself says that.
I'm not, that's not my own speculation or my own interpretation.
This is something Lindsey Graham himself says.
Now, you might say, well, yeah, I mean, U.S. senators and members of Congress make foreign trips to foreign countries.
It's not only acceptable.
It's something we probably expect, especially for people who work on foreign policy, which members of Congress do.
And I would say, yeah, that in isolation would make sense.
But Lindsey Graham doesn't do that.
Lindsey Graham goes to Israel constantly.
And he talks about Israel constantly.
Here he is on his social media feed again this week.
This is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Saar, tweeting a picture of himself with Lindsey Graham.
Look at Lindsey Graham's all like with thumbs up, beaming again.
Senator Lindsey Graham is one of the most influential American senators and one of Israel's greatest friends in the U.S. and around the world.
That's for sure.
And Lindsey Graham is so happy he posted on his social media, on his ex feed and retweets it and says, thank you, my friend.
Foreign minister Gideon Saar is a good man who loves Israel and the United States.
He's doing great work for the people of Israel, which, by the way, is his job.
His job is to do great work for the people of Israel.
He's an Israeli government official.
It's not Lindsey Graham's job to focus on the interest of Israel and the people of Israel, and yet he does it continuously.
Here is Lindsey Graham, who doesn't just go to Israel, but constantly advocates for whatever Benjamin Netanyahu wants, including American wars with all of Israel's enemies.
He's in Israel this week.
And so, of course, he's trying to provoke, manipulate Trump into starting another regime change war, this time with Iran, Israel's greatest enemy in the Middle East.
And this is what Lindsey Graham from Israel said, quote, to the American people, if Iran's Ayatollah, the largest state sponsor of terrorism on the planet, is replaced by people who want a better life for themselves and their children, it will make us safer and more prosperous at home.
And he says, God bless President Trump for urging the people to keep protesting and saying, help us on the way.
The regime is incredibly weak.
Nothing is without risk.
And what he means there is like, look, yeah, of course wars have risk, but everything has risk, which is very easy to say when it's never you putting yourself in risk, at risk.
It's the Americans who he wants to send over to fight wars in the Middle East constantly for Israel.
And then he ends this by saying, make Iran great again.
I can't overstate how many times and how often Lindsey Graham leaves the United States and just camps in Israel with Netanyahu.
But again, I'm going to show you some examples, some data, but you don't have to take my word for it.
Here's what Lindsey Graham himself said about the extreme frequency that characterizes how often he goes to Israel.
Listen to what he said today, speaking, of course, in Israel, his home state.
Thumbs up back there.
Thumbs up from her.
Okay.
Well, I'm Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina.
I'm back.
From South Carolina.
Come here every two weeks for a need to or not.
What's that?
How often do you go?
Thumbs up back there.
Thumbs up from Irva.
Okay.
Well, I'm Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina.
I'm back.
I come here every two weeks for a need to or not.
I come here to this foreign country every two weeks, whether I'm muted or not.
I just keep coming.
I keep going.
It's my priority.
You think he goes to South Carolina every two weeks?
He does not.
He speaks about South Carolina a fraction of the amount that he speaks about Israel.
Go check his ex feed, his social media feed, the speeches he gives, the things he's on television talking about.
I can't remember the last time I heard Lindsey Graham on TV talking about South Carolina.
He's constantly there talking about Israel or agitating for wars for Israel.
Now, you may think he's exaggerating about when he says, I go there every two weeks.
He really is not.
Here is a press release from Lindsey Graham's official site.
This is January 15, 2026, just last month.
Statement from U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, today made this statement on his upcoming travel to Israel.
Quote, I am traveling to Israel to meet with President Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team at this crucial time in the history of the Middle East.
So he was just there a few weeks ago.
And then here is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, who themselves tout this.
This is from December 21st.
So just a few weeks before that.
Prime Minister Netanyahu meets with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met today in Jerusalem with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham.
And there you see the date, January 2012, January 21st, 2025.
It uses the reverse.
It's the day first and then the date.
So he really is there in Israel constantly, far more than he actually goes to South Carolina, far more than he talks about it.
And I could show you, I mean, throughout 2025, he was in Israel constantly with the same amount of frequency, constantly advocating for Israel, demanding whatever wars Israel wants, always on the side of Israel.
It is widely reported.
Everyone in the Republican Party will tell you, not just on the record, but off, that Trump is trying to avoid a war with Iran.
He prefers a deal.
But he also makes clear that he will go to war with Iran, do a regime change war.
If he feels like Iran isn't giving him the deal that he wants, he did that the first time.
He kept saying, we're getting a deal.
Ted Cruz's Surprising Statement00:08:15
We're making great progress.
I'm sure this will be resolved diplomatically.
And then he ended up bombing Iran for Israel and with Israel as part of their 12-bit day bombing of Iran.
But at least that was one night that was a bunch of B-52s sent to bomb three nuclear facilities in Iran.
So it was very limited.
No Americans were harmed.
So there wasn't a lot of controversy about this.
Obviously, a regime change war to take out the Iranian government, which is what Lindsey Graham wants, what the Israelis want, or to destroy their entire ballistic missile arsenal, their conventional arsenal, would entail far, far, far more than that.
And that's what Lindsey Graham and the Israelis are trying to manipulate and lure Trump into doing.
If Trump does it, it's purely his doing.
The fact that he got lured or manipulated is not an excuse.
He's a decision maker, but that is what Lindsey Graham constantly tries to do.
Now, it should come as no surprise that AIPAC is a major donor to Lindsey Graham.
There you see the group Tracked APAC, which keeps track of using public records of money from the pro-Israel lobby, and he's over a million dollars in campaign funds.
That's why I say it's actually so extraordinary that this goes on right in front of our faces.
They don't try to disguise it.
They don't try and hide it.
I think one of the most stunning statements I have ever heard in all my time covering politics, covering international affairs was something that Ted Cruz, the Republican from Texas, Senate Republican from Texas, said in his interview with Tucker Carlson, which for good reason went everywhere.
The whole interview did.
But there was one statement in particular that Ted Cruz made that to this day, I can't believe he made it.
I am not surprised that he thinks it.
I believe that his conduct is characterized, but I just can't believe he just came out and said it.
Here is what Ted Cruz said while talking to Tucker Carlson.
Listen to this.
He came into Congress 13 years ago with the stated intention of being.
I came into Congress 13 years ago with the stated intention of being what?
The most stalwart defender of Texas and the interests of Texan families or Texans in general, which is what you would expect him to say.
That's not what he said.
He came into Congress with the stated intention to do.
This is what he said.
I came into Congress 13 years ago with the stated intention of being the leading defender of Israel in the United States Senate.
I've worked every day to do that.
I know it by heart because of how often I've heard it, thought about it, talked about it.
I came into Congress 13 years ago with the stated intention of being the leading defender of Israel, not a Texas, not a Texans, of Israel.
And I have woken up every day and done that.
That last part is a paraphrase.
How does that not end somebody's career?
That their priority is not their voters, not their constituents, not their state, not their country, but this other foreign country on the other side of the world.
And Ted Cruz is as stalwart of an advocate of Israeli interest, of the Israeli position, even when it differs from the United States, which almost never happens, as Lindsey Graham is.
And he has been similarly rewarded.
Here's Track APAC.
$1.8, almost $1.9 million for Ted Cruz received from the pro-Israeli lobby.
And by the way, that money is utterly bipartisan.
You can find members of the Democratic Party just as unyieldingly and supremely devoted to this foreign country as these two and who have all sorts of APAC and pro-Israel lobby money pouring in.
I don't actually believe once they're in office that the reason they do what they do is because this money is pouring in.
I think the money pours in because they're doing it and AIPAC wants to keep them in office.
But it's absolutely the case that so many members of Congress were able to be elected because of money from the pro-Israel lobby.
And you get that only if you vow over and over to devote yourself to Israel, to take whatever line APAC and Netanyahu government wants.
And that's what they come in and do.
And they do it right in front of us.
It's not like any of this is hidden.
When Benjamin Netanyahu goes to Congress and addresses joint House of Congress, he gets so many standing ovations that especially given how aged they are, I actually start worrying that they're going to like strain their neck, like nodding yes or hurt their shoulder, dislocate it by clapping, like for minutes.
Nothing like an American president ever gets.
I think the only time John Fetterman puts on his suit is when Prime Minister Netanyahu, it should be President Netanyahu, goes to speak to the joint session of Congress.
They treat him like their king, so much better and more respectfully than a president is treated.
And it's bipartisan, both parties on their feet for a minute.
No one wants to be the last one to clap because they're afraid that AIPAC will notice and fund a primary challenge against them, which APAC did in the last cycle, $15 million against Corey Bush and Jamal Bowman to put in pro-Israel Democrats doing the same in this cycle.
And not just against Democrats, but pouring insane amounts of money to defeat Thomas Massey, led by Miriam Adelson, who President Trump himself says, though it's his biggest owner, he believes she has primary loyalty to Israel.
And if forced to choose which one she loves most, she would say Israel, which of course is the case.
She was born in Israel.
She grew up in Israel.
She only became a U.S. citizen recently when she married her multi-billionaire husband, Sheldon Nadelson, who himself says his one regret is that he enlisted in the U.S. Army and not the Israeli military.
These are people who are just, they don't hide it.
Now, speaking of all of this, I'm going to be in New York City in April debating exactly this question, U.S. influence, Israeli influence over you over the United States.
I'm going to be debating Coleman Hughes, who worked for the Free Press.
Barry Weiss is free press.
I've known Coleman for a long time, been on his show.
He's been online.
We have a civil relationship.
I haven't talked to him since he became a hardcore fanatical Israel supporter after October 7th and working for Barry Weiss, but I expect it'll be a very good debate.
And here is a little preview that the debate organizers made.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald.
This is the reality, whether you like it or not.
Colin Hughes.
Colin Hughes.
Everybody likes what he has to say.
Negative views of Israel have risen in the United States.
Hambas is absolutely committed to rejecting the only solution that could bring an end to this conflict.
Israel is by far the biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid in the world.
We will never ask Israel to compromise its security.
Isn't where you're looking at.
I condemn them completely.
If you want to ask me a question, you're going to give me time to actually answer it.
That last clip made me look like a very obnoxious and unhinged asshole, but it was a BBC interview at the height of this notion reporting that was probably the most adversarial, obnoxious interview I've ever done with Newsnight at BBC.
And she was constantly asking these very provocative, accusatory questions and then talking over me after six words.
So I did say that.
I don't know why they picked it.
I was looking very angrily at the camera.
I was angry during that interview, but I kept my cool.
It's actually one of my favorite interviews.
But any event, it's April 26th in New York City.
Tickets just went on sale today.
You can go to dissidentebates.org and we'll post the link in the notes.
It'll be a great event.
It's also going to be streamed live, at least on Rumble.
I'm not sure where else.
We'll obviously put it here as well if we get consent from debate organizers.
But it's about exactly this question: how is it that this one tiny but very aggressive and warmongering country exercises such immense, almost hypnotic control over so many of our most influential politicians to the point where bipartisan foreign policy reflects that for decades?
And it's problem only gets worse, even as American public opinion becomes more and more negative, especially among younger generations of both parties against Israel.
It's, it's, uh, no other country has this, this kind of obsession with one single foreign country.