Lindsey Graham's Death is Getting Messy Fast

PDS Published 07/13/2026

• Lindsey Graham's Death Sparks Rush to Replace Him and Questions About McConnell

  Lindsey Graham's Death Sparks Rush to Replace Him and Questions About McConnell

  Lindsey. Graham. Death.

  McConnell's alleged statement about his mysterious hospitalization.

  They're even crazier and more consequential than the memes and backlash would have you believe. The AI healthcare scandal that's growing and kicking nurses to the curb. What actually happened with that bison attack at Yellowstone National Park? We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco Show.

  Your daily dive into the news, starting with my dumbass took a rare 72-hour break from the news this weekend. I figured summer break's almost done. I'm going to be on tour soon. I'm not going to be able to see my boys as much. Let me surprise them with a New York trip.

  I'm going to show them around the Bronx, which is where I'm from. We'll hit up Central Park, do some touristy stuff, see some plays and musicals, which, by the way, The Play That Goes Wrong—phenomenal. It's the only performance that got glowing reviews from everyone from 8 to 80.

  But then I hop on the internet and someone goes, "Lindsey Graham died." I go, "Oh, they don't know the difference between Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham."

  But then, no, I'm the idiot.

  Well, much of the internet, they were speculating that Mitch McConnell's days were numbered. Lindsey Graham, it was reported that he died this weekend from a heart-related emergency called an aortic dissection.

  And the reactions were, like, all over the place.

  You had many Republicans and certain Democrats like Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and others sharing kind words about him, fond memories.

  Meanwhile, you had many others memeing and rejoicing. Quotes within Graham clips saying, "You just wait for Cuba. Their days are numbered," and saying, "Cuba has outlived Lindsey Graham."

  You also had people sharing wild alleged stories, including Eulogy for a Horny Hypocrite by Jesse James Rose.

  And honestly, all these reactions all over the place could fill up a whole episode on their own.

  Much of the conversation has been about his life, his legacy—good or bad—the meaning of it, but also, moving forward.

  There's a lot at stake now: the process to replace him.

  It's actually pretty straightforward.

  South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, who's a Republican, can appoint someone to immediately serve out the rest of Graham's term, but you're also going to see that the state is going to have to redo the Republican primary to select a new nominee to take Graham's place on the ballot in November.

  He just won that like a minute ago, with a spokeswoman for the State Election Commission announcing this weekend that the primary is going to take place on August 11th, with a July 28th deadline for entering the race.

  After they get a winner there—or in the subsequent runoff—since the state is so solidly Republican, you have experts saying that person is essentially going to be the person who wins the seat. They'll very likely win the general election and be Graham's replacement come January.

  But in the meantime, you're seeing that Trump has now recommended Graham's sister, Darlene, to serve as interim senator, writing, "This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her."

  But at least as of this recording, Governor McMaster's office hasn't commented on whether he's going to follow through on Trump's recommendation.

  And at least for now, it's unclear what the primary field is going to look like.

  Though I will say some people think that McMaster himself might actually hop into the race since his second term's coming to an end.

  Also, you've got Mark Lynch, who finished second in the Senate primary behind Graham, saying that he'll be in the race.

  Then you've got Congressman Ralph Norman. He's reportedly already asked Trump for his endorsement.

  Though easily my favorite name that was on the possible list was Congresswoman Nancy Mace—not just because she just finished fifth in the Republican primary to replace McMaster as governor—but also because, at least at the very beginning, she seemed very enthusiastic about the prospect.

  You had her responding to the news of Graham's death by tweeting the scene from The Godfather of Michael Corleone saying,

  "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in."

  You know, how you tweet a meme about someone's death that you're going to replace, and you're on their side.

  And you then also had her on Fox News saying,

  "I would be an idiot not to at least look at it. And if the people of South Carolina want me to continue to serve, then I absolutely will consider it."

  But then also, in a later interview, she said, at the very least, that she wouldn't be pursuing the temporary appointment as Graham's replacement because of the GOP's razor-thin majority in the House.

  "I also talked to the Speaker today. We can't afford to lose any seats in the House. I'm not pursuing it because we need every vote that we can have for the President."

  And actually, the fact that she mentioned a conversation with House Speaker Mike Johnson does stand out because, according to Politico, senior House Republicans have been privately pushing South Carolina representatives not to pursue Graham's seat.

  And you had Trump allies reportedly confident that they'd at least be able to block Mace from tossing her hat into the ring by reminding her that she had openly clashed with the President over the release of the Epstein files and other key issues.

  But also, we're going to have to wait to see whether Graham's death is going to affect the GOP's majority in the Senate.

  It's definitely going to affect them because his replacement likely isn't going to have the same experience, connections, and influence.

  And two, because even though the process to replace him is relatively straightforward, it's still going to take time.

  And the Senate's getting back to business this week with a packed agenda.

  You have it including confirming Todd Blanche as Attorney General, renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, considering Trump's request for more Pentagon funding for the war with Iran, and advancing spending bills before the September 30 government funding deadline.

  And Graham's death also hits them even harder because he chaired the Senate Budget Committee and sat on the Appropriations and Judiciary Committees. Those play key roles in some of the agenda.

  Big picture, the 60-vote filibuster rule in the Senate means Republicans need at least some Democratic votes to pass most legislation.

  Because of Graham's death, the GOP's official majority is now 52 to 47.

  And actually, in practice, it's really 51 to 47 right now because Mitch McConnell also serves on several key committees, and he's been missing in action for almost a month now.

  Because on June 14th, you had a spokesperson revealing that he had been hospitalized.

  And you had emergency services recordings that were later released suggesting that the ambulance had been called for an unconscious person who had undergone cardiac arrest, with then a video coming out last week showing that he was taken from his home on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance.

  But through all of that, you got almost no updates from McConnell or his office—at least until now.

  You got a new written statement attributed to McConnell:

  "You all know how folks in my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older, even in the public eye. I feel that same instinct."

  Then saying that he'd taken a fall last month that landed him in the hospital, and:

  "My doctors have confirmed that I didn't break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn't have a heart attack or stroke. I don't have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I've also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia."

  And then finally, with all that, it said that he had been moved from the hospital to a rehab center, but that, on the advice of his doctors, he wouldn't be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet.

  And you had that statement also accompanied by a photo of him and his wife, where McConnell seems to be holding a newspaper that appears to be the Washington Post sports section from that day.

  And with that, you saw a number of people going, "Oh, well, we've been asking for a proof of life."

  This seems to be.

  For a lot of other people, instead of convincing them that McConnell was actually alive and well, this made people even more convinced that something was underway, like a cover-up.

  And you actually saw that on the left and right, with, for example, far-right commentator Laura Loomer making a series of posts questioning why McConnell's staff won't release a video of him, doubting the idea that he actually wrote that statement, and claiming that the photo shared of him and his wife was AI.

  Well, there's no evidence so far solidly suggesting that the photo released to news outlets is fake, though there are plenty of AI-modified versions of it that are circulating.

  It also hasn't really done anything to make people feel like he is definitely all there.

  Nor has it done anything for people with questions about McConnell's fitness for office or people wanting an explanation for the weeks-long silence from him and his office.

  And for me personally, I'm not going to say anything about the AI accusations. I don't know. I'll let the AI experts deal with that.

  But I mean, just looking at that photo they released... he looks more puppet than person.

  I don't mean that metaphorically. He doesn't look like a person that's all there.

  And that also doesn't feel like it should be news, though it is also very big news.

  This is a man who has frozen in front of the cameras.

  He unfortunately, like a number of people we've seen in Congress, serves as one of these living reminders of why we should not only have term limits, but age limits.

  The median age of a senator being 64 years old, I don't think anything is going to change on that front anytime soon.

  And so for now, we're going to have to wait to see how all of this continues to play out.

  And then there's more that we get to dive into in just a minute.

  But first, let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, here's a weird realization.

• Sponsored by Fabric

  We'll insure our phone, our car, even a package on the porch.

  But protecting the income our family depends on? Somehow that just gets pushed to the bottom of the list.

  Which is why today's sponsor, Fabric by Gerber Life, really resonated with me.

  One thing having kids changed for me is realizing I wasn't the thing that needed protecting—they were.

  Life insurance isn't something you really buy for yourself. It's for the people who have to keep going if something happens to you.

  And Fabric by Gerber Life is term life insurance that you can get done online. It's made for busy parents like you—all online, on your schedule, right from your couch.

  You could be covered in under ten minutes, often with no health exam.

  And if you're young and healthy, now is the best time to lock in lower rates.

  Plus, unlike life insurance through work, Fabric follows you even if you change jobs.

  They also offer flexible policies that fit your family's budget, plus free digital wills and tools to help plan for your kids' future.

  All from your phone.

  Honestly, anything that just makes protecting your family this easy is worth checking off the list.

  Hey, join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their families.

  Apply today.

  In just minutes, you can scan that QR code or go to meetfabric.com/DeFranco.

  That's meetfabric.com/DeFranco.

FABRIC

Go to: https://meetfabric.com/defranco and apply today, risk-free.

• Conservatives Slam Mamdani for Excluding Little Italy from City Immigrant Map

  And then diving right back into the news.

  Let's talk about this latest Zohran Mamdani controversy and the allegations.

  Because, as you've seen if you're in New York—or you just kind of pay attention to New York politics—Republicans have been trying to come up with different kinds of allegations about him. He's actually a communist. He's an Islamist. He's an anti-Semite.

  But I didn't see "he hates Italians" on my bingo card.

  But that is what you've seen some screaming about.

  The mayor of New York, for the past week, since his administration put out a map of immigrant enclaves that World Cup visitors could use as their guide when they get here.

  And on it, you had 30 communities, including, for example, Little Palestine—which, of course, no one was going to have an issue with.

  Little Palestine, by the way, sounds really terrible. It sounds like not a wonderful, incredible place.

  Actually, right?

  Notably absent from the map was any mention of the Irish, Jewish, or Italian communities, with the last one in particular really pissing some people off.

  You even had the Italian American Civil Rights League—which I didn't actually even know existed until this moment—saying:

  "Italian Americans built New York City, not third-world Ugandans. We stand against communists. Zohran has always had a hatred for our people, and he intentionally left us off the map. That's because everything that we stand for, he hates. It's the opposite of communism. We came here. We worked hard. We didn't make excuses. We experienced discrimination."

  You also had the City Council's all-Republican Italian Caucus accusing Mamdani of erasing Little Italy, calling the map "incomplete at best and insulting at worst."

  And from there, it just kind of blew up, with right-wing news outlets sinking their teeth into this grievance pie.

  Just like mama used to make.

  Say it with us now:

  "No justice, no pizza. No justice, no pizza."

  "Mamdani didn't cancel rent, but he canceled Little Italy."

  "Zohran Mamdani has decided, apparently, that Italians are not real New Yorkers."

  "If you think that Italians in New York City are going to be very high on getting rid of Little Italy in favor of Little Pakistan, good luck to you."

  "Zohran Mamdani."

  Remember, Zohran Mamdani is the guy who literally took a picture of himself and put it up on social media during the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020, flipping off a statue of Columbus.

  It turns out that the inanimate statue didn't care.

  What you saw was that Christopher Columbus angle really being a popular way to tie these two things together to make the argument that he has this deep-rooted hatred for all things Italian.

  And, of course, you had the New York Post jumping on this, saying that it's foundational to his Marxist ideology.

  Then, on the other side of this, you had a City Hall spokesperson explaining that the map was designed to highlight neighborhoods that have substantial foreign-born populations from regions and countries around the world.

  So, presumably, Little Italy was left out because, though it still exists, there aren't so many actual Italians there anymore.

  It's more Italian Americans.

  You also had them pointing out that Little Odessa, which they newly added, is a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Brighton Beach.

  But that didn't quell the outrage.

  And so finally, he just went:

  "All right, we'll fix this."

  "The map was initially created by the prior administration in 2023, and when we inherited it, we added a few additional neighborhoods. It's clearly not an exhaustive list of the more than 200 ethnic communities that call our city home, and we're going to be making additional changes in the future to reflect that."

  And that includes adding Little Italy to the map.

  So then, with that, the Italian American Civil Rights League saying:

  "We won, but we know exactly who Zohran is, what he stands for, and we've only just begun this fight."

  And you even had right-wing media like The Free Press and Newsmax sending reporters down to Little Italy to talk to people who also were not satisfied with the mayor's response.

  "I don't believe a word he says."

  "If he says he's going to put it on, then he better put it on."

  "Maybe he forgot about it."

  "No, I don't think he forgot about it."

  "You're going to forget about the Italians?"

  "I don't know why anybody voted for this guy."

  "Yeah. He needs to go."

  "He's obviously giving us the short end of the stick."

  "That's horrible."

  "Horrible."

  "Yeah, I think that's horrible."

  Hey, with all that said, I gotta ask:

  Where do you land on the scale from:

  "This is nothing. Forget about it."

  to

  "It's anti-Italian discrimination."

• New York Union Claims Nurses Were Fired and Replaced with AI

  But then also, we actually got to talk about this other controversy coming out of New York, though this one is around AI in healthcare.

  Right, in that you have a union claiming that 12 nurses were just laid off to be replaced by AI.

  And these nurses worked at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx.

  Apparently, on May 28th, they received notices saying they would be let go in 45 days, which would actually be this week.

  And so that's why this month you had the New York State Nurses Association sounding the alarm, explaining that many of these nurses worked in utilization review.

  They're the ones reading patient charts and making the case for insurance companies to cover the care doctors request.

  One of these nurses had been working at the hospital for nearly 40 years.

  And so you had the association saying that Montefiore is gambling without evidence that AI can do a better job.

  The nurses raised concerns about the potential negative impacts on patients, saying if AI replaces nurses' clinical judgment, complicated cases may be dropped.

  And that means a misdiagnosis or a surgery never gets approved.

  You also had the group's president arguing:

  "Artificial intelligence should never replace the real human caring from a nurse."

  You've got reports explaining that this kind of nursing deals with complicated communications about medication changes, discharge plans, and other subjects that they just don't believe AI is equipped to handle.

  And so you also have local lawmakers condemning these layoffs, accusing the hospital of putting profits over patient care, and adding:

  "These nurses use years of clinical expertise to help patients overcome insurance denials and access the care they need."

  And adding:

  "Human compassion and medical judgment cannot simply be replaced by software."

  This also comes as, earlier this year, nurses across New York—including at Montefiore—went on strike, with AI being one of their top concerns.

  So some also believe that these layoffs violate the contract that was reached, as it did say that hospitals had to meet with unions to find ways to avoid job losses due to AI.

  But as far as the hospital, they're denying any wrongdoing here and saying the union is mischaracterizing the situation.

  Telling The Gothamist:

  "As is often the case, the claims by NYSNA are inaccurate and misleading. What is true is that we are always investing in new technology to ensure the best care and outcomes for our patients, and will continue to do so for the betterment of the people we serve."

  Also, one of the reasons we talked about this is that this issue is not exclusive to nurses in New York.

  Nurses everywhere are dealing with growing frustrations around AI.

  You had a recent survey finding that the majority of nurses just don't believe the technology can be trusted with patient care.

  That's very notable because AI use in that profession has exploded in recent years.

  And you have around half of nurses saying it doesn't even save them time.

  Eighty-three percent say that the AI output is rarely accurate enough to use without needing to be checked first.

  And it also doesn't stop there.

  You also have the Mayo Clinic getting sued for allegedly using AI to cut corners on patient care.

  That lawsuit comes from a former employee who was the research director overseeing AI compliance, and she claims that she was retaliated against and fired for accusing the hospital of rushing to incorporate AI into its operations.

  Minnesota Public Radio was the first to report on this lawsuit, which claims that Mayo Clinic's AI program prioritized speed over accuracy and manipulated data.

  But one of the biggest things here is that, even with this backlash, that doesn't mean AI is going anywhere anytime soon.

  According to reports, healthcare AI spending reached $1.4 billion last year, which is nearly triple what was spent in 2020.

  For while AI has shown major promise.

  Many studies have found AI to be useful in the early detection of cancer and other diseases.

  Last month, you had The Washington Post doing a big report noting that one of the reasons you might see AI in the doctor's office more often actually has to do with the Trump administration.

  Amy Gleason, who previously led DOGE's healthcare initiatives, has apparently been tasked with bringing AI into our health systems as an advisor to RFK Jr.

  You also have the administration already backing a controversial pilot program that allows AI chatbots to refill prescriptions in Utah.

  And officials are also planning to offer millions of dollars in research awards to developers of AI cardiovascular care software.

  You're seeing people saying, essentially, that it feels like the administration is trying to build the railroad, but the train has already left the station.

  With, for example, The Washington Post noting internal discussions that some in the administration are working on a way to regulate independent AI doctors.

• Meta Reverses AI Feature After Backlash

  But then from that, let's actually close out today's show with two quick pieces of news that really stand out.

  First is that Meta just dropped that new feature on Instagram that would let people take your posts and make whatever AI images they wanted with your face.

  We talked about it on the show.

  They launched it last Tuesday, and the backlash apparently was so bad they actually pulled it back.

  You had people sounding off online, worried about privacy and talking about how dangerous this feature could be.

  You know, that's not coming out of nowhere.

  You've had problems for years with deepfakes, women and kids being used in sexually explicit AI material, and plenty of other issues.

  And then along with that, you saw concerns around how this is going to impact celebrities.

  You had CAA, one of the biggest talent agencies in L.A., speaking out, saying:

  "Artists deserve to decide if and how their likeness and work is used, with consent and the ability to set their own terms."

  You then also had SAG-AFTRA saying that Meta's decision to automatically opt users into the feature was:

  "An utter miscalculation of public sentiment around AI."

  So now you've got Meta saying:

  "Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way. We heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available."

  It's why you saw some big voices saying, "Hey, good on them. That was a responsible thing to do."

  You also had others saying that although Meta quickly rolled back the feature, it once again exposed the platform's longstanding launch-first, apologize-later mentality.

  And adding that true privacy protection should not be an opt-out system that exhausts users with the effort to protect themselves, but an opt-in system that platforms proactively respect.

• Grandfather Gets Attacked by Bison in Yellowstone National Park

  Then for our final piece of news today, you had a bison tossing a 65-year-old granddad eight feet into the air while he was visiting Yellowstone National Park with his grandson.

  It's not just a crazy story.

  It is a crazy visual because it was all caught on camera by photographer Mike McLeod, with McLeod saying that he was just trying to get some dramatic footage of the bison having a fit when it all happened.

  According to witnesses, it had been running through the campground before the attack, at one point even charging at a group of kids.

  And so with that, you had people yelling and screaming, trying to warn each other to stay out of the way.

  That is when McLeod said that the bison started messing around in a patch of dirt as Carl McDaniel walked by with his grandson.

  The maddening thing? They weren't even in that camping loop.

  They were walking along the road quite a ways away.

  And then you have some people saying that it seems like maybe a truck driving off might have set the bison off again.

  Because at that point, even though this guy and his grandson had gone behind the trees, it locked in on him and chased the man around.

  Before long, McLeod said:

  "It hooked him with its left horn and tossed him in the air."

  Adding that:

  "He made a perfect flip and landed on his side."

  Then, when he hit the ground, the bison just stood over him.

  And at that point, McLeod said:

  "I was really afraid he was going to go for the guy on the ground. So I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible."

  With others also joining in, trying to get it to leave, or at the very least distract it so that it wasn't going to keep attacking.

  And hey, apparently it worked because it eventually took off, and that's when they were able to focus on saving this guy.

  With McLeod saying that one person kept watch to make sure that the bison didn't come back.

  Somebody checked him for bleeding, and somebody else called 911.

  At that point, according to reports, Yellowstone EMS arrived pretty quickly.

  While the granddad survived, he also took some serious damage.

  But also, thankfully, it seems like the grandson escaped without any major injuries.

  Also, as far as what made this bison go on the attack, apparently it could be a number of things.

  But also, it's in their nature this time of year.

  So we're at the peak of what's called the bison rut, and this is where the males are just raging with hormones because they're fighting for territories and they're fighting for females.

  So with that, you had McLeod saying the bison was probably just looking for a fight.

  And so this might have been kind of a situation of wrong place, wrong time.

  And then, my friend, you beautiful bastard...

  That is the end of your Monday's show.

  Thank you for watching, hitting that like button, and being a part of that conversation down below.

  My name is Philip DeFranco.

  You've just been filled in.

  I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.