# Super Tuesdays - The Death of Lindsey Graham and the Senate's Vanishing Center Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/super-tuesdays-the-death-of-lindsey-graham-and-the-senate-s-vanishing-center Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/super-tuesdays-the-death-of-lindsey-graham-and-the-senate-s-vanishing-center.md Podcast: [The Chuck ToddCast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191) Published: 2026-07-14T11:04:00+00:00 Episode link: https://omny.fm/shows/super-tuesdays-with-chris-cillizza-and-chuck-todd/the-death-of-lindsey-graham-and-the-senates-vanishing-center Audio file: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/claritaspod.com/measure/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/p57137/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/ce51a7ec-5866-40a2-aa6a-b46d00f2a7c5/5660a6c5-3320-4dce-93ae-b4860165ce19/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=8e017e60-9c2d-418d-97bb-b33100f84504 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/episodes/super-tuesdays-the-death-of-lindsey-graham-and-the-senate-s-vanishing-center Duration seconds: 3984 ## Resource Chris Cillizza and Chuck Todd open on a jolting weekend in politics: the sudden death of Lindsey Graham and the frantic — and faintly unseemly — scramble to replace him. Rather than relitigate Graham through the usual partisan lens, the guys argue that his loss, alongside the coming departures of Cornyn, Tillis, Cassidy, Durbin and others, amounts to a gutting of the Senate's dealmaking center, and they lay out their favorite framework for understanding him: the difference between "ideologues" and "politicians," and why the politicians are the ones who actually get things passed. They break down the near-term fallout for Trump, who just lost his most effective back-channel to skeptical senators and to Ukraine, and handicap the wide-open South Carolina race — from Henry McMaster's likely caretaker appointment to a crowded August primary featuring Pamela Evette, Nancy Mace, and a possible Trey Gowdy compromise play. From there it's on to two health stories the news cycle nearly buried — the mystery around Mitch McConnell's fall, pneumonia and rehab stay, and Trump's latest Walter Reed cognitive test — before a deep dive into Maine, where Susan Collins suddenly has no opponent after Graham Platner's exit and seven Democrats will fight it out at a 600-person nominating convention. Chuck and Chris debate whether Collins is now more or less vulnerable, take a spirited detour through New England blue bloods and Platner's "oyster farmer" branding, and skewer the knives-out world of political consultants. Then they close personal and sporty: their National Journal origin story, and a nerdy back-and-forth on the reinvented Home Run Derby, All-Star nostalgia, a World Baseball Classic pitch, and the Nats' latest heartbreak. Timeline: (Timestamps may v… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/episodes/super-tuesdays-the-death-of-lindsey-graham-and-the-senate-s-vanishing-center/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/super-tuesdays-the-death-of-lindsey-graham-and-the-senate-s-vanishing-center.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.