It was a tale of two tweets, separated by a bit more than two days.
On Jan. 27, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stated that he was working to “prevent a bloodbath in Syria against our Kurdish allies” and that it was “now time for the region to change their ways and man up for decency.”
He added that he had “tremendous respect” for many of the changes that Saudi Arabia had embraced, but the “kingdom’s attack on the United Arab Emirates and their silence regarding the Syrian government’s constant assault on the Kurds has to change.”
“Please understand that I am smart enough to know that Saudi Arabia has influence on the Syrian government, and I expect them to use it to keep the region from falling further into chaos,” he said.
Some 55 hours later, Graham posted a photo in which he and Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi defense minister, are all smiles with their thumbs up, as a Saudi flag peeks out from between them.
“The thumbs up tour continues. Great meeting with the defense minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Khalid bin Salman,” the Republican senator wrote. “Wow, these people are clever.”
The Saudi official’s visit to Washington, with colleagues from the kingdom, is part of a reported attempt to deconflict, as U.S. President Donald Trump is said to be weighing an attack on Iran.
It wasn’t clear what the senator had in mind when he referred to “those people” being “clever.”
The prince also met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and special envoy for peace missions Steve Witkoff on Thursday.
Saudi Arabia has been increasingly harshly critical of the United Arab Emirates, as the one-time allies are at odds on several issues. The disagreements have boiled over into threats of diplomatic and military action, largely emanating from Riyadh.
Hours after the Jan. 27 tweet and after Graham had spoken with Trump and Rubio, the senator softened his tone.
He said “well done” to both for “their efforts to bring stability to Syria” and said that “it looks like President Trump’s efforts have paid off, at least in the near term.”
Still, hours before meeting with bin Salman, Graham said that he and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Save the Kurds Act, which would sanction the Syrian government until it could be certified that attacks on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had ceased.
