Lindsey Graham got a war with Iran. What will it cost the country and his party?

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — More than three decades after Lindsey Graham first arrived in Washington, he has everything he could ever want. The senator has President Donald Trump’s ear, a war in Iran and a well-funded path to reelection in his home state of South Carolina.

Now it’s just a question of what those things will cost the Republican Party — and the rest of the United States — in this election year when control of Congress hangs in the balance. The conflict is already deeply unpopular with no clear endgame, as oil prices rise and fighting spreads throughout the Middle East.

But Graham, who filed to run for a fifth term on Monday, revealed no doubts while speaking to supporters at his campaign office. Graham said he spoke to Trump on Sunday night and Monday morning as he defended his role in pushing the country toward war.

“We haven’t underestimated Iran at all,” he said. “We’re crushing them.”

Graham has been advocating for direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran for more than a decade. He rejected the Iran nuclear deal negotiated under President Barack Obama, cheered on Trump’s decision to strike nuclear sites last year and dismissed bipartisan criticism about his bellicose rhetoric.

“If the radical cleric in Iran had a nuclear weapon, he would use it just as certainly as Hitler...