Shortly before mourners filled Washington National Cathedral for the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday, President Donald Trump received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. Graham, who died suddenly days after returning from his latest visit to Kyiv, had spent his final week negotiating a Russia sanctions package with the White House. By evening, the Senate had voted 86 to 12 to advance the bill now bearing Graham’s name. Zelensky sat watching from the chamber after a closed-door session with senators. The Ukrainian president called his meeting with Trump “good” and thanked Washington for joint efforts to protect Ukrainian lives and bring peace closer. The contrast with February 2025, when the same two men clashed on camera at the White House, was stark.For three years, many voices on the MAGA-right treated Ukraine as Europe’s problem and former President Joe Biden’s project: a corrupt and weak client state on the cusp of inevitable defeat. They advocated cutting aid, forcing Kyiv into a quick deal on Moscow’s terms, and courting Putin as a pragmatic partner who could be peeled away from China and Iran. Subsequent events have, however, demolished that illusion.