By LISA MASCARO, Associated Press Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Within a week of Donald Trump’s election, Sen. Lindsey Graham counseled the president-elect to quickly send a message to the drug cartels from the White House.

“Blow up something,” Graham told Trump.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, speaks at a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The brazen military strike on a suspected drug-smuggling speedboat carrying 11 people from Venezuela this month is just what the South Carolina senator had in mind. But it has cleaved fresh divisions within the Republican Party over Trump’s campaign promise to keep the U.S. out of foreign entanglements and the reality of a commander in chief whose America First agenda is

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