Political realist U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) may well be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024. If President Donald Trump wins a second four-year term the Republican Party may throw their support behind Graham who has more experience of the right kind to be elected president than just about any other United States senator or politician in Washington.

At 63-years old Graham has spent more than half his life serving in the military as a lawyer for the U.S. Air Force overseas in West Germany, Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2015 after 33-years of active duty and reserve service. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his long service.

In 1993 Graham won a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives, then in 1995 he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 3rd-District where he served until 2003 upon taking a seat in the U.S. Senate where he currently is the senior senator. He is chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.

In 2016 Graham was among the 18 or so candidates for the Republican presidential nomination which he lost to then candidate Donald Trump. During the 2016 nominating process Graham openly called Trump a “jackass.” But since President Trump took office he has become a political realist having accepted the results of the 2016 election. Graham chose to wisely support President Trump although at times he disagrees with some of the president’s policies.

A close friend of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) Graham supported McCain during his 2008 presidential run which he lost to former President Obama. In 2016 after dropping out of the presidential race he supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who also dropped out of the presidential nomination which Trump won.

Last year Graham gave his staunch and fiery support to U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh who was accused of unsubstantiated sexual misconduct during his college years decades ago. Justice Kavanaugh now sits on the high court.

It is interesting to note that Graham never married nor does he have any children. At 22-years-old Graham became legal guardian to his 13-year-old sister Darline after their parents passed away.

“He’s kind of like a brother, a father and a mother rolled into one,” said Darline Graham Nordone during campaign 2016. “I’ve always looked up to Lindsey.”

Presently Graham has joined hands with President Trump in his efforts to strengthen the U.S. military, in securing the U.S. southern border with Mexico and comprehensive immigration policies to stop the flow of illegals into the USA.

Washington Democrats — now controlling the U.S. House — have stalled, blocked and delayed any immigration reform efforts proposed by President Trump and Graham, but being the political realist that Graham is he said he hopes the Democrats see the light and join hands with the president to reform immigration into a merit-based system instead of the present free-for-all going on now with hundreds of thousands of illegals attempting to enter the USA any way they can.

Immigration reform is high on the list of issues important to Democratic, Republican and Independent voters for the upcoming national election in 2020. To do nothing to reform overall immigration would be deadly for the Democrats and surely would aid President Trump in his reelection effort.

Graham will run for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2020, but behind the scenes he is laying the ground work to run for the presidency in 2024 and win.

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member