Even Trump’s White House, not exactly reticent about publicizing the diplomatic efforts of its famous primary occupant, had little to say. As a pitiful, ineffective rival candidate in the 2016 GOP primaries, Graham had said this of Trump: "He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot ... There has been much speculation that Trump won Graham to his side by listening to him, at least on foreign and military affairs. Graham was also influential in the recent careers of both Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That would go some ways to undo one of the most misguided of Trump’s foreign policy objectives, namely his persistent initiatives that promote the weakening of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).