A comedian and social media personality named Elizabeth Booker Houston is catching heat after she apparently delivered a cake to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's Capitol Hill office with a message aimed squarely at his grieving sister, newly sworn-in Sen. Darline Graham Nordone. As Trending Politics reported, the stunt has drawn a mix of applause from some corners and widespread disgust from others.
Houston posted on X on Tuesday that she had dropped off the cake, which featured a printed photo of Graham smiling in a suit and tie, bordered with white frosting and blue icing roses. The message across the top read "CONGRATUDOLENCES!" which, if you haven't already guessed, is a portmanteau of "congratulations" and "condolences." Very creative. Really workshopped that one.
Her post read: "I just dropped this cake off at Lindsey Graham's office. Congratudolences, Darline! Your brother is burning in hell, and now, you're working for the devil!"
Nothing says "I'm a well-adjusted adult" quite like spending money on a custom cake to taunt a woman whose brother just died. Some folks on social media loved it, with one person writing "You're truly doing god's work" and another saying "Elizabeth, I love you. When I grow up I want to be just like you." Aspirational stuff.
But plenty of others were not amused. One critic wrote: "You really need a different hobby if you were so invested in politics that this is what you resort to. Good thing I wasn't there because you would've been wearing your cake." Another pointed out the obvious logistical flaw: "It's funny that you think anyone will see that cake other than the intern who throws it away. Complete waste of time and money." Someone else added: "Get a life. I wasn't a fan of Lindsey, but this is ridiculous. Your hatred is rotting your brain."
For context, Graham died Saturday night at the age of 71. An autopsy performed Sunday suggested the cause was aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, though the final death certificate remains pending until toxicological and microscopic testing is completed. The longtime South Carolina Republican had been one of the Senate's most active members and was literally scheduled to appear on Meet the Press the morning after he died.
Nordone was sworn in Tuesday to serve the remainder of her brother's term. Graham had helped raise her after their parents died when he was young, a personal story that was central to his public identity. So the cake was essentially delivered to a grieving sister who just lost the man who raised her, on her first day in his old office. Really sticking it to the powerful there.
Look, Graham was a polarizing figure. He was hawkish, became a close Trump ally in his later years, and drew plenty of legitimate criticism from across the political spectrum. There is no shortage of ways to express disagreement with his policy positions. But delivering a novelty cake celebrating a man's death to his sister's office days after his funeral is the kind of thing that makes everyone involved look worse. Except maybe the intern who got free cake out of it.
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