Trump, Graham’s Sister and the New Normal

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026 – another Election Day in a weird and disconcerting campaign season in which right-wing election deniers loyal to Donald Trump are winning their share of GOP primaries, whilst Israel-bashing Marxists who despise the U.S. Constitution are prevailing in a handful of Democratic primaries “.”

A century ago, when the United States was recovering from the twin horrors of World War I and the Spanish flu epidemic, Warren Harding won the presidency by promising a “return to normalcy.” Although it wasn’t a word he invented, it was the first time most Americans had ever heard it – and it was a welcome vision. Today, in the 10thyear of our Trump-Biden-Trump crucible, it’s hard to know what normal even is anymore.

Speaking of the unusual becoming commonplace, President Trump is fooling around in another Republican primary, the latest being the South Carolina contest to replace the irreplaceable Lindsey Graham. Trump, perhaps impetuously, embraced the idea of tapping Graham’s sister Darline Graham Nordone to succeed him. As a placeholder, it seemed a nice gesture – at least to some people. And so it was done.

Within days, however, both the president and the newly installed senator/sister decided for reasons known only to themselves that Darline should run for the seat herself. In the ensuing primary, she bested a crowded field with 32.7% of the vote, forcing today’s runoff. The remaining candidate is a normie conservative, Rep. Ralph Norman, who tallied 24.6%. (Another congressman, Russell Fry, had 19.6% and former congressman Mark Sanford got nearly 15%).

The prevailing headwinds were certainly smiling on Nordone, at least until her embarrassing debate gaffe last week in which she conceded that she knows nothing about foreign policy – her brother’s passion.

The lapse – in answer to a question concerning Taiwan and the South China Sea – apparently has taken a toll. A Trafalgar poll released Monday night shows the race as a dead heat.

Still, Graham’s little sister has the backing not just of Trump and popular South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster as well as Sen. Tim Scott, and Rep. Fry. Two political scientists who know the state well believe the winner will be determined by voter turnout in what’s called the Lowcountry.

Just because there hasn’t been much publicly available polling doesn’t mean there aren’t private poll numbers that the interested parties are seeing. What do they show? It would strike me as malfeasance if White House political operatives sent the president to stump in a state where his handpicked candidate is losing.

On the other hand, no one puts The Donald in a corner. Perhaps he went there because the race is close. Or just because he felt like it. And since this isn’t California, we should know tonight how it turns out.