There is enough plausible deniability built into the framework of what is anticipated to be a MAGA rally by President Trump in South Carolina in support of Republican Senate candidate Darline Graham, the sister of Lindsey Graham.
The first indication surfaced in a cancellation announcement by the South Carolina state GOP which canceled its Senate Stump Stop in Anderson County, SC, in anticipation of Trump traveling to Myrtle Beach “on behalf of one of the runoff candidates.”
However, after the Washington Examiner published their article on Trump’s travel plan, the White House did not return a comment. [SOURCE] This may indicate the people around President Trump are noticing a looming likelihood that Darline Graham will not win the contest. It would be an embarrassing defeat for President Trump to lose the contest after putting his endorsement behind Darline Graham-Nordone.
The oppositional media are paying close attention to the opportunity to undermine President Trump and now framing the contest as Nikki Haley vs Donald Trump because Ralph Norman previously supported Nikki Haley.
Ralph Norman and Darline Graham-Nordone are scheduled to debate tomorrow, August 18th on Newsmax. The Trump rally with Mrs Graham-Nordone was presumably scheduled for Friday, August 21. If Trump retreats from the rally, it means internal polling supports a Norman victory.
NEWBERRY, S.C. (WIS) – The South Carolina Republican Party (SCGOP) announced that a debate will be held between Sen. Darline Graham and Congressman Ralph Norman after they both advanced to a runoff in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
The debate will take place Tuesday, August 18, at the Newberry Opera House in cooperation with Newsmax. (more)
A runoff between two RINOS. I’m underwhelmed.
Yes, both bad choices. We’re in the trap again and this one is particularly high profile.
The process for this one was stomped on. We didn’t get a chance to see if a truly America First candidate could ascend.
Lindsey Graham died on July 11,2026 unexpectedly. Gov. McMaster chose Darline Graham Nardone to fill out the term of her brother. I think that was a smart move.
There had to be a primary. 10 candidates were on the ballot. There were many choices for voters. Nobody in this large field reached 50%. The biggest vote getters were Darline Graham and Ralph Norman. Ok so now there is a runoff. The SC republicans Party did not chose the candidate, SC voters did. We will vote again either for Darline Graham ( an unknown new politician) or Ralph Norman who has a long legislative record, that leans conservative.
Why is a true conservative, (look at his voting record,) Vice Chair of the house freedom caucus, with an A rating from all conservative sites, who was the original sponsor of the Save Act, a bad choice? You must not be from SC.
As another Treepers posted a few days ago, you never miss an opportunity to undercut President Trump.
Couldn’t agree more. I posted in favor of Norman but then I read this post. Can’t the GOP run anyone worth a crap in that state?
Russell Fry was an excellent choice in my opinion. He has the record to prove it. He’s my Representative. I voted for him in the primary as well.
If you ask me it was rigged. Fry really is MAGA America First.
I voted Fry as well. While we never know, he did seem the most MAGA of the choices and younger. In the 20 plus years of living in SC, I never voted for Linda, ever, for anything. Not gonna start now.
Me and my husband did as well.
You can say that about the GOP in many states. Often the people running the local party are RINOs or not much better, or who think this is the 1950s still and just want everyone to be nice and then everyone gets what they want. The local GOP apparatchiks are sometimes as much the problem as the Democrats are.
So true! I volunteered here in North Carolina for several years. Never again!
The Deep State is even hiding in corners you would have expected had been cleaned.
made me laugh… thank you…
Good she was never going to win. She basically knows nothing about politics. And she supports some lefties. The one short speech she said was like gobbledy gook
Most of the Congress and Judiciary knows nothing about the Constitution
That could be said of current office holders right on up.
They Stopped teaching it in public school a hundred years ago.
I have suggested before many times that Congress Critters need to pass 70%+ a Constitution Test before they can be sworn in.
Most would fail.
Well she’d fit right into the republiCON senate then wouldn’t she?!?!
The GOP’s Harris??????
kamala dna?😳
Nikki Haley – what a stain on the GOP.
Major, major tell that she has zero position in the Trump Admin.
Sending her over to the UN was masterful.
Trump essentially gave her a job of chasing parked cars.
Woof!
And he cleared out the SC Governor’s spot so then Lt. Gov. McMaster could move up and still be eligible for 2 terms.
McMaster was the first, and highest ranking elected Republican to endorse Donald Trump in 2016.
I think Gov. McMaster is a good governor. He was recently awarded “the Order of the Palmetto” for his long outstanding service to SC
Illicit drug trafficking was a huge problem on Hilton Head. As a prosecutor, McMaster and his team surveiled the owners of a large sailboat that would depart the island with a high waterline and come back m with the ship loaded with drugs and sitting low in the water. McMaster and his team charged and convicted a local good ole boy network of drug smugglers
I have admired the lowkey Mc Master ever since.
McMaster is, and was a complete disaster for SC. Do nothing establishment RINO.
Respectfully Hal you are misinformed. You must be a supporter of the democrats candidate who thinks marriage between a man and a woman is an outdated horrid ideal.
That explains Stikki Nikki’s flat face.
Her sleaze factor is explained by her trysts with SC power brokers in her tinted window luxury SUV with powerful A/C to handle humid Southern nights — and a generous supension to damp rocking motions.
This runoff election reminds me a little of Aunt Bee running against Howard Sprague for Town Council in a 1966 episode of The Andy Griffith Show.
But not as wholesome…
LOL
This one’s for Betsy:
President Trump doesn’t want to get caught making a mistake about 1066 and all that 🙂
😂 👍🏻 😁
(Keep on keeping on, dear WORDMAN 😘)
I still think Trump needs to fire whoever recommended he endorse Graham.
…as I see it neither 2 top officials in US … have real intention make peace with Russia…and they Russia know it….to campaign for sister of #1 warmonger in the USA..???
She would be better off managing some part of the Charleston Cotillion…
She doesn’t have the pedigree.
Careful what you wish for. He might end up firing himself:)
POTUS is a smart man. That said, I’m putting this all on him, not a staffer. He needs to own it.
“ It would be an embarrassing defeat for President Trump to lose the contest after putting his endorsement behind Darline Graham-Nordone.”
I disagree.
I thought it embarrassing that Trump endorsed her. I expected better decision making from this administration. Staying out of it would’ve been better.
Perhaps the cancelation of a visit to the State is the “stay out of it” you want.
Wasn’t Evette a embarassing defeat? Trump is going to go 0 for 2 in SC because he is listening to RINO Tim Scott.
Hopefully his endorsement of dangenfelder in Wyoming fails tomorrow too and we get a real conservative in Brent Bien.
I’m surprised by the number of people who would directly support someone who directly undercut our fighter.
thankfully plenty of people still think and analyze their positions for themselves.
There is value in that, of course. That is what makes us different.
But this isn’t Paxton vs. Cornyn we are talking about. I don’t see many comments about how great of a candidate Norman is. And he has one major strike against him.
All things being equal, or close, why not support the President?
Makes sense to me. I don’t even this it’s about thinking for oneself as Bulley said. That seems rather egotistic for me to think I know more than President Trump knows in any given situation. There isn’t anything about the way he governs that makes me think otherwise.
Trumps ego is getting in the way of make a smart decision on this. He should have stayed out of it and said nothing.
Think it’s more about loyalty than ego. He encouraged her to fill in, maybe he had good reason for it.
If he was smart, he would have endorsed both and let SC decide who they want.
I wish he wouldn’t interfere with primary elections. Let the people pick. He’s made some bad support calls here in Florida. Then during the general election unleash his best to beat off the demonrats. Just my two cents.
Wish Trump would sit this one out.
-Let the voters of SC sort this out.
whenever I see this picture…
my built-in BS detector immediately makes me see this picture for some reason….
sigh
DC is a bubble of its own fever dreams & nobody looks/listens to the people that matter.
So many SC voters were against her appointment that it should have been obvious that Lindsey’s little sister had no means of winning over the electorate.
Endorse candidate.
See candidate is unpopular.
Abandon candidate so as to not appear like you’re bad at picking winners.
Woah buddy!!!
why not stand behind your endorsement, or articulate why it has changed?
Huge difference between holding a support rally and not pulling an endorsement. He hasn’t pulled his endorsement so far as we know at the moment.
She may not or the Sc GOP may not want a rally……
The RINOs led by Thune would love to be in the minority selling their little block of votes again….spit!
President Trump should stay out of it. Let South Carolina cook their own goose.
IMHO, the GOP/RNC would just as soon LOSE that Senate seat formerly occupied by Lindsey Graham . . . they want a slimmer majority for their game-playing BS.
The GOP/RNC.
Experts at grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory.
Why can’t it just be a contest between Norman and Nordone? Geesh…
Thanks for the heads up on the debate.
Something Coattail rider DeSantis would say.
Has she mentioned anything about the Save America proposal
Yes Nordone is for the save act
and Norman as well I presume. Decisions Decisions
What is worse, the backstabbing RINO politics of South Carolina, or, the overt communism of much of New England politics?
<Ralph Norman and Darline Graham-Nordone are scheduled to debate tomorrow, August 18th on Newsmax.>
Between this, and how important they think their latest stock offering is, it’s a wonder anyone watches them at all. News Min Promos Max.
Yep. They sure like to pat themselves on their backs. I stopped watching them long ago when Greta was hired.
lets hope internal rolling shows norman will win.
Every dumb YouTube video I watched in the last two days has been preceded by a negative ad about Norman. I did not know that he is the son of Beelzebub.
YouTube has ads?
https://www.autoblog.com/news/your-car-may-be-tracked-without-you-ever-knowing
Off topic. There is a thread already posted today: here is the link. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/08/17/interactive-search-map-for-flock-cameras-near-you/#comments
As long as we the voters are freed from all the burdens of choosing our own representatives, then i am satisfied.
And don’t forget South Carolina has open primaries.
Thought I read since this is a run-off that only those who chose to vote a GOP ballot in the original primary would be eligible to vote in this follow up contest?
So those who voted on the left could not vote again, as it were, for the candidate on the other side.
In a primary runoff in SC, only those who previously voted in the first round of the primary, OR those who did not vote at all, can participate in the runoff.
So anyone who voted in the Dem primary previously CAN NOT vote in this runoff.
However, anyone who did not vote in EITHER primary can vote in this one.
SonDem crossovers can happen, as long as the voter did not cast a vote in the original Dem primary.
EDITORIAL: open primaries are bone dry STUPID. Should only be open to PREVIOUSLY registered party members.
party time
Please clap.
I have not thought about him in ages, where has he been, what is he doing? I really don’t want to know, just thought I would ask.
Stumping for Graham could backfire.
If she loses, Norman won’t be very eager to fight hard for Trump priorities should he win General.
Better to just step back and then fight hard for the winner in the General.
If Senator Darlene Graham is a yes vote for the SAVE act it would be worth it in President Trump’s estimation I would think. Senator Graham has already said it would be a yes vote.
We’re caught in a trap, we can’t get out,
because we love Trump too much baby.
Why don;’ he see, what it’s doing to us?
(apologies to Elvis)
Hmmmmm.
Democrat & RINO Dark Money Flocks to Darline Graham
Pay attention to where the RINO establishment support and Democrat dark money flows. Thune’s support of Darline Graham from day one should immediately make everyone question what she stands for.
Video:
https://truthsocial.com/@jfradioshow/117113420465464503
It’s your moral duty not to vote for RINO’s.