Oh Mah Darline, Oh Mah Darline! 🎶

It’s a travel day, so I’ll keep today’s write-up light and fun. Happy Schadenfriday!

Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), picked by the governor to fill her late brother Lindsey’s Senate seat with Donald Trump’s enthusiastic backing, stood on a debate stage Tuesday night in Newberry, South Carolina. She was one of two contenders for the Republican primary runoff for that seat. Moderator Greta Van Susteren, now shamefully at Newsmax, asked her a basic question senators have fielded for decades: Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States?

A nervous-looking Graham asked her to repeat the question before realizing she had to come clean. “I’m just going to be honest here… I’m not that informed on national security,” she said, trailing off before adding, “National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military,” noting her brother’s 33 years in the Air Force and her father’s service in the Army. Boos could be heard from the audience.

It was not Graham’s only moment to shine that night. Discussing the state’s economic struggles, she told the audience South Carolina is home to “50 million people.” Wow, bigger than California. Impressive. The actual population is roughly 5.6 million, but what’s 45 million among friends?

Rep. Ralph Norman, her opponent in the Aug. 25 runoff who has to run against this, told MS NOW’s Mychael Schnell the next morning that he “couldn’t believe it” when he heard her answers onstage, calling them “a little bit shocking.” As a member of the House Freedom Caucus who undoubtedly has heard many things, Norman being shocked really says something.

“A fabulous tribute”

Graham’s presence on that stage, like many embarrassments in our country nowadays, traces directly to Trump. After her brother Lindsey died on July 11, taking his secrets to the grave, Trump publicly backed Gov. Henry McMaster’s appointment of Graham’s sister Darline to finish his term, calling it a “fabulous tribute” to his old friend.

It was a sentimental move. Graham had spent three decades in public service, most recently as a commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, but had never run for or held elected office. Her brother had taken legal guardianship of her when he was 22 and she was 13, after their parents died within about 15 months of each other. Trump’s framing leaned heavily on that bond.

The idea that the GOP would pick a relative political outsider to temporarily replace Graham made some sense at the time, given that a heated primary was inevitable and any actual politician appointed as his replacement would gain a strong early advantage. But Trump tossed that concern aside, as he does most concerns. Four days after the appointment, Trump urged Darline Graham to run for the full six-year term herself and promised his “Complete and Total Endorsement,” saying “there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey.”

The reversal from caretaker to candidate unsettled some South Carolina Republicans, who told reporters they felt “blindsided” by the shift and worried Trump was getting “bad advice” about the state. Maybe it was Natalie, who knows. Anyhoo, party donors raised a concern that Graham was leaning on her grief and her brother’s surname rather than her own record—heavens to Betsy!—and that even references to her full name, Darline Graham Nordone, largely disappeared once she was sworn in.

Republican strategist Doug Heye identified the underlying problem. Graham’s advantages were Trump’s endorsement and her last name, and “debates are one of the reasons why” a name isn’t determinative.

Trump apparently disagrees. After all, he picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and it wasn’t for his experience or qualifications to run HHS. Trump has continued to campaign for Graham since the debacle, perhaps to get back at Rep. Norman for his endorsement of Nikki Haley for president. The president plans to rally supporters for Graham in Myrtle Beach later today, ahead of Tuesday’s runoff.

I’d like to phone a friend

Graham went on Sean Hannity’s show the following night to do damage control. True to form, Hannity offered her a lifeline before she even had the big-money questions in front of her.

“So this issue of Taiwan came up last night, and I know people have made a big deal about it,” Hannity said. “I’m like, I wonder how many people around the country, if I gave them a map, could pick out Taiwan? I don’t think many. And not just—the whole country, never mind South Carolina.”

Graham agreed: “I think you’re 100 percent right, Sean.” (Though I’m pretty sure most people reading this can pick out Taiwan on a damn map.)

Contrast that softball with Hannity’s reaction six months earlier to a question about Taiwan posed to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). At the Munich Security Conference, AOC was asked whether the U.S. should commit troops to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion. She hesitated and didn’t provide a solid “yes or no” answer, instead displaying a version of “strategic ambiguity” that has been the norm with China on the issue for decades.

Hannity twisted the moment on air. “Wow, even worse than Hillary,” the college dropout declared, “though radical squad leader AOC simply could not answer basic questions about global affairs.”

Trump was also asked about Ocasio-Cortez’s answer aboard Air Force One at the time. “Her performance was horrible. I was surprised, actually. I didn’t know she was stupid,” he said (though he should know by now that Darline is). “She had no idea. I don’t think she knew what Taiwan was. That was her problem.”

Here are the Hannity moments side by side, courtesy of the MeidasTouch Network:

But voter fraud! And transgenders! And guns!

Graham used the rest of her Hannity appearance to explain why the Taiwan question did not matter anyway. “Of course, Taiwan is our friend,” she said, then pivoted to say her constituents have other priorities. “I think people in South Carolina are more worried about making ends meet.” She then named what she believes voters actually want to hear about: the SAVE America Act, transgender athletes and the Second Amendment.

You know, not the war, not rampant corruption, just the really important stuff.

As one viewer in the state put it, “When Darline Graham says that people here in South Carolina are mostly concerned with men in women’s sports, is she speaking for all ‘50 million’ of us?”

I suppose congratulations are in order. Sen. Darline Graham Nordone has finally dethroned the previous titleholder for worst answer ever given by a contender from South Carolina.