Letters from an American
· collected 2026-08-24 · by Heather Cox Richardson
commentary
On Tuesday, August 18, during a debate for a runoff to win the South Carolina Republican senatorial primary, Senator Darline Graham (R-SC) answered a question about Taiwan and the importance of the South China Sea by saying: “I’m not that informed on national security.”
asserted
I → win → security
She paused, and added: “But I do support the military.”
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I → pause → military
The audience reacted with boos and gasps.
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audience → react → boos
Senators are supposed to manage national security.
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Senators → suppose → security
Trying to clean up her mistake, Graham went to an interview with the friendly Sean Hannity at the Fox News Channel, where she tried to make a virtue of her error by saying it reflects that she is not a politician.
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she → try → error
Then she added that people in South Carolina are worried less about foreign affairs than they are about affordability, “boys in girls’ sports,” the Second Amendment, “illegal immigration,” and the SAVE America Act.
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they → add → girls
Journalist Parker Molloy noted that trans girls have been banned from competing in K–12 girls sports since 2022 and are banned from competing in the NCAA and the Olympics.
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girls → note → NCAA
“This is literally an issue that doesn’t affect SC at all anymore,” Molloy noted.
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Molloy → affect → SC
“They got what they wanted.
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they → get → what
Graham perfectly represents the modern Republican Party.
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Graham → represent → Party
South Carolina governor Henry McMaster appointed her to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham.
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McMaster → appoint → brother
McMaster said Trump “thought it was a great idea” for her to replace her brother, and she has indicated her loyalty to Trump and her willingness to pass the SAVE America Act he so badly wants in order to rig the 2026 midterm elections.
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he → say → elections
Graham has little political experience, and with little to offer voters other than loyalty to Trump, she is simply echoing Republican culture war talking points that worked for him in 2016.
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that → have → 2016
But it appears voters don’t like living in the world Trump is creating.
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Trump → appear → world
As Cleve R. Wootson Jr. noted yesterday in the Washington Post, Trump went to South Carolina last night to help Graham’s campaign.
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Trump → note → campaign
He told those attending the rally that the election was really about him.
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election → tell → him
Although Graham’s opponent in the runoff, Representative Ralph Norman, has made much of Graham’s inexperience, Trump told rally attendees: “They’re only fighting Darline because they want me to lose.”
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me → make → Darline
Wootson notes that Trump is hoping for a Graham win to restore some of the power that is slipping away as his popularity continues to slide to new lows.
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popularity → note → lows
Primary candidates he backed for governor in Iowa, Georgia, Wyoming, and Minnesota all lost, as did those he backed in congressional primaries in Michigan and Tennessee.
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he → back → Michigan
Indeed, as Graham was fumbling the debate last Tuesday, two former teachers endorsed by Democrats flipped the Sarasota, Florida, school board.
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teachers → fumble → board
That board had been dominated by right-wing candidates since 2022, led by Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, who has said public schools are “indoctrination centers for the radical left” and that she wanted to bring “religious values” to them.
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she → dominate → them
Formed in 2021, Moms for Liberty was behind the book banning of the past several years.
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Moms → form → years
Ziegler is married to the former chair of the Florida Republican Party, who was forced out of his position after a woman alleged he had raped her in relation to the three-way sexual relationship she had with the Zieglers.
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she → force → Zieglers
Bridget Ziegler refused to step down from the school board after the scandal broke.
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scandal → refuse → board
As Kerry Sheridan of WUSF reported, Beth Mayberry and Megan Tennimon ran on issues of school funding, academic achievement, and helping students in underserved areas.
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Mayberry → report → areas
Both won their races by more than 10 percentage points.
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Both → win → points
As political historian Joanne Freeman put it Saturday morning in our chat on What the Heck Just Happened?, when Republican leaders in 2020 decided not to write a political platform at all, but simply to “reassert the Party’s strong support for President Donald Trump and his Administration” and to say it would “continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda,” they gave him every reason to think that “all of the things that he’s doing to promote himself—the races and the gold and everything else—that that’s all campaigning.
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that → put → himself
It’s all about him.
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It → ’ → him
Then, when party leaders in 2024 essentially turned Trump’s social media posts into a platform, they embraced the idea that the party could stay in power through slogans.
uncertain
party → turn → slogans
They promised to “DEFEAT INFLATION, AND QUICKLY BRING DOWN ALL PRICES,” to “BRING BACK THE AMERICAN DREAM AND MAKE IT AFFORDABLE AGAIN FOR FAMILIES, YOUNG PEOPLE, AND EVERYONE,” to “promote a Foreign Policy centered on the most essential American Interests, starting with protecting the American Homeland, our People, our Borders, our Great American Flag, and our Rights under God,” and so on.
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IT → promise → God
The Republican Party tied itself to Trump and remains tied to him as he devotes his time to celebrating himself with his ballroom, a UFC cage match at the White House, his triumphal arch, renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and now this weekend’s “Freedom 250 Grand Prix” around the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in which 25 IndyCar drivers are covering 147 laps at speeds up to 150 mph around a 1.7-mile (2.7 km), 7-turn street circuit loop past the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument, the National Archives, and the National Gallery of Art.
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drivers → tie → Art
The race has required workers to weld down more than 200 manhole covers, move traffic lights, and put up barriers that have disrupted traffic, while the National Gallery of Art has had to protect its sculptures from vibrations and airlines have had to reroute flights.
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airlines → require → flights
Meanwhile, the country remains embroiled in an apparently purposeless war in Iran; the economy is slowing and prices of food and gas are rising; Americans are horrified by the tactics of ICE and Border Patrol, who have abused and killed immigrants and U.S. citizens alike; Trump, his family, and his allies have put at least $2.2 billion in Trump’s pockets; and Trump has alienated our closest allies.
Just after midnight on August 21, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on a range of goods from Canada.
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Trump → embroil → Canada
Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney suspended trade negotiations with the U.S. and said Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. beginning September 8.
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Canada → suspend → September
In a statement, Carney said: “We have recognised from the beginning that America has changed, and that we will not return to our old relationship.”
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we → say → relationship
Canada, he said, will be “focused on building our strength at home [and] diversifying our partnerships abroad
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he → say → partnerships
And now the story that the closest advisor to the President of the United States is a 35-year-old woman who seems unhealthily obsessed with him ties Republican Party leadership to the reality that they are permitting the destruction of the United States with barely a whimper.
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they → seem → whimper
As Trump led Republicans into a box canyon, they have left an open field for Democrats to redefine the nation’s politics.
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Democrats → lead → politics
On August 17, former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg recorded a video to assure those Americans who oppose the Trump administration that they are in the large majority.
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they → record → majority
He noted that the strategy Republicans are pursuing shows how unpopular they are.
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they → note → ?
…and 34 more, not listed.
