U.S. President Donald Trump dances during a campaign rally for U.S. Senator Darline Graham (R-SC) at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, U.S., August 21, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
CNN reports Republican turnout is key if President Donald Trump is to maintain his Pavlovian control of the House and Senate this November, but voters just aren’t feeling the passion for keeping Congress in his pocket.
Trump’s is using Tuesday’s South Carolina Republican runoff between his endorsed candidate Sen. Darline Graham and her opponent Rep. Ralph Norman to workshop the message he’s taking to voters over the next few months as Republicans face judgement in the midterms.
“With turnout on the line, Trump understood his assignment, touting Graham as a ‘very special person’ whom he asked to run for her brother’s seat,” CNN reports. And his message to voters appeared to carry a twinge of pleading.
“The problem that we have, is they say that Trump does great when he’s on the ballot. But when he’s not on the ballot, his people don’t come, and they don’t vote for senators, congressmen and other Republicans,” the president told a Friday rally. “So, what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot.”
CNN reports Trump then threw several bowls of spaghetti against a wall, seeking something that sticks. Many noodles, like his touting of his 90,000-square-foot ballroom (which his conservative Supreme Court temporarily allowed him to continue building) is a project providing “little benefit to South Carolinians,” according to CNN.
His other signature moves, like effortless apathy to the destruction of others, appeared to elicit approval among the Republican audience.
“Look, it’s a Friday night. We have plenty of time, right?” he asked the crowd. “What the hell do I have to do? Go back, bomb Iran a little bit more?”
“He largely glossed over the US war with Iran, which he described as ‘a little detour,’ as he blamed inflation on Democrats, promised gas prices will soon come down and claimed his economic poll numbers ‘should be at 100 percent,’” reports CNN, adding that a recent CNN poll revealed 65 percent of Americans say his policies have worsened economic conditions.
Even Trump’s endorsement of Graham appears to be on shaky ground, however, reports CNN. Trump would not be in South Carolina trying to carry her over the finish line on Friday had she successfully nabbed enough votes to avoid a Republican run-off. And CNN reports the race has “driven divisions among South Carolina Republicans and even some of the president’s allies.”
“[B]ehind the scenes, Trump’s team is keenly aware that a lot is on the line, especially after some of his chosen candidates have failed to win their primaries,” reports CNN.
Some voters, like Republican voter “Ross” said he still had doubts about Graham, who took the seat of her brother former Sen. Lindsey Graham after his untimely death.
“A lot of people here are free thinkers,” said Ross, speaking with CNN reporters, “and they’re going to make up their own minds. But I came here to hear what she had to say.”
But for Trump, the message was clear as he and his party face extreme headwinds in the leadup to November: Vote like you’re voting for me, even though you’re not.
“And remember, they say, again, that Trump gets a lot of votes, but if he’s not on the ballot, people don’t vote so much. I am on the ballot. We’re all on the ballot,” Trump told the crowd.