The Republican Party quickly dropped $5 million to help South Carolina's U.S. Senate race, where the late Lindsey Graham's sister is fighting to maintain his seat, Axios reported. Now, even a former Republican governor from the state is highlighting some of the "abhorrent" things that President Donald Trump is saying about the race.
It appears that Darlene Graham is struggling in the reliably red state of South Carolina after a bad debate performance. Public Policy Polling showed Democrat Annie Andrews doing well over the summer, but Graham appears to have picked up steam in September.
In a recent Truth Social rant, Trump called Andrews, a pediatrician, "Annie Trannie." According to Trump, this is because "she is in favor of Transgender for Everyone." He didn't explain what that meant, however. He then parroted many of the age-old claims he's used about all Democrats: "open borders," "weak military," "take your guns away" and others.
Former Gov. David Beasley served from 1995 to 1999 and has long been a dedicated humanitarian and a Republican. Even he felt Trump's rant went too far.
"This is abhorrent. Elections don’t have to be about cruelty and lies," he wrote Monday night on X. "South Carolina deserves better. I urge voters to look at the merits of each candidate and cast their vote accordingly. We must reject politics based on division and hate. While South Carolinians can strongly disagree with one another, we can do so civilly and with honest intentions for the betterment of our communities and well being of our families."
That has never been Trump's style. The president's most infamous barb came when he mocked disabled New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski. Trump claimed he was using his disability to "grandstand." He then denied the incident. In 2018, Trump mocked Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony alleging sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh, who denied the allegation. Before a laughing rally crowd, Trump imitated her difficulty remembering details from the assault.
Trump also implied he was "upset" that the late senator called his sister the finest person he knew.
"For years my dear friend Lindsey would say that, 'Darline is the finest, most reliable, and one of the smartest people I have ever known,'" Trump recalled. "He would then always add, 'Also, the most loyal!' Oftentimes I would be upset with Lindsey for saying this, because I thought I had all of those qualities. In any event, Darline is a High Quality person, maybe the Highest, and Annie Trannie is not..."
A poll done at the end of September shows the candidates in a statistical tie. About 8.5 percent of voters said they were still undecided, WJCL News reported.
