Also in today’s “Regular Order” for August 26, 2026:
Top officials won’t say where imported beef is coming from.
Democrats ramp up attacks on Trump tariffs and beef imports.
Trump lawyers suggest tearing down the Kennedy Center.
SOUTH CAROLINA. It took a lot of work. But President Donald Trump got the outcome he wanted last night in a special GOP Senate runoff election in South Carolina. Trump’s support clearly pulled Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) across the finish line, as she defeated Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) by a 52-48 percent margin. Graham will now replace her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, on the ballot in November.
FERTILE MYRTLE. The key to victory for Graham was in Horry County in the southeast corner of the state, home to Myrtle Beach. President Trump held a rally there last Friday, and that helped churn out a 17,000 vote advantage for Graham in that one county - almost exactly matching her winning statewide margin.
GENERAL. Darline Graham wasted no time going after her Democratic Party opponent in November. “Her views are those of Bernie Sanders and AOC,” Graham said. “If you liked Kamala Harris for President, you’re gonna love Dr. Annie Andrews.”
RALPH NORMAN. Unable to break out of his upstate strongholds of Greenville, Spartanburg, and the suburbs of Charlotte, Norman just didn’t have enough votes to upset Graham. “We had $8 million spent against us,” Norman told supporters. “We couldn't come up with that much money.”
TRUMPED. Soon after Lindsey Graham’s death, Norman asked Trump for his endorsement - but Trump refused, and then endorsed Darline Graham. “I never understood why he got in this race,” Norman said, flashing some frustration in his remarks. “But it is what it is.”
TWICE SHY. It was the second time in recent months that Norman had lost a statewide campaign. He failed to make the runoff earlier this year in the GOP race for Governor - but got a second chance to run when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) died on July 11. Norman was first elected to Congress in 2017.
NOVEMBER. While no one really expects anything but a Graham victory in November, you never know what might happen when a combination of big turnout for Democrats gets added to a lack of enthusiasm among Republicans, who are turned off by the current political environment.
CAMPAIGN. Look for Andrews to stress affordability and cost-of-living issues, and amplify charges made by Norman that Sen. Graham is not ready for prime time. Even so, Graham will be the strong favorite.
BOOMER SOONER. President Trump not only won in South Carolina last night, but also had the winner in the GOP runoff for Governor in Oklahoma - though it was very close. Even with the backing of Trump and current Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), Republican Mike Mazzei defeated state Attorney General Gentner Drummond by just 2,000 votes out of over 370,000.
GEORGIA. Voters outside of Atlanta took a bit of a surprise detour last night, electing a former school board chair to fill out the term of the late Rep. David Scott (D-GA). The winner was Everton Blair, who defeated Scott’s daughter, Marcye Scott.
FAMILY. Usually in these situations, the voters opt to give one last favor to the deceased member of Congress, by electing their family member. But not this time. David Scott was first elected to Congress in 2002, but he suffered from medical issues for the past six years.
SHORT TIMER. Here is one interesting note about the winner. Blair is not on the ballot for this seat in November - so he will serve four months in the U.S. House, and then head back to Georgia. (I guess that means he is ‘retiring’ from Congress??)
KWANZA. Four months in office is better than one month - that’s how long Democrat Kwanza Hall served in late 2020, when he was elected to replace the late Rep. John Lewis (D-GA). Hall was not on the ballot in November, so he served as a Congressman for just 31 days.
LOW TURNOUT. Maybe the most eye-opening part about this special election was how few people voted. Only about 19,000 people cast ballots for this seat. Ironically, one of the criticisms of Rep. David Scott had been how he failed to vote in six straight elections.
NUMBERS. This is the second seat won back by Democrats over the summer break. That means when those two members are sworn in - most likely next week - the House will be 218 Republicans, 214 Democrats, 1 Independent, and 2 vacant seats. The GOP majority gets even tighter for Speaker Mike Johnson.
MYSTERY MEAT. You probably have heard some of the complaints from farm groups about President Trump’s plan to allow in large amounts of imported beef over the next few months. But there is still one big unknown. Where is that meat coming from? The Trump Administration still won’t say.
AG SECRETARY. What country or countries is sending this extra beef? “I am not actually part of any of those conversations,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in an interview yesterday with Spectrum News. “I am not privy to talk about that,” Rollins told other reporters at the White House.
UNKNOWN BEEF. Think about that answer for a second. The Secretary of Agriculture won’t say what country is sending 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef to American consumers. That just raises all sorts of red flags - and Democrats were more than happy to help.
WHERE’S THE BEEF. “300,000 metric tons of beef from an unknown source?” tweeted Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA). “Why is Trump hiding where the foreign beef is coming from?” added Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA). “This is NOT America first,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).
BLAME CANADA. While Donald Trump continued to lash out at Canada over trade matters on Tuesday, he was getting almost no public support at all from GOP lawmakers in Congress. But the trade brouhaha was giving Democrats all sorts of political targets on affordability and the cost of living for Americans - energizing their campaigns for November.
MICHIGAN. “Donald Trump and John James’ reckless tariffs are hitting Michigan small businesses hard,” said Democrat Jocelyn Benson, who is running for Governor against Rep. John James (R-MI). “This is the John James Tax, and Michigan families and businesses are paying the price.”
WISCONSIN. This isn’t a difficult formula to figure out for Democrats. “These reckless tariffs and the new trade war with Canada will only squeeze our rural communities more,” argued Rebecca Cooke, who is running for Congress in Wisconsin against Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI).
MAINE. “A tariff is a tax,” said Hannah Pingree, the Democratic nominee for Governor in Maine. “It shows up in groceries, energy costs, and now in a new long list of goods that will just increase prices for Maine families.”
UNFORCED ERROR. Democrats have been churning out tweets, news releases, press conferences, and statements for days now on the Trump trade fight with Canada, plus the Trump plan to import huge amounts of foreign beef. While Republicans have pushed back on the beef story, their silence is deafening on Canada.
GOP. What are Republicans saying? Those who are talking about Canada have been making the argument that Trump’s actions are about fair trade. “What President Trump is trying to do - and I applaud him for that - is level the playing field,” Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) told Fox Business.
FAIR TRADE. But that argument has seemed hollow for the past two years. The ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs did not make the world cut deals that favored the U.S. And American farmers are still suffering from trade retaliation (just ask the soybean farmers how things are going).
KENTUCKY. How are the midterms going for Republicans? NBC News had a bizarre story yesterday about a GOP candidate for Congress in Kentucky - that’s Trump country - who has quietly removed his picture with President Trump and all sorts of Trump mentions from the candidate’s campaign website.
ERASED. Originally, Ralph Alvarado’s website called him an ‘America First Fighter.’ “President Trump needs more allies in Congress to deliver on his bold vision to Make America Great Again,” it read. Now there is no mention of Trump, and it labels Alvarado as ‘Independent Leadership.’
ZACH. The Democrat running for Congress in KY-6 was more than happy to weigh in on Alvarado’s changes. “It reeks of a career politician’s desperation,” tweeted Zach Dembo, a former Navy JAG prosecutor. (Narrator: If Democrats are winning in this Central Kentucky district, yikes.)
LAKE AMERICA. Speaking of changes, President Trump on Tuesday tried to taunt Canadians by suggesting that the name of Lake Ontario be changed to ‘Lake America.’ The White House was happy to echo that in this tweet:
GULF OF AMERICA. I wonder if there will be a House Republican who quickly submits a bill to change the maps for Lake Ontario - just like they did for the Gulf of Mexico.
POLITICS. Democrats are more than happy to watch Trump fight with the Canadians, arguing that Trump has a plan to rename Lake Ontario - but doesn’t have a plan to end the Iran War or make gasoline less expensive.
KENNEDY CENTER. This next story is absolutely crazy. Lawyers for President Trump told a federal judge on Tuesday that if the courts won’t allow Trump’s name to be added to the Kennedy Center - named for President John F. Kennedy - then the memorial might have to be torn down. (Narrator: I’m not kidding.)
BRIEF. “Without the prominent recognition of The Trump Administration, and President Trump’s efforts, the donors will not contribute, and the Center will continue to be in a financial and structural death spiral,” Trump’s lawyers argued.
TEAR IT DOWN. “Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River,” they wrote.
BLUF. In other words - if Trump can’t get his name on the Kennedy Center building - then he will get rid of the building. I’m sorry, but this is so wrong. Trump’s name does not belong on the Kennedy Center at all.
FUTURE. A federal judge has already ordered the removal of Trump’s name - and instead, the Kennedy Center board has kept up a scaffolding to hide Kennedy’s name. I took this picture on Sunday:
RAP SHEET. Sometimes the U.S. Capitol Police blotter gets interesting. But this one is definitely a first. Officers on Tuesday arrested a 35-year-old man from California, after police noticed his pickup truck parked on East Capitol Street, in between the Supreme Court and Library of Congress. What was in the pickup that attracted their attention? A guillotine.
STATEMENT. “The suspect 35-year-old Philan-Tam-Duy Le of Julian, CA, was arrested for Carrying a Dangerous Weapon for being in possession of the guillotine,” police said in a statement. “The suspect drove here from California. USCP investigators are going through the suspect’s background to learn more about why he came to Washington, D.C.”
MUSE OF HISTORY. August 26, 1922. Working on a Saturday, there was a bit of jocularity on the House floor, as lawmakers approved a plan to spend $2,500 for the ‘extermination and banishment of insects’ from the Capitol and Congressional office buildings. “I understood from the reading that it only applied to the Senate,” Rep. John Nance Garner of Texas said to laughter. “No; there are a few bugs in the House,” answered Rep. Clifford Ireland of Illinois.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House is back for votes on August 31.
The Senate next has votes on September 14.
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Although I'm disappointed that Trump "got his way" here in SC, the Democrats actually have a better shot at maybe picking up that Senate seat. That's a slim maybe. But Annie Andrews is an excellent candidate. (Side note, when I wrote something about her in a Facebook group, I was told that she won't get votes because she's a "baby killer." Yes, a real doctor is a "baby killer." The cult is real.) One piece of good news in all of this is Ralph Norman is gone for now. Good.
And just when you think things can't get much crazier, renaming a lake, tearing down the Kennedy Center, etc. some guy shows up with a guillotine. I'm looking forward to hearing the backstory on that one.
The party that celebrates disciplining unruly children, but when confronted with one they indulge the spoiled brat’s fantasies.
The greater disappointment is the fact that Congress has happily handed the authority over to the President.
Because neither party has the ability the discipline their own I pray for a blue wave.