For those of us struggling to understand today\u2019s Republican Party, this past week\u2019s primary elections in South Carolina offered a useful case study.<\/p>\n
The key developments were these: Rep. Nancy Mace \u2014 a former conservative rising star who seems tailor-made for the Trump-era attention economy \u2014 finished fifth in her state\u2019s Republican primary for governor.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham \u2014 who seems like a relic from an earlier time in the Republican Party \u2014 easily dispatched a wealthy \u201cAmerica First\u201d primary challenger.<\/p>\n
At first glance, none of this makes sense.<\/p>\n
Making matters more confusing, when it comes to the defining \u201cissue\u201d of our time \u2014 Donald Trump \u2014 Graham and Mace have both spent years criticizing him and then crawling back to him.<\/p>\n
Until, that is, one found the door locked.<\/p>\n
In 2026, Graham flourished, while Mace crashed and burned. Every zig and zag that led them here was all about Trump.<\/p>\n
Graham once was one of his fiercest critics. During that first presidential campaign, he called Trump<\/a> a \u201cdemagogue,\u201d \u201cthe world\u2019s biggest jackass\u201d and a \u201crace-baiting xenophobic religious bigot,\u201d just to cite a few of his zingers.<\/p>\n Trump returned fire and famously gave out Graham\u2019s phone number to the public at a campaign event.<\/p>\n The two eventually patched things up, and Graham even got Trump to endorse his 2020 reelection campaign.<\/p>\n That alliance appeared to shatter after the 2021 Capitol riot, however. \u201cTrump and I, we\u2019ve had a hell of a journey,\u201d Graham said on Jan 6<\/a>. \u201cAll I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Enough wasn\u2019t enough, and he wasn\u2019t \u201cout\u201d long.<\/p>\n Graham was promptly confronted by angry Trump supporters at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and was called a traitor. And wouldn\u2019t you know it, before long, Graham was back in the MAGA fold, voting to acquit Trump<\/a> in the Senate impeachment trial.<\/p>\n Since then, Graham has stuck with Trump, and it has paid big dividends.<\/p>\n On paper, Graham isn\u2019t a perfect fit for today\u2019s GOP. He\u2019s a foreign-policy hawk, at a time when that\u2019s no longer necessarily a plus. He was a huge supporter of immigration reform (i.e., amnesty). And in 2020, the hashtag #LadyGraham took off on social media, amplifying a rumor about the moniker that the Washington Post<\/a> said \u201cpurportedly refers to Graham\u2019s nickname among male sex workers.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite all of this, Graham continues to survive \u2014 and thrive \u2014 in Trump\u2019s Republican Party.<\/p>\n Mace\u2019s trajectory was no less circuitous.<\/p>\n Following the Jan. 6 attack, newly sworn-in Rep. Mace declared<\/a> that Trump\u2019s \u201centire legacy\u201d had been \u201cwiped out.\u201d (Like Graham, she declined to support impeachment.)<\/p>\n Trump backed her 2022 primary challenger, calling Mace \u201ccrazy\u201d and a \u201cterrible person<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The day after Trump endorsed her opponent, Mace filmed a fawning video outside Trump Tower,<\/a> describing herself as one of Trump\u2019s \u201cearliest supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n She managed to win, and seemed committed to going hard MAGA. And it seemed to work. Until it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n So why was Graham able to be rehabilitated, while Mace hit the skids?<\/p>\n There are several important differences.<\/p>\n First, there are certain sins that Trump views as unpardonable. Mace\u2019s downfall can be traced to her decision to sign a discharge petition seeking the release of the Epstein files, which Trump has largely succeeded in keeping secret.<\/p>\n The second reason has to do with the way Mace and Graham view their careers.<\/p>\n Graham\u2019s goal appears to be maintaining relevance and influence \u2014 not fame, not stardom.<\/p>\n In this regard, he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Aside from endorsing Graham\u2019s 2026 reelection, Trump has implausibly embraced Graham\u2019s bellicose stance against Iran.<\/p>\n Compare that with the more erratic and fame-focused Mace, who, earlier this year<\/a>, \u201callegedly instructed a staffer to go on Reddit forums about the \u2018hottest women in Congress\u2019 to boost her standing in the rankings and comment where needed.\u201d<\/p>\n Mace wants to be a star. Graham understands that Trump is always the star.<\/p>\n (Note: When it comes to influence, Graham has the benefit of access, having become a frequent golfing partner of Trump\u2019s. This gave him the kind of face time that House members and women tend to be denied.)<\/p>\n The third major factor was timing.<\/p>\n Mace\u2019s decision to break with Trump over the Epstein files was followed by her voicing concerns about a potential war with Iran. This placed her on the \u201cwrong side\u201d of issues that Trump had turned into loyalty tests.<\/p>\n And this happened at precisely the moment Trump appeared determined to settle scores. Those Republicans who refused to switch from \u201cAmerica First\u201d to \u201cTrump First\u201d included Mace and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Thomas Massie (Ky.).<\/p>\n In politics, timing is everything. Graham and Mace were both playing a game of musical chairs. But while Graham saved his seat early, Mace abandoned hers to run for governor and was caught flat-footed when the music stopped.<\/p>\n Which brings us back to the broader lesson.<\/p>\n The story of Graham and Mace is a stark reminder that Trumpism is a cult of personality.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why the supposedly outdated Republican senator is still standing while the seemingly more MAGA-compatible politician is out of a job.<\/p>\n The big lesson from South Carolina is that in today\u2019s Republican Party, vibes and ideological purity matter less than loyalty \u2014 and loyalty is defined by one man.<\/p>\n Matt K. Lewis is the author of \u201cFilthy Rich Politicians<\/a>\u201d and \u201cToo Dumb to Fail<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For those of us struggling to understand today\u2019s Republican Party, this past week\u2019s primary elections in South Carolina…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":862171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[121739,1582,276,351632,62919,351634,58975,83,2961,224,5337,351633,163467,99938,1054,5620,3036,581,20644,277],"class_list":["post-862170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-america-first","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-early-time","tag-graham","tag-hot-woman","tag-influence","tag-iran","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-loyalty-test","tag-mace","tag-reelection-campaign","tag-republican-party","tag-republicans","tag-south-carolina","tag-star","tag-today","tag-trump"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116737132846349816","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}