Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Trump scrambles to save SC Senate pick after debate gaffe

Transcript

Trump scrambles to save SC Senate pick after debate gaffe · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're looking at live pictures out of South Carolina where
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the President is scrambling to save his handpaked picked replacement
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: for Senator Lindsay Graham. Now, this is all ahead of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: next week's runoff. Trump's choice is Graham's sister, Darlene Now.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: She was backed by Trump to run for her late
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: brother's seat despite having never run for office or held
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: any kind of elected office, a decision that sparked outrage
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: from some Republicans, including a lot of senior ones in
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: South Carolina, who are backing her primary opponent, longtime South
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Carolina Republican Ralph Norman. And tonight, Trump is trying to
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: help darn Graham clean up this gaff.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Our Taiwan and the South China seat. National security issues
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: for the United States, and if so, lie or how,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to be honest to here. I'm not
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: on national security that I'm not that informed on national security.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: So but I do support the military. My brother was
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: in the air work for thirty three years, so I
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: will do everything I can to support the military.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, the headlines were fast and furious after that
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: response Senator Darley and Graham implodes, I'm not that informed.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: National security is not my thing. National security trips up
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Senator Darlene Graham. So Graham was aware she had some
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: cleanup to do. So the next day she goes on
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Fox News Sean Hannity.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: So, this issue of Taiwan came up last night, and
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: I know people have made a big deal about it,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, I wonder how many people around the country,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: if I gave them a map could pick out Taiwan.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: I don't think many, and not just as I mean
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: the whole country, never mind South Carolina.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Right, I think you're one hundred percent, right, Sean.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: So there is someone, of course who knows where Taiwan is.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: That was Darlene Graham's brother, the late Senator Lindsay Graham.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Foreign policy was the center of his entire career. And
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: here's the thing, when you know you heard that back
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: and forth, all most people can't find Taiwan. Okay, it
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: was not that long ago that some of the very
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: same people backing Darlene Graham now had a real problem
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: with Congresswoman Alexandria Casio Cortes's answer to a question about Taiwan.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: This was just back in February, would and should the
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: US actually commit US troops to defend Taiwan if China
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: were to move.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: You know, I think that this is such a you know,
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: I think that this is a This is of course
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: a very long standing policy of the United States.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Obviously a lot of hesitation there, and while it was
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: seized by some, including Trump and Vance, who had a
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: lot to say about her answer, Well, her.
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: Performance was horrible. I was surprised that exc I didn't
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: as she was stupid because she had no idea. I
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: don't think she knew what Taiwan was. That was not
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: a good answer. Could be death defied because I suspect
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: that will be used in every campaign for the next
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: thirty years against sir. It was not a good one.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Peter, what do you think that was embarrassing?
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: If I had given that answer, I would say, you
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: know what, maybe ought to go read a book about
• 3:29
  Speaker 6: China and Taiwan before I go out on the world
• 3:31
  Speaker 6: stage again.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: And the very same Sean Hannity who gave DARLINGE. Cart
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Graham cover this week saying you know, well, people don't
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: know where Taiwan is and all that said this back
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: in February, after AOC's comments.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Prodigal squad leader AOC simply could not answer basic questions
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: about global affairs.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Well, Sean Hannity of course was right at the time.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: It is important to be able to answer questions about
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: global affairs if you want to be in Congress or
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: you want to be in the Senate. It's just a
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: gating factor. Just have to be able to do it.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: But I guess the standards have changed. And now, just
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: before leaving for South Carolina, President Trump previewed his defense
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: tonight of Graham.
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: Well, she was is being honest. She's very smart, and
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: she was being honest. I mean, she's into the price
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: of groceries, the price of food, the price of beef,
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: and it's not it hasn't been her thing. But she's
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: surrounded by very good people. And she said that she's
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: totally for the military.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: So Trump is saying other issues, not national security, are
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: her thing, even though of course he himself scoffs when
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: the price of groceries and affordability comes up. But Graham
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: did try to pivot to red meat issues when she
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: was talking to Handy this week. Right, you know, not
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: so much national security, don't worry about worry about this.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Of course, Taiwan is our friend. But I think people
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: in South Carolina are more worried about making ends made.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: They're concerned about boys and girls sports.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: They're concerned about boys and girls sports. Okay, we just
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: take a step back here and just say we're talking
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: about South Carolina. That's where she wants to be a senator.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: And in South Carolina there has been a ban on
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: transgender athletes from participating in school sports CADA twelve since
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: May of twenty twenty two. Can't do it to the NCAA.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: So this is actually not an issue that anything could
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: be done about by the senator from South Carolina in
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the state of South Carolina. In fact, that was just
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: given a seal of approval by the Supreme Court when
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: it determined similar laws in two other states did not
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: violate federal civil rights laws. So Darling Graham is into
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: an issue that literally isn't an issue in her state.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: What does endorsement from him mean for Graham right now?
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: Well, while his record is mixed about his candidates that
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: he endorses getting through primaries of late, let's not underestimate
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: the remaining power of President Trump's endorsement, especially in a
• 6:02
  Speaker 6: deep red state like South Carolina. So it is no
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: doubt helpful, very helpful, maybe dispositive for Senator Graham as
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: she tries to win this primary.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: So, Bakari, you sit here as a lifelong South Carolinian,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: how do you see Trump's endorsement working? Is is this
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: going to got her over the line?
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: Well, I mean, I think we have to look at
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: at history. I mean I appreciate the governor governor plenty
• 6:29
  Speaker 7: because he does state something that is actually very true,
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: that Donald Trump's endorsement within the Republican Party, it still
• 6:36
  Speaker 7: rings loudly. However, in South Carolina. The most recent history
• 6:39
  Speaker 7: is he endorsed Pamela Abbott, our lieutenant governor right now,
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: for governor, and she got beat. She got beat beat
• 6:45
  Speaker 7: soundly in the runoff by our Alan Wilson, our attorney general.
• 6:51
  Speaker 7: He wanted redistricting in South Carolina, and he lost that badly.
• 6:55
  Speaker 7: In fact, Republicans rejected that. And so he's over too
• 6:59
  Speaker 7: right now and on the precipice of being zero for three.
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: The debate actually is something that people are still talking
• 7:06
  Speaker 7: about today because it reinforced the fact that many people
• 7:11
  Speaker 7: appreciate Darlene and Graham. We love her and we love
• 7:15
  Speaker 7: the relationship she had with her brother, and we appreciate
• 7:18
  Speaker 7: the fact that she's grieving. But there are many people
• 7:20
  Speaker 7: who just don't like the nepotism, don't like the fact
• 7:23
  Speaker 7: that because you're someone's brother, you can just be a
• 7:27
  Speaker 7: United States senator for six years. They're people who are
• 7:30
  Speaker 7: rejecting that notion out.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Right, which is interesting in the context of all the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: discussion about corruption and nepotism right that it might be
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: playing out at levels like this. I mean, we'll see.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, Governor, when I played a few moments ago
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the comments that Darlee and Graham made about national security
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: and Taiwan during the debate, I want to play again,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: just the contrast here what Trump said about Darlene Graham
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: at the debate when she talked about Taiwan, and what
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Trump said about AOC when she blundered on Taiwan.
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: Well, she was being honest. She's a very smart and
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: she was being honest. Her performance was horrible. I was
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: surprised to excited students.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Governor, does anybody care about hypocrisy like that anymore? Anybody,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: anybody voting, anybody or public care that that, you know,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: those two things simply can't both be true.
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: Well, some people probably do, but we've become so inoculated
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: against double standards in politics. I'm not sure that's going
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: to be the decisive factor in this race, and the
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: double standard part of it, but let's let's be candid. Also,
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: there are people in Congress who come to Congress as
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: foreign policy, national defense, and security experts, or they become
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: that over the course of time. But you're seeing n
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: viewer should know that most members of Congress come with
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: very little or no experience in those categories and they
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: have to develop it. And so, yes, she should have
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: been briefed by her campaign staff. She should have come
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: to that debate better.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Pace as a senator.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but she even as a senator.
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: People are want outsiders. So when you get outsiders and
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: they're not from a national security or foreign policy background,
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: you're going to get people without.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Experience in these realms.
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: And I think that's understandable to a point, but that
• 9:10
  Speaker 6: doesn't excuse the fact she should have been better prepared.
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: But she did answer the question honestly, and to your
• 9:15
  Speaker 6: point erin of course, there's a double standard as applied
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: to the examples you provided