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'Objectively B.S.' Steele shares how voters view claims from election deniers · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: With our elections on the line, I want to bring
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: in former CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta, host
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of the Jim Acosta Show on substack, my friend Michael Steele,
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  Speaker 1: co host of the Weeknight on ms NOW, the former
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: RNC chair and ms NOW as Michael Schanell is in
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: South Carolina covering the Republican runoff to replace Lindsay Graham.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Is a panelful of friends with Michael, I miss you
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: so much. It is so good to see you, And
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I was wondering as I watched these results come in.
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  Speaker 1: If you were running the RNC right now, how would
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  Speaker 1: you feel about this late of Republican candidates.
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  Speaker 2: I wouldn't feel good because I think the reality of
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: it is, for any party, you want as little extra
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  Speaker 2: noise as possible around your candidates. You don't want them
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: to be perceived by the public as being against their
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: interest or somehow obstructing the processes. When you have individuals
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: on the ballot that have been very clear on the
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  Speaker 2: record that they are you know, they believe the twenty
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: twenty election was stolen. They believe that there's corruption and
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  Speaker 2: you know, fraud within the electoral system that goes counter
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  Speaker 2: to the experience of voters. The one thing about all
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  Speaker 2: of this conversation around our elections is the experience of voters.
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  Speaker 2: Have voters actively outwardly complained about the system. Have there
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: been protests in lines in the interim about or after
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  Speaker 2: an election by voters saying that this system is fraught
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  Speaker 2: with problems. No, so when you have people who kind
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  Speaker 2: of leveled up in a political context, it is objectively
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  Speaker 2: bs for a lot of voters.
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  Speaker 3: And so it'll be interesting to see now. And remember you're.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Talking about Republican primaries and who turns out in a
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  Speaker 2: Republican primary, and Lisa, you know, you're looking at the
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  Speaker 2: far edges of the party in that regard.
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  Speaker 3: But when that.
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  Speaker 2: Person then has to stand against a you know, conscientious,
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  Speaker 2: you know, straightforward opponent in the general election, that's where
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  Speaker 2: it becomes a real problem for the party because that
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  Speaker 2: candidate will more than likely live.
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  Speaker 1: I would add to that, Jim, if you were the Democrat,
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  Speaker 1: you make the argument, this person isn't focused on affordability,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: this person isn't focused on getting us out of Donald
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Trump's war of choice with Iran. They are focused on
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  Speaker 1: solving a problem that does not exist.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I mean, as I've been saying on my show,
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  Speaker 4: and I think Michael.
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  Speaker 3: Probably agrees with this to some ch I mean, the party.
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  Speaker 4: Is Trump, and Trump is the party, and you have
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: to be an election denier almost you know, across the
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  Speaker 4: board in order to get his endorsement. I mean, look
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  Speaker 4: what happened with Mike Lindell. I mean, Mike Lindell is
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  Speaker 4: screaming about voter regularities in a GOP primary. That just
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  Speaker 4: about made my head explode when I saw that last night.
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  Speaker 4: And then you laid down on your my pillow and
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  Speaker 4: then I said, I don Mike, no, but you know.
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  Speaker 4: And then the other thing is you have to look
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  Speaker 4: at what Donald Trump was just doing yesterday. In addition
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  Speaker 4: to saying go out and vote for Mike Lindell, he
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  Speaker 4: was going on in a conservative talk show with I
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  Speaker 4: think Wayne Allen Root is something like that, his name
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  Speaker 4: is something like that, and was talking about how he
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  Speaker 4: might declare a national emergency before the midterms this fall.
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  Speaker 4: This is this is the conversation inside today's Republican Party.
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  Speaker 4: I would love to go back and cover the Republican
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  Speaker 4: Party of Michael Steele. I enjoyed covering that Republican Mitt
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  Speaker 4: Romney I was out in the campaign. That's not the
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  Speaker 4: Republican Party we have right.
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  Speaker 3: Now, Michael Steele.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, here's where the rubber hits the road.
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  Speaker 3: Just as like, let's walk through this.
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  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty, Donald Trump tries to call into Georgia, say
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: just find me some more votes. What happens if he
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  Speaker 1: does have an election denier in the governor's mansion in
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  Speaker 1: a place like Wisconsin, and he gives them a call
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  Speaker 1: and says, find me the vote, and the person is
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  Speaker 1: willing to do it, willing to carry his water.
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  Speaker 2: What then it is the ultimate corruption of the process
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  Speaker 2: in the system.
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  Speaker 3: It is.
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  Speaker 2: Profoundly antithetical to what the citizens of that state decided,
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  Speaker 2: and that then becomes a problem for that governor.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, these things don't happen in a vacuum.
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  Speaker 2: You know, if in twenty ten, excuse me, in twenty twenty,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Raffensberger and others decided, okay, we'll play with
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump, you cannot discount the outrage from the citizenry
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  Speaker 2: and the voters out there when hearing that that text
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  Speaker 2: or hearing those tapes then realize that their governor cheated,
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  Speaker 2: stole the votes, from them. That's going to be a
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  Speaker 2: real impact on the state. And so what you're seeing
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  Speaker 2: here very much to Jim's point about the party that
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  Speaker 2: I ran and the party now is the party now
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  Speaker 2: is all about seeding that chaos if it doesn't get
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  Speaker 2: it get its way. It's all about feeding that beast.
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  Speaker 2: That beast is Donald Trump at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 2: giving him what he wants. But there are consequences for that.
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  Speaker 2: We see some of that play out already in what
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  Speaker 2: thirty some elections that you and I covered together, at
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  Speaker 2: least in over the last two years that Democrats have
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  Speaker 2: won and Republicans have lost because the voters ultimately are
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  Speaker 2: clued into what's happening and they give their response at
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  Speaker 2: the ballot box, and you try to take that away
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  Speaker 2: from them, it becomes a problem.
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  Speaker 3: So, yeah, you go ahead and play that.
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  Speaker 2: Game if you want a Republican governor, but the reality
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  Speaker 2: of it is you will have to account for it
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  Speaker 2: with those voters. And that's something that the Republican legislature,
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  Speaker 2: the Republican county executives, and other republic officials in the
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  Speaker 2: state don't want to have to pay the price for.
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  Speaker 1: Well, especially as Democrats start to sharpen their messaging. Unless
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  Speaker 1: you had David Crowley calling out Tiffany on the election issue.
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  Speaker 1: Take a listen to what he said.
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  Speaker 5: We all want safe communities, strong schools, affordable health care,
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  Speaker 5: good paying jobs, and a brighter future for all of
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  Speaker 5: our children. One of us has something much bigger to
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  Speaker 5: unite around, and that is keeping mega extremism from bringing
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  Speaker 5: the chaos we see in Washington into our neighborhood. Is
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: right here in the state of Wisconsin. Tom Tiffany stood
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  Speaker 5: with those who tried to overturn a free and fair
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  Speaker 5: presidential election instead of defending our democracy.
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  Speaker 1: You talk to polsters or people who conduct focus groups,
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  Speaker 1: and one of the things they'll tell you that shows
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  Speaker 1: up over and over again is this idea of Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump ran on the promise of restoring order. He saw
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  Speaker 1: that often through the prism of the US Mexico border.
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  Speaker 1: But there was this idea that he tried to sell
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  Speaker 1: that America was in chaos. He is now the chaos.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's interesting that you see democrats jiu
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  Speaker 1: jitsuing that message.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, totally. I mean, I think democrats, you know, did
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  Speaker 4: themselves a huge favor in Wisconsin last night. I mean,
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: I love Thanksgiving everybody. It's my favorite holiday, food and football.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, woke one was crazy.
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  Speaker 4: Woke one was crazy. And you know, but here's the thing.
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  Speaker 4: The thing that needs to be said too, is they've
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  Speaker 4: been playing this on a loop on Fox News. I mean,
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: lour Ingram was saying, they're coming after your four oh
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  Speaker 4: one k They're coming after this, They're coming after that.
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  Speaker 4: I was waiting for her to say, they're coming after
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  Speaker 4: your little dog too. You know, they've been portraying what's
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  Speaker 4: happening in the Democratic Party right now is just sort
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  Speaker 4: of this infestation of communism. And look what happened in
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  Speaker 4: Wisconsin last night. I think Democrats understand the assignment. And
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: you know, you look at what's happening on the on
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  Speaker 4: the flip side, on the Republican side of the aisle.
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  Speaker 4: You as you've been saying over the last several minutes,
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  Speaker 4: they put up election denier after election denier after election denier,
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  Speaker 4: and Donald Trump is less popular now than when I
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  Speaker 4: covered him in twenty eighteen, and that disastrous midterm cycle
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  Speaker 4: that he had in twenty eighteen, right before they threw
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  Speaker 4: away my press pass because they were so pissed off
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  Speaker 4: he's heading into a worse cycle than that right now.
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  Speaker 4: And so, of course, I mean, this is what they
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  Speaker 4: this is all they have right now is to call
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  Speaker 4: Democrats communists. But I mean, as John Ossoff a communist,
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  Speaker 4: is James tallergo communist. Crowley is obviously not a socialist,
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  Speaker 4: a democratic socialist, even by that stretch. And so, you know,
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  Speaker 4: I think Democrats understand what they need to do heading
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  Speaker 4: into these mid terms, and it's just not as bad
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  Speaker 4: as what they're saying on Fox. It just isn't and
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  Speaker 4: it's not.
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  Speaker 3: Going to be that way.
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  Speaker 1: Let's also think about what is happening in South Carolina.
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  Speaker 1: Michael Show, you've been covering the GOP runoff with Lindsay
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  Speaker 1: Graham's sister Darlene Graham and Congressman Ralph Norman. This isn't
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  Speaker 1: a fight that Republicans were expecting to have.
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  Speaker 6: Michael, No, Alicia, nothing about this situation was expected for Republicans.
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  Speaker 6: But here we are. As you mentioned, this is now
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  Speaker 6: going to a runoff between Senator Darlene Graham and Congressman
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  Speaker 6: Ralph Norman. Graham, of course, is the sister of the
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  Speaker 6: late Senator Lindsay Graham, who passed away a month ago,
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  Speaker 6: Ralph Norman, a conservative Republican who's been serving in Congress
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  Speaker 6: since twenty seventeen. This runoff set to take place on
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  Speaker 6: August twenty fifth. Now, in a way, the way this
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  Speaker 6: shook out was expected. Graham had the endorsement of President
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  Speaker 6: Trump in addition to this famous last name. Here in
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  Speaker 6: South Carolina, Ralph Norman is just coming off of a
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  Speaker 6: campaign for governor, so for months he had been crisscrossing
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  Speaker 6: the state talking to dozens hundreds of voters and talking
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: them about their needs and their concerns. But there are
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  Speaker 6: still a number of questions of just how the next
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  Speaker 6: two weeks will play out. The biggest one is where
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  Speaker 6: do the supporters of the other candidates in this race go.
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  Speaker 6: There were a total of ten Republicans running, including Congressman
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  Speaker 6: Russell Frye, a MAGA conservative, and former Governor Mark Sandford,
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  Speaker 6: who was sort of gangling himself as more of an
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  Speaker 6: independent moderate candidate. Where those voters go is going to
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  Speaker 6: be key to determining how this runoff shakes out. And
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  Speaker 6: then the second one is the Trump factor. Yes, President
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  Speaker 6: Trump did endorse Darlene Graham, but she only won last
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  Speaker 6: night by about eight percentage points, which is not a
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  Speaker 6: large margin by any means when you're talking about somebody
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  Speaker 6: backed by President Trump. And then when you add to
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  Speaker 6: the conversation the fact that sixty percent, more than sixty
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  Speaker 6: percent of South Carolina Republicans sided with somebody else. They
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  Speaker 6: voted for someone else other than Darlene Graham. So President
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  Speaker 6: Trump commented on this race last night. He said he's
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: sticking with Graham. Take a listen to what he had
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  Speaker 6: to say. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I mean, just
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  Speaker 6: so you understand, I like the other people.
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  Speaker 3: Of the race.
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  Speaker 4: Also, they're all trump I mean, they were all Trumpers.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, I endorsed her. I think she's great.
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  Speaker 1: It's really in honor of her brother, and she's really
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: a very smart woman.
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  Speaker 6: Now, Alicia, this is notable the outcome of last night's
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: of primary, because in a few weeks ago there was
• 10:32
  Speaker 6: the governor's race here in South Carolina, and South Carolina
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: voters showed a bit of an independent street. Yes, President
• 10:37
  Speaker 6: Trump's initially endorsed candidate advanced to the runoff, but then
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: she actually lost. Now, it did come after President Trump
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: offered one of those dual endorsements, saying he didn't care
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: who won it the end of the day, but it
• 10:49
  Speaker 6: was his initially endorsed candidate who did not win. We'll
• 10:52
  Speaker 6: see if that's a repeat with the South Carolina special
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: primary here, but again, it was a sprint to primary
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: day yesterday. Now it's going to be another sprint for
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: two weeks to that runoff set for August twenty fifth.