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Trump To Rally With Darline Graham Amid GOP Divide; Darline Graham Presses Norman On Big Beautiful Bill Obstruction; Buttigieg To Campaign In South Carolina Alongside Dem House Candidate; Age Debate On Full Display In Massachusetts Senate Primary; Progressive Wins Special Election To Fill Swalwell's Seat; Tina Peters Takes Her Election Conspiracy Roadshow To Washington. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 21, 2026 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @wolfblitzer and @pamelabrowncnn.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: See you back here Monday morning and every weekday morning for two hours at 10 Eastern. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts now.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to Inside Politics. It is, quote, the most powerful endorsement in the history of American politics. That's the White House line. Even as President Trump's backing has had mixed results for recent primaries, a number of Republicans want him to join them on the campaign trail. One question. Is President Trump flexing his political power in places that really need it the most, which brings us to today and South Carolina, a state.

President Trump won by nearly 18 percentage points, and the county he's visiting, Horry County. He won that by nearly 40 percentage points. Tonight, he headlines a rally in that county, Myrtle Beach, to be specific, with Republican Senate candidate Darline Graham. In four days, voters choose between that candidate, Trump-backed Darline Graham, and her rival in the runoff, Congressman Ralph Norman. And whoever wins that will face off with Democrat Annie Andrews in November. Darline Graham's debate performance this week is putting President Trump's endorsement to the test.

And as CNN's Patrick Svitek and Dianne Gallagher report, not every Republican is on board. Patrick Svitek joins me now. Patrick, it's great reporting from you and Dianne. What specifically have you been hearing from Republicans in South Carolina?

PATRICK SVITEK, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yeah. Throughout this race, you've heard, you know, kind of increasing, you know, murmurs about whether Darline Graham is actually ready for a full six-year term in the Senate after being appointed to finish her late brother's current term. And this debate moment that happened on Tuesday, where she said she's not that informed about national security seemed to give people a little more room to speak out more vocally about their concerns and reservations about her readiness for the job.

Some of those people were already supporting her opponent in this runoff, Congressman Ralph Norman, and some of them are people who are neutral in the race or haven't weighed in yet. But it really does feel like that debate flub was a bit of a turning point and getting some Republicans to speak out more candidly about their reservations about her candidacy.

BASH: And Patrick, how has she tried to turn the page in the last few days since that debate?

SVITEK: You know, in all fairness to her, since the start of this race, she's actually been pretty open in that. Unlike her brother, she's going to be more focused on domestic issues, not national security or foreign policy. Of course, that focusing on those issues or being knowledgeable on those issues is the responsibility of a senator.

But she's been saying that for a while, and in response to this debate performance this week, she has said that she will learn about these issues and is willing to learn about these issues. But she's largely doubled down on the idea that she's a working mother, she's going to be more focused on domestic issues.

Let's listen to what she had to say Wednesday at a campaign event in Florence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): As I've walked around this room and I've asked people, are you all concerned about Taiwan? You know what they said? No, they're concerned about the price of groceries, the price of gas, rising healthcare cost. Is national security important? Absolutely. Can I learn? I'm smart. Yes, I'll learn. I'll become informed. Everybody has a first day on the job. President Trump was he a politician? Has he done a good job? Yes, he has.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SVITEK: So, as you see there, you know, she is saying that national security is important. She'll learn about it, but she's not really backing away, you know, from this idea that she is just going to be more focused on domestic issues, which, like I said, is something she's been relatively up front about throughout this special election in South Carolina.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, from the moment she said she was going to run, and she did that on Sean Hannity's show. That's what she said. She said you choose to tell her late brother he's too focused on national security, not enough on affordability issues. Thanks so much for that reporting and thanks for being here, Patrick. I appreciate it.

SVITEK: Thank you.

BASH: And I'm joined here in L.A. today by two terrific reporters. Hello to you both. Elex, I'm going to start with you. I'm just going to read a little bit more of our colleagues reporting this, Patrick and Dianne, about the Darline Graham question and whether he can get her over the finish line.

Trump moved quickly to consolidate GOP support behind Graham after she finished first in the August 11 primary but did not get enough of the vote to avoid a runoff. Trump called at least two of her opponents that night, Representative Russell Fry and former Governor Mark Sanford, and asked them to endorse her. According to the sources familiar with the calls, the results were mixed.

[12:05:00]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR, "THE STORY IS WITH ELEX MICHAELSON": Well, Sanford endorsed Norman today as part of that story. Look, I think two things are true, President Trump's endorsement really matters, and he's incredibly popular with the Republican base. In South Carolina, he's at plus 80 percent with the Republican base, but at the same time, his endorsement is not as popular as it once was.

I mean, he has more primary losses this year alone than he did in 2018, 2020, 2024 combined, and so he doesn't quite have the juice the way he once did. But that being said, if you're in a Republican primary in South Carolina, a state he almost won by 20 points, it's still good to have President Trump on your side.

BASH: Seema?

SEEMA MEHTA, POLITICAL REPORTER, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Absolutely. And I mean, I think it's really interesting that this is one of his like sort of first big events and, you know, campaign events in recent months because I think Republicans in some other parts of the country are like saying, you know, we could use your help in some tighter races like in perhaps in Texas, perhaps in North Carolina, Alaska, you ,know that kind of thing.

So, I think it's really interesting that he's going to South Carolina, given that it is such an overwhelmingly Republican state. But I also think it really shows his relationship with the late Senator Lindsey Graham and how tight they were. I mean, you know, if you recall during the 2015-2016 presidential election, they were not really friends, but they really grew incredibly close. He was, you know, a huge ally, confidant, and I think, you know, his going to South Carolina for, you know, the late senator's sister is just a show of that sort of loyalty to the late senator.

BASH: I will never forget being in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and watching President Trump give out Lindsey Graham's phone number live on television and that was kind of the zenith of their -- of their dislike for each other, and then of course that changed a lot.

MICHAELSON: Well, and President Trump is not necessarily known for loyalty, and not necessarily known for sort of a transactional relationship, but this says something about maybe his loyalty towards Lindsey Graham that he feels that way.

BASH: Yeah. And it is also noteworthy that Darline Graham had no intention of doing anything other than being a caretaker for the rest of her brother's term, and then after that meeting that she had with President Trump, she decided to run. Let's look at a little bit more. We've all seen in her the Taiwan question that she said, she didn't know the answer too, but there was a lot more of this debate. Let's look at one example that is more focused on domestic issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: It's kind of ironic when you talk about the Big Beautiful Bill because it's my understanding that you were the holdout on the Big Beautiful Bill, and Trump had to call you in and convince you to sign it.

REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): It wasn't anything like what you're talking about. It was -- he said, what are you holding it up for? I said, well, the subsidies for electric cars are dumb. The subsidies for passive solar and wind are stupid. I was cutting it out, and we made it better. He agreed. And so, we got it passed. And I would do that over again. I don't apologize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, that was obviously a question and a topic that he was ready for to sort of inject his own point of view in there, but it does speak to kind of what flavor of Republican is going to come out of South Carolina. If Democrats win, if the Democratic challenger wins South Carolina, Republicans are going to have a whole different kind of problem, if you look at the map.

MICHAELSON: Right.

BASH: So, the expectation is that whomever wins this runoff will be the next senator from South Carolina, unless something crazy happens. And Ralph Norman, he endorsed Nikki Haley during the 2024 election, and he has been a kind of Tea Party thorn in Donald Trump's side in that he is a more traditional, don't spend so much conservative.

MEHTA: Well, yeah. I mean we're seeing like sort of the two different flavors or the two competing factions in the Republican Party, you know, take place right here. And I also think -- one thing that's interesting is if you compare Darline Graham and Lindsey Graham, you know, he was very national security focused because of his background, you know, in the military. I mean, she is much more focused on, you know, domestic issues, you know, affordability, cost of living, that kind of thing, you know, as a mother.

And in selection, I mean, I feel like when you talk to voters, that is just such a dominant, you know, concern. Like, they're so, you know, how much does it cost to fill up my gas tank? How much does it cost to, you know, to put food on the table? So, I think, you know, may -- you know, I think it'll be interesting to see how that argument, you know, resonates with voters in South Carolina.

MICHAELSON: It's impossible to see her breaking with President Trump very often, right? I mean, that's a vote you're got for whatever you want to do, and Ralph Norman clearly is not. And if he goes through this without having the Trump endorsement, he's going to have even more independents potentially in the United States Senate when Donald Trump is going to be more of a lame duck.

BASH: Yeah. Let's move to the Democratic side and talk about another visitor to South Carolina today, Pete Buttigieg. He is going to go and campaign with Nancy Lacore, who's a retired rear admiral running in South Carolina, won a House race there to replace Nancy Mace, and who's leaving Congress.

[12:10:00]

And South Carolina, of course, we now know since last weekend officially -- was it last weekend? I think it was officially. Who knows? The Democrats made South Carolina the first in the nation primary for the 2028 season. And Pete Buttigieg, we remember back in 2020, he did quite well in what was then the first in the nation caucus in Iowa, a very different demographic.

MICHAELSON: Sure.

BASH: And if you look at, we have some examples of other states where he competed in 2020. Iowa, he got second place, New Hampshire second place, Nevada third, South Carolina fourth, and a big part of the challenge that Buttigieg admittedly has had is with Democratic voters of color.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. Well, yeah. Let's -- what's the through line there?

BASH: Exactly.

MICHAELSON: White people for the first ones. I mean, there was that famous poll where Pete Buttigieg got zero support among black voters, like zero, and South Carolina, the dominant force there is African American women. That's what gave Joe Biden the presidential election essentially in 2020.

And so, when you saw that announcement of South Carolina, there's no doubt that the biggest loser of that announcement was Pete Buttigieg because -- and the biggest winner potentially Kamala Harris if she ends up getting in the race. We've seen Gavin Newsom already in South Carolina many times, already beginning there.

So, if Pete Buttigieg cannot get black support in a state like South Carolina, it's almost impossible to see a path for him to become the Democratic nominee, which is why he's already investing time there. But we'll see if they're able to warm up to him or not.

MEHTA: But I think we need to remember in 2020, Joe Biden's campaign was not doing so well, and then James Clyburn coming out for Joe Biden in South Carolina. I mean, he's so well respected. I mean, just in that state among the state's voters, Democratic voters, that made a huge difference. I mean, I know that Pete Buttigieg didn't do as well there, but I can't -- I don't think we can understate how much of this was because of James Clyburn coming out for Joe Biden.

MICHAELSON: But Joe Biden was also the vice president to the first black president, right?

MEHTA: Right, right.

MICHAELSON: So, he had some support there already that had been built in for many years, and Pete Buttigieg has clearly a lot of work to do.

BASH: We'll see what happens in this visit. All right, up next. Can an 80-year-old Democrat fend off a much younger primary challenger? That's the question in the party's next big Senate battle. Plus, RFK Jr.'s new cooking show promotes healthy recipes that cost under $5 a serving. Did the numbers add up?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: The Democrats' next big primary battle is less than two weeks away, and it's putting the party's debate over generational change on full display. 80-year-old Senator Ed Markey is fighting to hold on to his seat in the very blue state of Massachusetts. His Democratic challenger is 47-year-old Congressman Seth Moulton. Here's how the age question played out in their debate last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): I'm running against the senator's decision after 50 years in Washington to run for another term at age 80.

SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA): I'm more energized than I've ever been before in my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Markey, do you personally use AI platforms like Claude or ChatGPT in your work?

MARKEY: I use whatever is inside of my iPhone and my iPad, whatever comes up, and I don't know what companies my iPad might be using.

MOULTON: With all due respect, Senator, if you don't even know what you're using on your phone or your iPad like this is why we need a new generation of leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Seema, what was your takeaway from that?

MEHTA: I think this is something we're seeing across the country in terms of this debate about how about generational change. Do we need generational change? And it's -- I think it so varies when you look at the various senators. And we all saw what happened with Senator Feinstein and her decline, you know, we don't -- you know, what was going on with Mitch McConnell. But then again, Chuck Grassley was like running several miles a day, like until very recently.

I mean, you know, so it's -- I think each person is different. But this idea of generational change, as well as who in this race, who is really the true progressive. You know, they both have various, you know, positions they've taken that some, you know, would argue are as progressive, some would argue. I mean, there was something that Seth Moulton said about transgender youth that he has taken back or apologized for.

So, it's sort of the two -- it's the two things we're seeing in races, you know, who can out progress of who, you know, sort of with this -- when we see the Democratic socialists of America versus center left candidates. And the question of generational change and what is too how old is too old?

BASH: Right. And the question of generational change and whether or not the Democrat is progressive enough. Are, you know, the two big forces right now, and progressive obviously means different things to different people and in different races. But Ed Markey in this case is not like -- it's not like he's the older moderate. He is older -- and he is somebody who is a widely respected senator for his progressive values and ideas. And it's Seth Moulton who tends to be more on the moderate side.

[12:20:00]

Ed Markey had a similar challenge in 2020. This challenge was from somebody who had the gold standard of names in Massachusetts and that was Joe Kennedy. And Ed Markey smoked him. I mean, it wasn't even close. And Kennedy was running on similar ideas and ideals that it's time for somebody new. And at the time, you know, Markey was what so six years ago. He was 74 years old. So, this is still a debate going on, and it just -- it's not a cut and dry thing given the fact that Markey appears to be still very popular among Democrats statewide.

MICHAELSON: Well, and we saw this with Bernie Sanders when he was running for president, was the cool young person thing as he was sort of old and frumpy and doing his thing out on the campaign trail, the mitt in. And then people loved him because they liked his progressive ideals, which felt more young than some of the older people or younger people who may had more moderate positions. So that's where you can see some of this, this difference outlined.

But then you also think about the age issue in terms of -- he's 80 and he's got a lot of energy now. But as we've seen some folks when they get into their 80s. If they have a bad year or two, they can age real fast. We saw that with Joe Biden. We saw that with Dianne Feinstein. We've seen that with Mitch McConnell. And so, the idea of an 86-year- old senator is that something Massachusetts wants. It looks like they may want it.

BASH: Yeah. I just -- I still remember interviewing Dianne Feinstein in San Francisco, talking to her about whether she was going to run again, and she said, yep, my old bean is doing just fine. And then, sadly, it changed. It didn't take away from what she had done here in California.

Speaking of the San Francisco area. There was a special election here last night up in the East Bay, and the progressive won there in this special election. Aisha Wahab got 53.1 percent of the vote, Melissa Hernandez 46.9 percent. On your show last night, Elex, you spoke with Aisha Wahab. Let's watch part of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Should AIPAC be afraid of you in Congress? And do you support U.S. taxpayer funding weapons for Israel?

AISHA WAHAB, (D) CALIFORNIA CONG.-ELECT: No, I don't support weapons going out of this country. I think that there's a time and place for war, but just needless war is unnecessary, and I've been very clear about that. I believe in human rights across the board --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Just want to clarify that what I said about the results last night was accurate, 53 percent. That graphic was a little bit off.

MICHAELSON: Well, no, no. So that graphic was correct in that it showed what happened in the first round and that's part of the story here.

BASH: Right.

MICHAELSON: So, in the first round, Aisha Wahab wins big, jump by like 26 points. Then they narrow down the field. They do a run-up. Well, what changes between the two? AIPAC gets involved and gives millions of dollars to her opponent, Melissa Hernandez, because Aisha Wahab had said that she believes that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. You just heard her there saying, she doesn't support more military funding for Israel.

And so that became a big part of this race. As we've seen it become a big part of these races around the country. Israel has become such an important part of the election. Despite all that, Aisha Wahab continues on. She's now going to be filling the remainder of the seat, but there's another round coming in November. The same two candidates are going to be facing off for the full term.

And one thing to make it even more complicated in this whole thing is that we had redistricting, so the race that she just ran is actually a different race than the --

BASH: Eric Swalwell's old seat.

MICHAELSON: The Eric Swalwell's old seat, which is changing. And so, it's not all the same people that are going to be voting in November.

BASH: You guys don't make it easy here in California.

MICHAELSON: No, we don't. And the counting, I'm amazed that we have a result a few days later.

BASH: You guys need to call Florida and say, Florida, can you please give us, how you do it? MICHAELSON: Yeah, that's a good message for Gavin Newsom. Why don't you tell him that? You can learn a thing or two from Ron DeSantis and see how that works, yeah, yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

MEHTA: You know, I think it's a really interesting to watch the role of AIPAC, the power of AIPAC, and how it's changing in Democratic politics across the country. And also, I mean, the issue of Israel, and we've seen this in the last presidential, like Michigan, you know, contests like that. So, with the continuing problems, you know, in the Middle East, our involvement there, you know, service members are still dying there. This is -- it's a huge flashpoint, I think, for the -- to get which Democratic Party. It's like a crossroads.

BASH: Yeah, it definitely is at a crossroads. Thank you both. Don't go anywhere from behind bars to behind Washington's velvet ropes. Convicted felon Tina Peters is taking her election conspiracy theories on the road and it's leading her straight to Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: It's an election conspiracy roadshow driven by one of the most notable convicted 2020 election deniers, newly released Tina Peters. Her post-prison agenda, a plan to invoke emergency powers and assert unprecedented federal control over elections before the midterms. And Peters has already had several high-level pitch meetings from the White House just weeks after her June prison release to more recent meetings with the justice and commerce departments.

CNN's Marshall Cohen is behind this new reporting and joins us now. Marshall, how much does Peters really influence these decisions and her ideas, particularly given the fact that she's preaching to the converted here?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, she's definitely got a lot of access. The question of influence is something we're going to find out