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Canada To Enact Retaliatory Tariffs On Hundreds Of American Goods; Trump-Backed Darline Graham Faces Rep. Ralph Norman In SC Runoff; Trump Tests Political Power In SC With Darline Graham Backing; Trump Endorsement Might Tested In Oklahoma Gov. GOP Runoff; Supreme Court Backs Trump On Mail Ballots Ahead Of Midterms; El-Sayed Distances Himself From Left-Wing Streamer Hasan Piker. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 25, 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]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to Inside Politics. I'm Dana Bash. And the breaking news we start with is that it is official. Canada just laid out its sweeping retaliatory tariffs up to 50 percent on hundreds of American products. It's the latest move in what's quickly becoming a full-out trade war between the United States and its northern neighbor.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House. Kevin, President Trump spent the morning lashing out at Canada.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, he did. There's no sign that the president is backing off this trade war. He called the country entitled. He said that he deals with many countries, but that Canada is easily the most difficult and unreasonable. And he even floated changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. He wrote on Truth Social that he was quote, giving it serious consideration.

He wanted to change the name because he doesn't expect doing much business with Ontario for much longer, and it didn't take very long between when he posted that and when someone in the White House came up with this map with the Lake Ontario crossed out and red, and Lake America written, perhaps unsurprisingly, in gold letters. And so, no signs at this point that the president is backing off. This kind of contains echoes of the president trying to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America that wasn't recognized by Mexico, and it's almost certain Canada isn't going to recognize the name change to Lake America.

We heard yesterday from the vice president and the treasury secretary saying that perhaps negotiations with Canada could get back on track soon. But what the prime minister Mark Carney has said is that he won't sit back down with the United States while they have quote, the wrong attitude. And of course, we just saw this morning Canada announcing new tariffs on 700 American products. Those retaliation for what the president announced earlier this week, Dana.

BASH: And to say that Canada is the most difficult country to deal with, particularly when he's at war with Iran, is an interesting statement for sure. Kevin, thank you so much for that reporting. Turning to our other top political story today. Republicans are voting in South Carolina in the Senate primary runoff between interim Senator Darline Graham, the sister of late Senator Lindsey Graham, and Congressman Ralph Norman.

President Trump has thrown all of his political weight behind Darline Graham. He pushed for her appointment to serve out the remainder of her brother's term that encouraged her to run for the full six-year term, and now it's money. His super PAC, MAGA Inc. which has been kind of sitting on $400 million, spent 827,000 supporting her. The president also traveled to South Carolina to make an in-person plea to his base.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: So, what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. Just come and vote. It's so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Let's go straight to South Carolina, where CNN's Dianne Gallagher is on the ground talking to voters. Dianne, what are you hearing?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dana, the voters are voting. It's finally here. Yet another election in the state of South Carolina, and it sounds cliche, but this is a runoff for a special primary. So, it really is going to come down to turn out here. I'm going to let Andy go inside and let you take a peek in this polling place where there are four different precincts. I'm going to sit out here and talk about politics of Ralph Norman versus Darline Graham.

Now, the winner will take on Annie Andrews, the Democrat, in November. But the big question here is, will Trump's endorsement and that engaged support for Darline Graham be enough to push her over the finish line, despite the concerns from Republicans here about a lack of detail in her platform, that shaky debate performance. And also, as one strategist said to me, the fact that they don't really know that much about her. What has come up over and over again is the word experience or a lack thereof, and we talked to voters today about their own choices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIELLE STROUPE, SOUTH CAROLINA VOTER: Ralph Norman.

GALLAGHER: Why?

STROUPE: Because when I watched the debate, Darline Graham was not prepared. She does not seem to have the experience that we need.

TRACIE BAXLEY, SOUTH CAROLINA VOTER: Darline, of course.

GALLAGHER: Why'd you vote for Darline?

BAXLEY: I loved her brother, and I love what he stood for, and she's going to be great.

GALLAGHER: Did President Trump's endorsement play any role in your vote?

BAXLEY: It did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:05:00]

GALLAGHER: I will also say that for a lot of the supporters of Darline Graham, many of them have cited her brother Lindsey Graham and the staff that surrounded him, saying that they felt that they got individual help from them, and that they thought that those same people would be around Graham, and that mattered more to them than the president's endorsement.

BASH: That's really interesting, Dianne. Also, please thank Andy. That was a very cool live shot. Thanks for being here and for bringing us your conversations with voters. I'm joined here at the table with a terrific group of reporters, and I'm going to start with you, Alayna. You cover the White House, President Trump, and his administration, including his political arm.

The fact that -- I'm going to put it back on the screen that MAGA Inc. is spending $827,000. It wouldn't be notable, other than the fact that part of the political story thus far has been the huge amount of cash he has been sitting on and not yet spent.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He's really putting his reputation, I'd argue, on the line in a way that he doesn't do often. Yes, he makes endorsements. This goes beyond that, as you mentioned. You know, he was the one to get behind her initially, pushing her to run for Lindsey Graham's seat. And now spending this money in a way that he really hasn't, and more than $800,000.

And you're exactly right. It's been a huge story about why are they sitting on all this money? They talk about how they're concerned. I know his political advisers and members of his operation, at least, talk about their concerns ahead of November. Why aren't we seeing more of this money? I can say we know that the president recently greenlit, finally telling his operation to start spending this money and now we're seeing it in South Carolina, and it is a big race for him.

I think too, partly why this is such a big deal and why there's been so much focus on South Carolina is because already just this month alone, six of the president's endorsed candidates have lost their races. And so, there are questions about the power of his endorsement at a time. And Darline Graham has really been a huge symbol of that because of the effort he's gone to really try and boost her in this race.

BASH: Yeah. And that's obviously -- I mean, it appears to be getting under the president's skin a little bit because they have -- he has been posting about all of the endorsements, and there are a lot of them who won in this primary season. Carrie Dann, welcome to Inside Politics. It's great to have you here. Let's watch some of what Darline Graham has been saying on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): There's a little bit of a difference between me and Lindsey when it comes to illegal immigration. Y'all know how much I loved Tim and how much I miss him, but to me, it's clear the word is illegal. Co-sponsored the SAVE America Act, I wanted to stay in session to get it passed. I'll even get rid of the filibuster to get it done. Of course, Taiwan is our friend, but I think people in South Carolina are more worried about making ends meet. They're concerned about boys and girls sports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, it has been interesting, even over the past week, which is most of what you just heard there. How she's trying to fill out her positions and at the end clean up a little bit on her answer or her non-answer on Taiwan and on China.

CARRIE DANN, MANAGING EDITOR, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Well and one thing to keep in mind about her late brother Lindsey Graham is that he did not always have the faith of the conservative base in South Carolina. Remember, there's a Lindsey Graham from the pre-Trump era who supported bipartisan immigration reform. He's obviously was very involved in military interventionism.

There was some suspicion, I think, in the very far right of the conservative. I mean, he did not robustly win that primary before he passed. And I think Darline Graham is trying to kind of fill that gap and hew herself very, very closely to the president in order to assuage any concern that there might be from that conservative base.

Now, I do think it's really -- the gaffe, obviously, which we've talked about. Gaffs are gaffs because it is normally a candidate saying something out loud that is what voters may privately suspect, and I think her saying, you know, it is not my forte of foreign policy. Is something that one, I think, her late brother might have said it's actually quite important to be an expert on foreign policy if you're going to be a United States senator.

But secondly, sort of confirmed this idea of, you know, she was pushed by Donald Trump for reasons that were not particularly strategic from an endorsement point of view but were rather kind of sentimental about his strong feelings for the former senator and that might be coming, you know, that might be something that will hurt her in the polls tonight.

BASH: And let me just put up on the screen what happened in the regular special primary on August 11 that -- 11th that set out this runoff. Darline Graham did finish on top with 32.7 percent. Ralph Norman, obviously, who was in the runoff was behind her, but she obviously didn't clear the field at all, which is why this runoff is happening.

[12:10:00] I quickly want to turn Ayesha to Oklahoma because there is another runoff happening there, and it's for the Republican nominee for Governor Kevin Stitt, the current governor is term limited. And again, this is going to be a question of President Trump's endorsement. He has endorsed the businessman Mike Mazzei, and the attorney general is running against Mazzei.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST NPR " WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY" AND "UP FIRST": Well, you know, it's interesting because you have Trump who takes so much pride in his control over the Republican Party and his ability -- in his ability to put -- bring people over the finish line. But right now, I mean, we're seeing the limits of that and we're also seeing where he said, I thought it was very interesting when Trump said, you know, when I'm not on the ballot, people don't come out the same way, so please pretend I'm on the ballot. I think that's what the test of this is.

Other than, I mean, obviously you have the local issues, but when you're talking -- thinking about this on a national level, it's like, can Trump get people to come out when he is not on the ballot to do what he wants them to do? And that's going to be the question for everybody in the midterms.

BASH: Well, that's part of it for sure, and the other is Trump fatigue, Trump frustration among Republicans, and that is actually what Gentner Drummond, who again is the state A.G. running for this nomination, expressed. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENTNER DRUMMOND, (R) OKLAHOMA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Oklahoma and I are supportive of President Trump and many of his policies. I do think the majority of Oklahomans would agree that the tariffs are too far. That importing cheap beef only injures Oklahoma's cattlemen, ranchers and farmers. I stand with Oklahoma. I'm unafraid to disagree with the president when he's wrong and he's wrong on tariffs. He's wrong on importing cheap beef.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So again, it is a proxy fight, not just because of the president's endorsement, but because of what that candidate, who obviously is not Trump, doesn't support him, is openly saying about the president's policies.

TREENE: I mean, I'm unafraid to go against the president is a remarkable thing for a Republican candidate to say in this year 2026. Obviously, very different from Darline Graham, who's trying to show how close she is to him? There are concerns. I think some of the tariffs, as he laid out, obviously the economy is a huge one.

But also, among core members of the president's base, one of the biggest issues is the ongoing war with Iran. Some of them feel betrayed that they are now the U.S. is involved again in another foreign war, particularly something that the president had promised he wouldn't do. And so, you're hearing more and more candidates, kind of use that, particularly the ones, of course, who don't have his support.

BASH: All right. We're going to sneak in a break. Up next, a ballot battle. What does the Supreme Court's opinion on mail-in voting mean for the midterms? And you may know him as Billy Campbell, but Melrose Place star Andrew Shue now has a new role trying to unite Americans across or even despite party lines, and he'll be here to talk about his new project.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Multiple states are vowing legal action after the Supreme Court's six to three procedural ruling on mail-in ballots. The court essentially said President Trump could start carrying out part of his executive order, meaning it can start trying to curb mail-in voting. But the ruling left the door open to legal challenges, which means President Trump's changes may be temporary.

Mail-in voting is widely used. In the last presidential election, nearly one in three ballots was mailed. That's 47 million. Now, three justices dissented, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who wrote that the decision, quote, needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections.

RASCOE: Well, and we should point out that of the mail -- mail-in ballots, one of those ballots was President Trump's. He has voted by mail and --

BASH: More than once.

RASCOE: Yeah, yes. So, we should be clear on that. I think that what this does is it's not clear what's going to happen practically because how is the postal service even going to get this list of voters who are citizens and then, like that's a lot for USPS to do in a very little amount of time, and then you're still going to have these legal challenges.

But I think it does help with this narrative that there's something going on, even though the Supreme Court did not comment on the legality of it. That is something so specific and nuanced that it does help Trump to say, look, I can go ahead. There is something going on. I'm cracking down on it. And if things don't go the way he wants in the midterms, it also gives a narrative, unfortunately, this idea that it's rigged.

BASH: That's really key.

DANN: And I think one thing that's worth noting here is this is not the first time this cycle that the Supreme Court has handed down a decision that has caused some confusion and chaos very close to the election when the Supreme Court's decision on the Voting Rights Act, striking down Section 2 of that came down. That was an outcome that I think a lot of people expected, but the timing of it was such that in Louisiana they had -- there were already voters voting, and they had to reverse that decision.

States in the south scrambled within days to do the redistricting that they wanted to do to gain a net of two or three seats. So, this is not the first time that the court has made a decision very close to an election that has influenced and sort of scrambled the midterm outlook.

[12:20:00]

BASH: Democrats reacted, saying this is -- should be impetus to make sure to vote, however you can. Gavin Newsom, we can stop this vote this November. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, with its vicious attack on vote by mail, Donald Trump is already trying to stop everyday Americans from voting in the midterms. We must defeat him and reform the court.

So that's the Democrats. But here's the thing to keep in mind. Over the past, I don't know, 10, 15 years of covering elections, we have watched Republicans try very, very hard to encourage their own voters to vote by mail because they felt that they had sort of a deficit with Democrats or against Democrats on that. And in terms of the numbers that they were looking at, just look at some examples of high-level Republicans encouraging voting early and voting by mail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: You can bank your vote by casting your ballot before Election Day.

FRANCIS SUAREZ, AMERICAN LAWYER AND POLITICIAN: Either early, in person, or by mail.

TRUMP: Go to bankyourvote.com to sign up and commit to voting early.

SEN. BILL HAGERTY (R-TN): That's how we're going to beat the Democrats at their own game.

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): Go to bankyourvote.com.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): And please take the pledge to bank your vote to beat Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Again, that was leading up to 2024, and I'm sure you talk to Republicans as I do, Alayna, who tear their hair out because the president is asking for Republicans to go to the polls with one hand tied behind their back.

TREENE: No, absolutely. It actually reminds me. I mean, years ago now it was back in the president's first re-election back in 2020 when I was traveling with then House Speaker Kevin McCarthy around, you know, the upper northwest and he was going everywhere, literally saying, I'm tearing my hair out because the president keeps discouraging people from voting by mail, and that is the message they need to drive home the most. And it's the same thing happening now with, particularly, who do you think is going to respond to a lot of this messaging about mail-in voting more than anyone? It's going to be Republicans, you know, not Democrats who are saying, oh, the president, President Trump, is saying we shouldn't vote by mail. I'm not going to vote by mail and so that's a huge issue here.

I will say though, just giving -- going back to the timeline here, I was talking with some legal experts. I think it's very unlikely all of this will actually be implemented in time for the midterms. However, the stakes are still high because 2028, this could be what we see happen. And I think that's why this is so important and why we're likely to see a lot of legal battles ensue over this.

BASH: No question. All right, coming up. Left-wing influencer Hasan Piker's recent comments about American Jews are creating more trouble for a candidate he campaigned with, Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed. I'll speak with Congressman Josh Gottheimer after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: You may not have heard of left-wing streamer Hasan Piker until this year, when Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed began campaigning with him. Just a reminder, Piker has excused sexual violence from Hamas terrorists. Now, the controversial relationship between the two entered new territory this week after Piker said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASAN PIKER, TWITCH STREAMER: If Jews in America keep putting this, this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone's going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Well, Piker made that comment that American Jews who support Israel are responsible for actions taking against -- taken against them. A picture of a Jewish Michigan state legislator was prominently displayed that spurred this statement from Democratic Michigan Congresswoman Hillary Scholten. Piker is a hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance. It's dangerous for everyone. We should all be calling this out disgusting rhetoric, so it loses its grip on our politics once and for all.

El-Sayed made his own statement, writing in part, quote. My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters. Antisemitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all its forms. And I stand against any rhetoric that puts the community at risk. While politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we're going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools and healthcare. Joining me now is New Jersey Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer. Thank you so much for being here. I just want our viewers to see what you said about Piker's comments. For the future of our party, you said Democrats have to call out his hate and condemn these dangerous views. Anyone campaigning with him is part of the problem. What do you think of Abdul El-Sayed's statement yesterday?

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Well, first of all, thanks for having me. El-Sayed's statement was totally fell short. You're talking about a guy, Hasan Piker, who's a -- as you pointed out is a -- he posts on Twitch and streams on Twitch, millions of followers. He's nothing more than a grifter and a hater. Although, unfortunately, many of my colleagues have decided to campaign with him.

Many of -- many candidate -- Democratic candidates have campaigned with him, including El-Sayed, who in his -- the last night before his primary had Hasan Piker front and center with him. And his statement yesterday, instead of coming out and condemning Piker, condemning his statement, saying he refuses to ever campaign with him again, he did