Trump mocks Darline Graham Nordone’s Senate rival
President Donald Trump dubbed South Carolina Democrat Annie Andrews, who’s running against Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC), with the nickname “Trannie”…
Annie Andrews just learned the first rule of running against a Trump-backed Republican: the president is going to give you a name you didn’t pick. His Truth Social post calling her “Trannie” wasn’t subtle, and it wasn’t supposed to be. **The president is going to give you a name you didn’t pick.
Commentary is separate from the original publisher's reporting.
President Donald Trump dubbed South Carolina Democrat Annie Andrews, who’s running against Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC), with the nickname “Trannie” in an effort to discredit her.
“Annie ‘Trannie’ Andrews is running against our wonderful Darline Graham for the Senate in South Carolina,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “For years my dear friend Lindsey would say that, ‘Darline is the finest, most reliable, and one of the smartest people I have ever known.’ He would then always add, ‘Also, the most loyal!’ Oftentimes I would be upset with Lindsey for saying this, because I thought I had all of those qualities.”
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“In any event, Darline is a High Quality person, maybe the Highest, and Annie Trannie is not, in particular, as it pertains to representing the Values of the Great People of South Carolina,” he said. “She is in favor of Transgender for Everyone, Open Borders, Defunding the Police, High Taxes, a Weak Military, and will absolutely fight to take your guns away.”
The president appeared to be attacking Andrews, a biological woman, over her alleged support of gender transitions for minors and transgender athletes in women’s sports. Graham Nordone’s campaign launched a website called “Dr. Annie’s Waiting Room” that hit Andrews on these issues despite Andrews publicly stating she opposes transgender surgeries for children, as well as transgender athletes in women’s sports.
In a recent interview, the Democratic candidate declined to define a woman because her focus is not on those issues.
“Honestly, I don’t even want to entertain that question with an answer,” she said. “I have a medical degree and a master’s degree and clinical research. We can have a conversation about the difference between sex chromosomes and gender identity, and I just don’t think that there’s a place for that conversation … in a U.S. Senate race.”
Andrews and Graham Nordone are set to debate each other on Oct. 11, so it’s likely the Republican will attempt to tie her opponent to transgenderism and other progressive ideologies.
“Trannie is not for South Carolina,” Trump said, “and South Carolina must show, in the upcoming Election, that it is not for her.”
Graham Nordone is defending her seat in the midterm elections after she replaced her older brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died of heart complications in July. The race is shaping up to be a close contest, with the latest polls showing Graham Nordone slightly leading Andrews.
Less than a week after Graham’s death, Trump endorsed the late senator’s sister for a full six-year term. Graham Nordone announced her decision to run a few days later.
Besides Trump, other members of his administration have been using the term “trannie” more recently. In his “State of the Force” address last week, War Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that “no trannies” are welcome in the U.S. military.
“We are no longer the ‘Woke Department’ or the ‘Weak Department,'” Hegseth said. “Simple translation of that: No fatties. No trannies. No beardos. No weirdoes. No wimps. No radicals. Just warriors. Just tough, ready, committed troops.”
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
Annie Andrews just learned the first rule of running against a Trump-backed Republican: the president is going to give you a name you didn’t pick. His Truth Social post calling her “Trannie” wasn’t subtle, and it wasn’t supposed to be. The president is going to give you a name you didn’t pick. That’s the same playbook that produced “Crooked Hillary” and “Sleepy Joe,” and nobody on the left has figured out how to stop it.
We won’t pretend the word was high art. It was a cheap shot. But cheap shots are standard equipment in political campaigns now, and the people clutching pearls over this one were silent when their side spent a year dragging Republican nominees with nasty labels. The difference is Trump knows how to make the nickname the whole story. Annie Andrews wants to talk about abortion, federal spending, and energy policy. Instead she’s on X doing damage control over a social media post. That is how she loses.
South Carolina voters already know Darline Graham Nordone. She has a record, and she has the president’s endorsement. They also know the national press will treat a three-word post as an emergency while ignoring the actual problems facing the state. There’s no mystery how this race will be covered between now and Election Day. A nickname is not a national crisis. It’s a distraction, and it’s working exactly as intended.
The real test is whether Annie Andrews can talk to voters about anything else. So far, she can’t. Trump took up space in her head the moment he typed her name, and that’s the kind of thing that ends campaigns. He won the last two rides through this exact loop. There’s no reason to think this one will be any different.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.