Senator Darline Graham Implodes During Senate Debate: ‘I’m Not That Informed on National Security’ 

Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) announced in a televised debate on Tuesday night that she is “not that informed on national security” issues.

Graham, who is the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham and has received President Donald Trump’s endorsement, is vying for the GOP nomination in South Carolina against Rep. Ralph Norman after neither candidate notched a majority of the vote necessary to avoid a runoff on Aug. 25. Graham was appointed by Governor Henry McMaster (R) to serve out her brother’s term, which ends in January. Trump had urged McMaster to appoint her to the seat, which she is now running to keep for a full term.

During Tuesday’s debate in Newberry, South Carolina, co-moderator Greta Van Susteren asked Graham if Taiwan, the autonomous country that China claims dominion over, is a U.S. national security interest. In her response, Graham, whose brother was arguably the biggest foreign policy hawk in the entire Congress, said that national security is far from her strong suit:

VAN SUSTEREN: Senator, are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? If so, why?

GRAHAM: Um, I’m sorry. Could you repeat the question?

VAN SUSTEREN: Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? And if so, why or how?

GRAHAM: I’m just gonna be honest here. I’m not, on national security– I’m not that informed on national security, so– but I do support the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years, so I will do everything I can to support the military. My dad was in the Army. I’m not a polished politician up here. National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I support the military.

Van Susteren then turned to Norman, who offered a stock answer to her question.

“Taiwan’s a definite ally,” Norman said. “What the president is doing right is, he’s enabling Taiwan to defend themselves against China. But it’s peace through strength he’s showing with Iran that China, Russia, and others are looking at it so they don’t want to deal with America. And that’s why they haven’t attacked Taiwan. If they had a weak Democrat in office like Biden or another Obama, yeah, they’d take it over. But we can’t let that happen.”

The winner of this month’s Republican runoff will go on to face Democrat Annie Andrews in November.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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