The Adam Mockler Show - This is a trainwreck...

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

Click below for premium Adam Mockler content: 👉 https://adammockler.com/subscribe 👉 https://www.youtube.com/@adammockler/join Adam Mockler breaks down Lindsey Graham's sister's disastrous congress run. JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AdamMockler/ Discord: https://discord.gg/y9yzMU3Gff Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adammockler/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/adammockler.com/ Twitter: https://x.com/adammocklerr/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adammockler Contact: [e-mail] Business inquiries: [e-mail] Adam Mockler - Mockler Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I don't think many. Okay, Darlene Graham, though, isn't just some random person plucked out of a crowd somewhere in America. She is trying to be a senator. All right, everybody, this is a train wreck. I want to bring your attention to perhaps one of the most stunning campaigns happening in U.S. politics right now. And it's the campaign of Darlene Graham, who is the sister of late-saint-S. Senator Lindsey Graham. Darlene Graham has somehow found herself in the position as almost being the GOP's Senate candidate in South Carolina, but she's currently in a competitive runoff campaign,

runoff race, with her Republican competitor Ralph Norman. Darlene Graham has all but nuked her own campaign and partially the Graham legacy by botching very simple questions on stage. This is sent the entire MAGA media ecosystem into this sort of of frenzy where Fox News is now trying to rehabilitate her image and ask her softball questions. We even have clips of her getting complete softballs on the campaign, and there's a leaked part of this recording where somebody says, we're not going to ask you anything too difficult here. I mean, she's running a campaign on easy mode because nobody wants to really challenge her, but

she's still losing. I want to show you this clip that kicked it all off. Just for an update on the race, a special election was triggered by the death of Senator Lindsay Graham about a month back and the entire Republican apparatus pushed for her to be the next senator because she would just be a a checkmark, a rubber stamp on anything Donald Trump wants to do because she doesn't know much. Watch this clip. Senator, are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? If so, why? I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question? Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States?

And if so, why or how? I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security. I'm not that informed on national security. 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 do support the military. Oof, I can't lie, that is a catastrophic answer right there. I think she knows that was a catastrophic answer right there. You can't just appeal to your brother every single time you're asked about something. Your brother's gone. He's not an advisor to you. You're going to be representing the people of South Carolina if you win, and it seems like she's not ready.

At the very beginning of this clip, I'm about to play, I want you to listen closely. You hear Darlene Graham's campaign staff caught on mic saying, Nothing too difficult here, because they want very easy interviews. Nothing too difficult here. All right. Beautiful. So, yesterday during the debate. Let me play it one more time.

You can just kind of hear it at the very beginning. He says, nothing too difficult here. Nothing too difficult here. All right. Beautiful. I mean, are these Republicans? running campaigns on easy mode. It's kind of funny because Republicans will always say that Democrats want DEI in the sense that anybody who is like a minority in America should get a leg up,

should have life on easy mode and soft mode. But that's the campaign that Darlene Graham is running right now. I understand that women do have uphill battles and politics inherently, but this goes beyond that. This is just a complete lack of knowledge about any topic whatsoever. The reason why is because they want Darlene Graham to be a rubber. stamp on all of the worst foreign policy and domestic policy decisions. Whether it's appointing people like Christine Ome and Pam Bondi, Darlene Graham probably doesn't really know what the difference is, whether it's starting a new war with Iran.

Darlene Graham's not going to assert herself. She probably loves wars with Iran. Her brother did. Now here, she tries to go on Fox News and play cleanup by pivoting to boys and girls' sports. Like, it's very clear that someone is just giving her these talking points and propping this campaign up. Darlene Graham says, I tripped up on one question last night regarding Taiwan. I don't speak politician. I was just honest. Of course, Taiwan is our friend, but I think people in South Carolina are more worried about boys and girls' sports. Lord have mercy. Joshua points out, I kind of give it

to D'alline here. Maga is more concerned with what a half dozen trans athletes are doing than the most important geopolitical flashpoint of our time is actually a pretty honest reflection of the base. a listen to this club. I think you're 100% right, Sean. And I tripped up on one question last night regarding Taiwan. But you know, I've said many times, I'm not a politician, certainly not a career politician. I don't speak politician. You know, I was just honest, and I think that's kind of a foreign concept.

But I talked to several people today. I traveled around the state, and they said, you know, we appreciated the fact that you were honest. And I did say several times that, you know, China is our enemy, our military and economic threat to the United States. 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. One lady talked to me extensively about that today. Was it some Republican operative? Like, who's talking you extensively about boys and girls sports. The economy is in shambles. There's a war with Iran that she would continue to support. It's just such a weak campaign, such a weak pitch. And I think the

people of South Carolina know that. There's been a bit of a sea change. Like, watch this clip right here of Darlene Graham getting confronted by someone in her audience. Actually, before I play this, I want to show you the hypocrisy on Fox News, because this clip blew my mind. Sean Hannity, about six to eight months ago, said regarding AOC, wow, She couldn't answer a question about Taiwan. And it's because AOC like stuttered once or twice at the beginning of the clip and they tried to clip it out of context. And then you see what he says about Darlene Graham.

Wow. Even more than Hillary though, Radical Squad leader, AOC simply could not answer basic questions about global affairs. Wow. Okay, now listen to how it changes when it comes to Darley. This, and so this issue of Taiwan came up last night and I know people have made a big deal about it and I'm like, I wonder how many people around the country country if I gave him a map could pick out Taiwan. I don't think many and not just as I mean

the whole country, never mind South Carolina. Okay, Darlene Graham though isn't just some random person plucked out of a crowd somewhere in America. She is trying to be a senator. A senator has to make decisions about this. This guy gets it in the crowd of Darlene Graham's rally. Yeah. So my question overall is during the debate you had with Ralph Norman last night, you had answered a question about Taiwan and South China Sea and whether it being a national security issue for the United States. And to your reply, you said that you were uninformed

or not informed on national security issues, but that you support the military. And my question is, are there any concerns about credibility in the US Senate for someone who doesn't have the experience in issues like national security, or for issues like geopolitics and things like that? because there are votes that go toward funding wars or declaring wars and if you're

deciding vote in that factor how can we trust as constituents that you'll make the right decision if you're not informed on national security issues at this moment of time that's a fair question right but you know I answered it honestly because I'm not a national security expert Lindsay was right because he talked a lot about national security you know why he spent 33 years in the Air Force He had a military background. So he had a lot of foreign relations, and that was his focus. To me, as I walked around this room and I've asked people, are y'all concerned about Taiwan?

You know what they said? No, they're concerned about the price of groceries, the price of gas. Okay, her answer is so bad here because all of these things are downstream from the decisions that she is making, or she would be making if she were a senator, rather. If our senators are not making informed decisions about foreign policy and domestic policy, they don't have to be experts. Not everybody has to be a foreign policy expert. That's a cop-out. You have to understand the baseline of what you're fighting for and what your stances are and then have other experts basically fill you in and help you fill that gap and understand what's actually going on on a day-to-day basis.

But when these people making decisions like Darlene Graham don't have any clue whatsoever, that hurts our cost of living downstream. An example of this. Donald Trump and his administration started a reckless war with Iran. They were not informed. They were not listening to experts, and none of them are experts. So this war is dragged out to 175 days, and at this point, it has cost American taxpayers, American citizens, hundreds of billions of dollars.

It could collectively get to a trillion dollars. I want to contrast this with the really strong Democratic candidate. Angie Nixon coming out of Florida won the Democratic Senate primary. I mean, this is a really strong candidate, a really good opportunity for Democrats right here. A great answer on a rather tough question. Morning Joe, the show, asks Angie Nixon if she supports abolishing prisons because she's a DSA member and the DSA's national platform calls for abolishing prisons. She takes a very common sense stance and says,

I don't support abolishing prisons, however. Your Republican opponent, Ashley Moody, already is saying the positions of the DSA and particularly of you are crazy, calling you all comrades together, et cetera. So what about abolishing prisons, which is one of the platform positions of the national DSA? Do you support that? I don't support abolishing prisons. What I do support is abolishing for-profit prisons because they exploit labor and they usher many of our children into the school to prison pipeline, why are we incentivizing the enhancement of penalties and actually allow the enhancement of not actually allowing the education system to be successful? There has been an attack

on public education here in our state and across our country, and that leads to children winding up in the school to prison pipeline. I don't support abolishing prisons, but I do support ending for-profit prisons, which also, when you look at it and look at some data points, you will see that there have been a lot of people that have died inside of these for-profit prisons, or you have seen there's a lot of waste and abuse and fraud. Everything she's saying is absolutely perfect. The problem isn't that there are prisons that exist. I mean, it's necessary in order to deal with people who have broken the law.

The problem is that in capitalism, companies are supposed to compete with each other, to get better and better and better for their consumers so they can win in the markets. But prisons don't have consumers. I mean, people are there against their will. So the prisons have no incentive to treat people well or humanely or with dignity, and that leads to very awful outcomes. Oftentimes, people just ending up back in prison. It's just, it's a really bad system right now. And this is a really good answer coming from Angie Nixon. I actually appreciated the nuance right here. Here is Sean Hannity asking Darlene Graham about the Middle East. And Darlene Graham basically just admits it all.

She's going to be a rubber stamp for Israel. Yeah, you know, and to be fair, if people want to judge you on the South China Sea and Taiwan, okay, I think that's fair. But I bet, based on all your time with your brother, that you know probably everything about the Middle East because he went on one trip after another to every country in the Middle East.

And I know you know a lot about Europe and Ukraine-Russia situation because he went to Ukraine more than any other. senator and you even said in our interview that you are going to focus more on domestic issues than your brother did i mean you were very clear absolutely i know national security is important we have a wonderful commander in chief i know that we need to stand with the israel and the issues in iran are serious i understand all that but again i'm focused on the issues for everyday people in south carolina that are struggling to make ends meet so that's where i

really want to focus. I mean, it sounds okay. Yes, yes. Of course we should focus on people who struggle to make ends meet, but it feels like hollow rhetoric coming from someone that doesn't have a core political base or intuition, just somebody that was kind of flung into this spot. It's important to point out that Trump was one of the people pushing for this the hardest. Trump was pushing very hard for Darlene Graham to just pop up in the Senate seat, probably because he has a pre-existing relationship with the family, wants to use the name recognition to push someone to the office that and literally just green light all of his worst impulses. It's not good.

It's not good. And in a time when women already face an uphill battle in politics, like it's genuinely a problem. People like AOC are judged very harshly on small mistakes. Darlene Graham comes out here and basically just, with no prior political experience, flubbers through a bunch of answers. It's not a good look for the Republican Party. And I think we should continue to stay focused on beating them over and over and over.

I think it's on us right now to stay focused on beating the Republicans and race after race over and over making sure that we are winning these elections because they have a lot of uniquely weak candidates. We've got a lot of stars coming up to the ranks. I love you all. I will see you all in the next video and peace out.