Lindsey Graham’s sister Darline, a current U.S. senator, says national security is ‘not my thing’

A sitting Republican U.S. senator was asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea matter to American national security. Her answer was jaw-dropping.

“I’m just going to be honest here,” Sen. Darline Graham told voters during Tuesday night’s South Carolina Senate debate. “I’m not that informed on national security.”

Graham admitted she did not understand one of the world's most consequential potential flashpoints. “National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise,” she continued. “But I do support the military.”

That distinction — between reflexively praising the troops and understanding where an elected leader might send them — is the subject of a devastating new video from retired Space Force Col. Bree Fram.

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“If you're old enough to remember when Republicans attacked Democrats for being unserious about national security, it's time to schedule your mammogram or colonoscopy,” Fram wrote on Bluesky. “Just kidding. They never stopped. Here’s Trump’s pick for the Senate, asked about Taiwan. Every accusation, a confession.”

The video reaches into the Republican Party’s own history to expose how completely its standards have shifted when President Donald Trump’s chosen candidate is the one who cannot answer a basic foreign policy question. “The stakes are high. We cannot afford to take a chance,” Ronald Reagan says at the start of the video. “We need a man of serious purpose, unmatched experience, knowledge, and ability, and who understands the world.”

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George H.W. Bush speaks of confronting terrorists, aggressors, and dangerous weapons. George W. Bush promises to rebuild the military because “a dangerous world still requires a sharpened sword.” A Republican political ad declares that Barack Obama does not understand the threat facing the country.

Then comes the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, boasting, “I have more experience with our national security than any other candidate in this race.” The video cuts to his sister, who asks moderator Greta Van Susteren to repeat her question about Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Republicans spent decades presenting national security expertise as a prerequisite for office — and portraying Democrats as dangerously naive when they appeared to fall short. Now, Trump has endorsed a candidate who openly concedes that national security is “not my thing.”

But Graham was not speaking as a first-time candidate hoping to enter government someday. She is already South Carolina’s sitting senator, appointed by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster after her brother died of an aortic dissection in July. She now wants voters to entrust her with a full six-year term.

Before Trump and McMaster elevated her to the Senate, Graham had spent nearly three decades working in South Carolina’s disability and workforce service systems. She led the state Commission for the Blind beginning in 2019 and previously held positions at Clemson University and the state departments of Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment and Workforce. Graham holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the College of Charleston and a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from South Carolina State University. She had never held elected office.

Her debate performance included another remarkable error when Graham said South Carolina had 50 million residents. The state’s population is roughly 5.5 million.

Fram delivers the video’s closing argument.

“They were right. National security is serious business,” she says. “Supporting the troops means understanding the world you might send them into. But Donald Trump doesn’t want senators who are informed enough to tell him no. He only wants those who will say yes. He endorsed her. Our troops deserve better.”

Fram knows the difference between military pageantry and military responsibility. She served for more than 23 years in the Air Force and Space Force, deployed to Iraq and Qatar, worked at the Pentagon, helped establish the Space Force, and led major national security programs. She became the highest-ranking out transgender officer in the U.S. military before Trump’s ban on transgender service members forced her into retirement.

Graham, meanwhile, tried to deflect from her admission by turning transgender people into a political shield.

“Of course, Taiwan is our friend,” she said during a subsequent appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program. “But I think people in South Carolina are more worried about making ends meet. They are concerned about boys in girls' sports.”

A May Winthrop Poll found widespread anxiety about groceries, housing, and health care costs. No comparable South Carolina survey has identified transgender sports as a leading priority. Nationally, a May YouGov survey commissioned by the National Women’s Law Center ranked transgender participation in sports last among 19 issues voters were asked to prioritize.