Trump Stumps at Clemson: Protesters Abound

by MARK POWELL

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It was déjà vu all over again in South Carolina on Wednesday night. The show was essentially the same as it was before – as were the protagonist and the damsel in distress. Only the antagonist and the venue were different this go-round.

For ninety-two minutes, U.S. president Donald Trump spoke in his relaxed, rambling style to several hundred MAGA faithful who filled Clemson University’s T. Ed Garrison Arena – a livestock venue with a dirt floor.   

The rally was meant to give interim U.S. senator Darline Graham Nordone’s struggling campaign a desperately needed shot in the arm. And the president dutifully said all the right things, praising the former state bureaucrat as “smart” and “incredible,” while crediting himself for her ascension to the GOP nomination.

“I asked Darline to run,” Trump said. “And after a little thought, because it’s a very big decision… she said, ‘yes,’ and I was very happy about it, because she was a person that everybody, and I’ve known her a long time, but everybody respects her. She’s smarter, incredible. She’ll never let you down.”

Then, in vintage Trump fashion, he launched into a searing attack on her opponent…

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President Trump is right. My opponent would be the most radical person ever elected to office in South Carolina history. We can’t leave this to chance. Make your plan to vote and help keep South Carolina red: https://t.co/jxsnKqkN7E https://t.co/nUrGayxAg2

— Darline Graham (@DarlineGrahamSC) October 21, 2026

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“Darline’s running against a radical left lunatic named ‘Tranny Annie’ Andrews who would be the most extreme and crazy left-wing politician ever elected in this state,” Trump said of Nordone’s November 3 opponent, Dr. Annie Andrews. “She’d be the most extreme and one of the most crazed people in the entire country and would be a disaster. She’s a fanatical, transgender activist. How the hell do you run (with her views) in South Carolina?”

The biggest news of the night came not from the presidential podium, though, but from the audience. In a break from most of Trump’s earlier visits to South Carolina, protesters repeatedly tried to interrupt him during the first half of his remarks. Security escorted at least eleven people out of the venue over the course of the event. In one instance, wild punches were thrown.

The demonstrators were heard shouting “traitor” and “release the Epstein files,” among other things, as they were taken away. The outbursts marked a distinct departure from most of Trump’s previous Palmetto trips, which were largely love-fests between a president and his adoring base. 

Trump shrugged off each episode with a New Yorker’s indifference.

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“Paid protesters, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “They’ll do whatever they can to win. They get $250 for that, and they screw up their lives. And they go home, and Mom slaps them around; ‘I voted for that man. Don’t you ever do that again, son.’”

“These people are crazy!” he said after another outburst.

Interruptions aside, one thing was noticeably absent from Trump’s hour-and-a-half meandering remarks – and from those delivered beforehand by a galaxy of South Carolina Republican stars including U.S. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, senator Tim Scott, congresswoman Sherri Biggs and congressman Russell Fry. None of these speakers made any mention whatsoever of the intensifying schism between establishment Republicans and hardline conservatives in South Carolina over the increasingly leftward lean of the SCGOP.

There was no appeal for unity – directly or obliquely – throughout the entire event. Nor was there a nod to the conservative base that has proven surprisingly resistant to Nordone’s candidacy.

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“It was almost like the captain of the Titanic ordering ‘steady as she goes’ from the bridge, oblivious to the icebergs all around,” one veteran Palmetto political observer told us. “It was a missed opportunity to unite the party and get everyone singing off the same page in the hymnal again – at least until Election Day.”

Political strategy clearly played a role in choosing Clemson as the site of the rally. The Upstate is not only home to the state’s largest concentration of Republican voters, but it also offered a geographic advantage. The Greenville-Spartanburg television market (where the event was held) includes fourteen counties in nearby western North Carolina. 

After visiting Greenville, N.C., the day before – where he stumped for GOP U.S. Senate candidate and former RNC chairman Michael Whatley in his Senate race against former Democratic governor Roy Cooper – Trump got a second bite at the Tar Heel apple with this latest event. 

With his obligatory words of support for Nordone out of the way, Trump plunged into another of his trademark circuitous verbal journeys. He spent the better part of an hour revisiting his administration’s accomplishments, bemoaning why he’s never won the Nobel Peace Prize, noting his switch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and Lake Ontario to Lake America, then musing which river and ocean he should rename next, and even indulging in a surreal detour triggered by blasting a male weightlifter allowed to compete against women.

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RELATED | DARLINE NORDONE CLINGS TO NARROW LEAD

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“I think he broke the record by, like, 100 pounds,” Trump said. “The record had stood for 16 years… he broke it by over 100 pounds. I think that record will last for quite some time, you know? And the sad part is that in history, as history goes, you’ll have women competing at that weight division, and they’ll say, ‘who the hell lifted over 100 pounds when nobody else lifted that?’ But, you know, the way it works in life, I’d say in a million years from now, a woman will be able to lift that amount. Now, men will probably advance further also. They’ll advance, but someday, but can you imagine?”

His musings on human evolution finished, Trump eventually found his way back to the matter at hand: next month’s midterm elections.

“‘Tranny Annie’ Andrews told her supporters to defund and abolish the police,” he said. “She called for a ban on all oil drilling, as opposed to ‘drill baby drill.’ I would say that’s the opposite. She will vote to open your borders, shut down your power plant, set loose dangerous criminals, confiscate your money, and give your hard-earned savings to millions of third-world migrants, fraudsters, and thugs. That’s what she wants to do. Darline Graham will vote to keep your income rising, your prices falling, your border strong, and America more respected than ever before.”

With prices most assuredly not falling, though, will Trump’s message resonate?

We’ll find out in less than two weeks…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.

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