{"id":4669,"date":"2026-08-13T04:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4669"},"modified":"2026-08-13T04:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:37:16","slug":"they-feel-it-strategist-says-republicans-know-their-darkest-fear-has-come-to-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4669","title":{"rendered":"‘They feel it’: Strategist says Republicans know their darkest fear has come to pass"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Democratic James Carville said the nation is clearly losing patience with President Donald Trump, and even Republican voters are finding themselves less and less beholden to the man \u2014 even if they are loathe to admit it.<\/p>\n

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He said on his Wednesday \u201cPolitics War Room\u201d podcast that many Republican and MAGA voters appear to be bidding a fond farewell to Trump as they cast their eye to a new cult leader.<\/p>\n

Nowhere was this clearer, said Carville, than in the South Carolina primaries this week, as State Sen. Darline Graham failed to clinch the primary after Trump offered her a full-throated endorsement. Now she faces a second grueling run-off against Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, a conservative hard-liner who had previously run for governor.<\/p>\n

Republican voters expressed doubt about Graham in earlier surveys, with one Trump voter saying \u201cshe has a master’s and she’s helped people that are blind and she’s a lovely woman advocate. But I don’t feel like she has the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Trump, it’s kind of like he wants her to take his place because I almost feel like he feels like he can just mold her into doing whatever he wants,\u201d complained another Trump voter. \u201c\u2026 It was kind of like, \u2018well, let’s get her in there and, you know, she’ll do what I want.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Carville himself acknowledged in conversations with Republicans that Graham appeared to be a \u201chard\u201d sell after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster temporarily appointed Sen. Lindsey Graham’s younger sister to the GOP senator’s seat following his unexpected July death.<\/p>\n

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He added that Trump\u2019s endorsement appeared to deliver diminishing returns as the president\u2019s popularity continued to crater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most under covered story in American politics today is Trump\u2019s Republican approval numbers. They keep falling,\u201d said Carville on Wednesday. \u201cI think it\u2019s coming in at 80 now in most polls, which is significantly lower than 95. For the last 10- years it\u2019s been Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, and the country is starting to turn away from him.\u201d <\/p>\n

His polling numbers are down but he\u2019s just becoming less relevant in peoples\u2019 minds and I think that applies to Republican primary voters in South Carolina. I think every day his endorsements lose a tenth of a point of influence,\u201d Carville added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sure did in Minnesota,\u201d said show co-host Al Hunt, referring to the crash and burn gubernatorial campaign of Trump endorsee Mike Lindell.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can feel it,\u201d said Carville. \u201cEven the Trump MAGA people, they\u2019re becoming less attached.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s failing truce threatens the GOP\u2019s grip on the GA governor\u2019s race<\/a><\/p>\n