One of the crosses Donald Trump has had to bear recently is a less-than-perfect record in endorsing Republican primary candidates. His choices in high-profile gubernatorial nominating contests in Iowa and Georgia both lost to rivals who claimed to adore the 47th president despite their manifest willingness to rebel against his wishes. Trump’s fury at his advisers for steering him wrong peaked in South Carolina, where his gubernatorial endorsee, Pamela Evette, was struggling in a GOP runoff against yet another more-MAGA-than-thou rival, Alan Wilson, leading Trump in a panic to endorse Wilson as well, guaranteeing Evette’s demise (she was absolutely obliterated in the runoff after losing the president’s exclusive backing).

And now, Trump is having fresh endorsement-obedience problems in the Palmetto State, where absolutely every Republican pledges allegiance to him incessantly. When Lindsey Graham died suddenly on July 11, the president and his buddy Governor Henry McMaster quickly agreed to appoint Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to the seat for the remainder of the late senator’s current term, which expires next January. Initially, no one expected her to run for the full term, over which a large number of South Carolina Republicans were all but publicly salivating. But that changed on July 17, when Trump endorsed the interim senator (who, tellingly, began identifying as Darline Graham, dropping her marital name) for the GOP nomination in the August 11 special primary. She subsequently........

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