Sen Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC) got a thumbs-down from conservative Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Kathleen Parker on Friday morning.
Parker, whose family comes from South Carolina where she currently resides, used her Washington Post column to make the case that Nordone is far from ready for the job.
For that, Parker blames President Donald Trump.
While a Trump political endorsement has long been tantamount to the pope's blessing for Republican office seekers, its effectiveness seems to be waning, she wrote while noting Republican voters "have snubbed" 10 Trump-endorsed candidates for statewide office or Congress, including in South Carolina.
Trump had asked Nordone to run for her brother's seat, and she agreed. Suddenly, a real primary race was on with multiple Republican candidates, presenting a once-in-a-generation opportunity to grab a rarely open Senate seat.
"She remains something of an enigma, despite a few public appearances and television ads," she wrote before citing Nordone's massive stumble during a debate this week that demonstrated she is over her head which should alarm South Carolina voters.
"Her vow to preserve her brother’s legacy while pushing for her own priorities creates a fine line she now must walk," Parker wrote before warning, "But, in all honesty, her candidacy seems like a spoof — Trumpian in its audacity and absurd in its sentimentality."
"It’s almost enough to make a person want to secede from the state," she concluded.