Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) presents documents related to Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) as she participates in a House Armed Services Committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC., April 29. gettyimagesbank-TNS

For those of us struggling to understand today’s Republican Party, this past week’s primary elections in South Carolina offered a useful case study.

The key developments were these: Rep. Nancy Mace — a former conservative rising star who seems tailor-made for the Trump-era attention economy — finished fifth in her state’s Republican primary for governor.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham — who seems like a relic from an earlier time in the Republican Party — easily dispatched a wealthy “America First” primary challenger.

At first glance, none of this makes sense.

Making matters more confusing, when it comes to the defining “issue” of our time — Donald Trump — Graham and Mace have both spent years criticizing him and then crawling back to him.

Until, that is, one found the door locked.

In 2026, Graham flourished, while Mace crashed and burned. Every zig and zag that led them here was all about Trump.

Graham once was one of his fiercest critics. During that first presidential campaign, he called Trump a “demagogue,” “the world’s biggest jackass” and a “race-baiting xenophobic religious bigot,” just to cite a few of his zingers.

Trump returned fire and famously gave out Graham’s phone........

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