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Muses Matt Bellamy has told NME that society wants a new type of revolution.

Following the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the current cost of living crisis, the frontman said he believes change is coming.

I think everyone knows we want a revolution, but we definitely dont want a bunch of authoritarian lunatics from the right. Thats the last thing we want, he told NME in this weeks Big Read cover story, ahead of the Devon rockers new album,Will Of The People, being released in August.

And also we dont want a total communist situation on the hard left either. I think what we want is something completely new. I dont think it exists out there at the moment, but I think theres a new type of politics that could emerge.

I would call it Meta-Centrism. Its an oscillation between liberal, libertarian values for individuals your social life, the ability to be whatever gender you are, all that kind of stuff but then more socialist on things like land ownership, nature and energy distribution. Its oscillation between the two poles.

Matt Bellamy of Museon the cover of NME

He continued: I think theres a way of doing that but theres no language that enables people to think that way. Youre either hard left or youre hard right Im not with any of these; I feel like theres a third way. Theres no existing side that describes what Im looking for yetIm fundamentally anti-authoritarian thats just my nature; I was born that way. So if I see certain things, on either side, that [make you think], Dont start telling me to do that or live like that, it doesnt matter where its coming from: I will probably resist it.

Bellamy also said he believes society is on the brink of a disruptive transition.

He added: Everyones doing everything they can to pretend thats not going to happen or to try and maintain the status quo [but] the longer they hold on to this, the worse its going to be when it happens. If we can just make the transition a little bit more gradual, it might happen a bit less violently.

But its gonna be a big, big shift. Youre talking about an economic collapse, shift and reinvention, total energy transition.

In the same interview, the frontman also claimed thatDonald Trumps reign of division in the US allowed Vladimir Putin to cause chaos in the West.

Meanwhile, Muse kicked off their summer tour earlier this monthat Rock Am Ring 2022, dusting off rarities and performing the unreleased track Kill Or Be Killed and recent single Will Of The People for the first time. The set also included a live debut for Bellamys solo track Behold, The Glove.

The bands summer dates will see them perform at festivals across Europe, including Firenze Rocks, Isle Of Wight Festival, Mallorca Live and more.

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Muse's Matt Bellamy says "everyone wants a new type of revolution - NME

The ballot for the North Carolina General Election in November may become a little more crowded if a U.S. Senate third-party candidates approval to appear on the ballot is granted.

Green Party candidate Matthew Hoh said on his Twitter account on June 8 that his campaign has turned in over 22,000 signatures of which 16,000 were verified. The states requirement is 13,865.

According to Patrick Gannon, public information director for the N.C. State Board of Elections, the board wont know for sure how many valid signatures they received until a review by the State Board and county boards of elections is completed by the end of June. Once the review is complete, a meeting of the State Board of Elections will be scheduled to consider the recognition of the party.

A political party can be recognized in the state if it meets one of three criteria. The Green Party chose the option of filing petitions with signatures from 0.25% of all voters in the most recent election for governor, with at least 200 registered voters from each of 3 N.C. congressional districts. Alternatively, a partys candidate for governor in the most recent state election qualifies by winning at least 2% of the total vote. Lastly, a party can qualify if it was recognized in 70% of all states in the preceding presidential election.

If Hoh is certified by the NCSBE, a state party convention announcing the nomination would also have to take place before July 1 for Hoh to appear on the ballot in November, along with Republican U.S. Congressman Ted Budd, Democrat Cheri Beasley, and Libertarian Shannon Bray, who are vying for the seat of the retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr.

The North Carolina Green Party bills itself as an anti-racist, feminist political party that supports gender equality and gender diversity and rejects capitalism in favor of a democratically run economy that responds to the needs of the community and planet.

According to his campaign website, Hoh, of Wake Forest, served in the U.S. Marines and worked at the State Department until resigning in 2009 in protest over what he calls the American escalation of war. He supports abortion rights, universal health care, legalizing all forms of narcotics, housing as a human right, abolishing the Electoral College, term limits for members of Congress, and giving control of police forces to the communities they serve, including hiring, firing, and disciplinary action, not only for the officers themselves, but would also include councils, mayors, county commissioners, district attorneys, and other officials for the policies they create and implement, among other progressive ideas.

The Green Party was officially recognized in the state in 2018 after the General Assembly voted to lower the qualification requirements for a party to appear on the ballot. The party lost its recognition in 2021 after failing to turn out 2% of the vote for gubernatorial or presidential candidates in the 2020 general election. It has never won a major election in North Carolina.

What impact will Hoh have on the other candidates if he is certified to be on the ballot?

The Green Partys impact on the 2022 election will be minimal, said Andy Jackson, director of the John Locke Foundations Civitas Center for Public Integrity. Their presidential candidate got less than one-half of one percent of the vote in North Carolina in 2020 (0.22%) and they did not even nominate a candidate for governor or any other office in the Council of State. The weak performance of their candidates is why they lost their official party status in North Carolina after the 2020 election.

Jackson said the party will be the strongest in progressive areas such as Durham and Asheville and will mainly pull votes from Democrats in those areas. But Democrats have such a strong advantage in those areas that Green Party candidates will not win enough votes to act as spoilers and help Republicans win there.

He added that the Green Party will almost certainly cost Democrats fewer votes than the Libertarian Party costs Republicans, and that research has found that Libertarians pull about twice as many votes from Republicans as they do from Democrats.

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Green Party Senate candidate may appear on N.C.s ballot in November - The Richmond Observer

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied review for a case brought by an Oakland couple regarding their owner move-in eviction, in a blow to all landlords who want to legally challenge city requirements regarding tenant buyouts in no-fault evictions.

The real estate lobby and landlords in Bay Area cities that have strict rules about tenant relocation payments were closely watching this case, which dates back to 2018. Landlords Lyndsey and Sharon Ballinger, who were both enlisted in the Air Force when they moved out of their Oakland home in order to be transferred to Washington, D.C. in 2015, came back in late 2018 to find that they could not just politely ask their tenants to leave. They were required under Oakland law to pay $6,582 in relocation expenses to the tenants, which they paid, but they then sued the city over what they considered illegal government seizure of property.

Libertarian activists nationwide, and real estate interests, saw this as a good case to run up the chain in the hopes of invalidating pro-tenant laws like this, the likes of which have been on the books in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose, and Los Angeles for years but Oakland's law only took effect in 2018. The libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation took on the case.

In 2019, a federal judge ruled against the Ballingers, saying that the "[Oakland] City Councils legislative purpose, to promote community stability and help tenants avoid displacement and high moving costs, was a legitimate one."

They appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit, which ruled against them in February. "The Ballingers voluntarily chose to lease their property and to evict under the ordinance conduct that required them to pay the relocation fee," wrote Trump-appointed Judge Ryan Nelson in the 3-0 ruling. Nelson further wrote that the Oakland ordinance was not an illegal government seizure of money or property, but was a standard "regulation of the landlord-tenant relationship," which the Supreme Court had consistently upheld. Cities are permitted to charge taxes and fees to property owners for various reasons, including for things like hazardous waste cleanup.

And as the Chronicle reports, the Supreme Court has essentially concurred, though without any written decision or evidence of dissent.

The Pacific Legals Foundation has tried to set this up as a conflict between two hard-working members of the military and their former tenants, who were apparently tech workers.

"The Ballingers are disappointed that the court failed to recognize that the Oakland law forcing them to pay their software industry tenants $6,500 before they could re-occupy their own home, in accordance with the terms of lease executed before the law was even enacted, is unconstitutional," the foundation said in a comment after the Ninth Circuit ruling four months ago.

But tenants' rights advocates argue that such laws are necessary especially in places like the Bay Area with extremely high rents.

Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker said, in response to the Supreme Court's denial, that "the modest relocation assistance landlords must provide to tenants who are displaced, by no fault of their own, in an owner move-in eviction, provides critical support for those facing unanticipated moving expenses and other relocation costs," and can help tenants avoid homelessness. Parker previously has cited the fact that many displaced tenants lose the rent-control protection they may have had for years, and they face a rental market with exorbitantly higher rents than they were paying, leading to potential displacement out of their community altogether.

J. David Breemer of the Pacific Legal Foundation said in a statement, per the Chronicle, that the Ballingers are disappointed but they hope the Supreme Court, in a future case, "will ultimately agree that rental owners are entitled to real constitutional protection when government requires them to pay off tenants before moving back into their own home."

Previously: Oakland Landlords Lose Case Over Paying Tenants $6,500 To Leave

Photo: Ian Hutchinson

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Supreme Court Rejects Oakland Couple's Case Opposing Tenant Payouts, In Win For Tenants' Rights - SFist

Elon Musk at the opening ceremony of a new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. Photo: Patrick Pleul/Reuters

Elon Musk styles himself as a character out of science fiction, posing as an ingenious inventor who will send a crewed mission to Mars by 2029 or imagining himself as Isaac Asimovs Hari Seldon, a farseeing visionary planning ahead centuries to protect the human species from existential threats. Even his geeky humour seems inspired by his love for Douglas Adamss Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

But while he may take inspiration from science fiction, as Jill Lepore has observed, hes a bad reader of the genre. He idolises Kim Stanley Robinson and Iain M. Banks while ignoring their socialist politics, and he overlooks major speculative traditions such as feminist and Afrofuturist science fiction. Like many Silicon Valley CEOs, he primarily sees science fiction as a repository of cool inventions waiting to be created.

Musk engages with most science fiction in a superficial manner, but he is a careful reader of one author: Robert A. Heinlein. He named Heinleins The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress from 1966 as one of his favourite novels. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a libertarian classic second only to Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged in its propaganda value for neoliberal capitalism. It inspired the creation of the Heinlein Prize for Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities, which Musk won in 2011. (Jeff Bezos is another recent winner.)

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress popularised the motto Theres no such thing as a free lunch, often used by defenders of capitalism and opponents of progressive taxation and social programmes. Its about a lunar colony that frees itself, via advanced and cleverly applied technology, from the resource-sucking parasitism of Earth and its welfare dependents. In this instance, it appears that Musk correctly caught the authors drift.

No such thing as a free lunch

Heinlein filled his fiction with loudmouthed men who claim to be accomplished polymaths. They boss everyone around, make decisions on a whim and ignore advice regardless of the consequences. In other words, they act just like the CEO of Tesla, Inc. Likewise, Musk often attracts investors through publicity stunts rather than proven science and engineering, a self-marketing strategy that puts him, as Colby Cosh has pointed out, in the same dubious company as Heinleins space entrepreneur D.D. Harriman in his story The Man Who Sold The Moon.

But Heinlein wasnt in the business of criticising free-market capitalism far from it. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress depicts a Moon colony forced by the centralised Lunar Authority to ship food to Earth where it goes to feed starving people in places like India. The lunar citizens, or Loonies, revolt against the state monopoly and establish a society characterised by free markets and minimal government. The Loonies welcome the Malthusian catastrophe that will follow their withdrawal of nutritional assistance from Earth because they believe population collapse will ultimately make the welfare dependents down there more efficient people and better fed in the long run.

In addition to basic libertarianism, the novel promotes what Evgeny Morozov would call technological solutionism, the belief that every social or political problem can be solved with the right technical fix. This ideologys roots go back to the 1930s technocracy movement, which, as Lepore points out, numbered Musks grandfather among its adherents. Musk has taken up this legacy, promoting the electric car as the solution to climate change. In Musks view, private innovation rather than state intervention or activist politics will save the world.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress follows the same mindset. Although the Loonies advocate libertarian principles we learn that the most basic human right is the right to bargain in a free marketplace these prove secondary to the practical problem that Earth is draining Lunas water and other resources at a rate they predict will result in mass starvation on the Moon.

Their solution to this problem touts itself as equally scientific. In the book we learn that an insurrectionary group is no different from an electric motor: it must be designed by experts with function in mind. The Loonies revolutionary conspiracy decides that revolutions are not won by enlisting the masses. Revolution is a science only a few are competent to practice. It depends on correct organisation and, above all, on communications.

Acting on this principle, one of the co-conspirators, Mannie the computer technician, designs their clandestine cell system like a computer diagram or neural network, mapping out how information will flow between revolutionists. They determine the best way of organising a cadre not through democratic deliberation or practical experience but through cybernetic principles.

Mannies disinterest in the messy business of political persuasion is a strength, not a weakness, because it allows him to see people as mere nodes in the network. Indeed, Mannys narration throughout the novel uses engineering terms to describe human beings and social interactions. He describes one woman as [s]elf-correcting, like a machine with proper negative feedback. Mannie, who boasts a cyborg arm, treats others as mechanisms in need of tinkering. Musks brain-machine interface company, Neuralink, attempts to operationalise this idea.

Also read: Elon Musk Thinks Neuralink Could Merge Humans With AI Neuroscience Says Wait

For Mannie and his co-conspirators, democratic input from the revolutions mass base is noise that can only interfere with the signals transmitted from the elite leadership outward to their interconnected web of subordinates. Even when it comes time to establish a constitution for the Luna Free State, the conspirators use clever procedural tricks to do an end run around everyone in the congress who is not a member of their clique. Smart individuals always win out over mass democracy in Heinleins fiction and thats a good thing.

The novel takes solutionism to the extreme when Mannie enlists the help of a sentient supercomputer named Mike to lead the overthrow of Earths colonial government on Luna. Anticipating the exuberance of the dot-com era, Heinlein suggests that a computer can foment change better than any movement or organisation. Mikes revolutionary tactics reflect the novels obsession with communications: much of the book is devoted to the conspiracys attempts to shift public opinion against the Lunar Authority and sow confusion among the governments ranks through hacking and media campaigns.

Like the keyboard warriors of our present moment the hyperonline Musk among them Heinleins revolutionary elite hope to change society by manipulating information.

When revolutionary war breaks out, Mikes technical superiority emerges as the deciding factor. Using electromagnetic catapults, the supercomputer hurls rocks at Earth that impact with the force of atomic explosions. The Federated Nations of Earth are forced to grant their lunar colonies independence after this calculated show of force. In the end, the Loonies achieve political emancipation thanks to a gadget.

Markets and machines

These ideas would later feed into what Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron call the Californian ideology, a combination of techno-utopianism and economic libertarianism espoused by digital artisans such as software engineers working in Silicon Valley. As Barbrook and Cameron note, the Californian ideologys evangelists in the 1990s tended to be science-fiction fans who loved Heinlein and fancied themselves countercultural rebels bringing about a golden age of freedom by building the electronic marketplace. They believed that once unleashed from physical as well as governmental constraints, the free market would produce new technologies to address every possible problem or need.

Even more fundamentally, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress reflects a prevailing dogma that promotes cybernetics as the key to understanding the universe. Under this belief system, everything from markets to ecosystems appear as information processors operating based on feedback mechanisms. Like a thermostat, they respond to changing circumstances without conscious human control. Because the economy is a self-regulating system too complex for anyone to understand let alone steer, the Californian ideologists suggest, it should be insulated from democratic interference by a global legal order developed by neoliberal experts.

Musk has immersed himself in this ideology since his involvement with PayPal in the 1990s, and so it makes sense that he would be drawn to The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Hes so mired in this way of thinking that he entertains the idea that all of reality is a computer simulation. In many ways, Musk models himself on Mannie the computer technician, the wisecracking rebel who only wants the government to get out of his way so he can make things work.

When Musk encounters traffic congestion, he doesnt see it as a failure of urban planning or a problem following from underinvestment in mass transit. Instead, he sees it as an opportunity to build a hyperloop. His solution to everything is an invention developed and marketed by rogue geniuses in the private sector. His faith in technofixes is so great that he imagines machines as potential overlords waiting to take over. There is more than a hint of Mike in his fear of an impending robot apocalypse.

Even his efforts to acquire Twitter and strip it of content restrictions seem to be motivated by the same ideology. Fred Turner argues that Musks opposition to content moderation stems from a belief that information wants to be free. When speech counts as data rather than dialogue, it becomes impossible to see why hate speech might be harmful.

Musks belief system rules out the idea that society is riven by antagonisms, least of all class struggle. He will always see problems like climate disaster as purely technical rather than derived from the profit-seeking behavior of the corporations ruining the planet. If science fiction reveals the contradictions of capitalism and encourages us to imagine alternatives, then Musks sci-fi persona is a cheap imitation. As a libertarian and a technocrat, the best he can do is fantasise about handing the revolution over to the machines.

Jordan S. Carroll is a visiting assistant professor of English at the University of Puget Sound. He is the author of Reading the Obscene: Transgressive Editors and the Class Politics of US Literature (Stanford 2021), and he is currently working on a book on race, science fiction and the alt-right.

This article was first published by Jacobin and has been republished here with permission.

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Why Understanding This '60s Sci-Fi Novel Is Key To Understanding Elon Musk The Wire Science - The Wire Science

CHARLESTON, S.C. At a campaign event the weekend before South Carolinas primary election, Tom Rice, a conservative congressman now on the wrong side of former President Donald J. Trump, offered a confession.

I made my next election a little bit harder than the ones in the past, he said on Friday, imploring his supporters a group he called reasonable, rational folks and good, solid mainstream Republicans to support him at the polls on Tuesday.

Two days before and some 100 miles south, Representative Nancy Mace, another Palmetto State Republican who drew the former presidents ire, recognized her position while knocking doors on a sweltering morning.

I accept everything. I take responsibility. I dont back down, she said, confident that voters in her Lowcountry district would be sympathetic. They know that hey, even if I disagree with her, at least shes going to tell me where she is, she added.

Ms. Mace and Mr. Rice are the former presidents two targets for revenge on Tuesday. After a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, they were among those who blamed the president for the attack. Ms. Mace, just days into her first term, said that Mr. Trumps false rhetoric about the presidential election being stolen had stoked the riot and threatened her life. Mr. Rice, whose district borders Ms. Maces to the north, immediately condemned Mr. Trump and joined nine other Republicans (but not Ms. Mace) in later voting for his impeachment.

Now, in the face of primary challenges backed by the former president, the two have taken starkly different approaches to political survival. Ms. Mace has taken the teeth out of her criticisms of Mr. Trump, seeking instead to discuss her conservative voting record and libertarian streak in policy discussions. Mr. Rice, instead, has dug in, defending his impeachment vote and further excoriating Mr. Trump in the process.

Should they fend off their primary challengers on Tuesday, Ms. Mace and Mr. Rice will join a growing list of incumbents who have endured the wrath of the G.O.P.s Trump wing without ending their political careers. Yet their conflicting strategies a reflection of both their political instincts and the differing politics of their districts will offer a look at just how far a candidate can go in their defiance of Mr. Trump.

In the eyes of her supporters, Ms. Maces past comments are less concrete than a vote to impeach. She has aimed to improve her relationship with pro-Trump portions of the G.O.P., spending nearly every day of the past several weeks on the campaign trail to remind voters of her Republican bona fides, not her unfiltered criticism of Mr. Trump.

Everyone knows I was unhappy that day, she said of Jan. 6. The entire world knows. All my constituents know.

Her district, which stretches from the left-leaning corners of Charleston to Hilton Heads conservative country clubs, has an electorate that includes far-right Republicans and liberal Democrats. Ms. Mace has marketed herself not only as a conservative candidate but also one who can defend the politically diverse district against a Democratic rival in November.

It is and always will be a swing district, she said. Im a conservative, but I also understand I dont represent only conservatives.

That is not a positive message for all in the Lowcountry, however.

Ted Huffman, owner of Bluffton BBQ, a restaurant nestled in the heart of Blufftons touristy town center, said he was supporting Katie Arrington, the Trump-backed former state representative taking on Ms. Mace. What counted against Ms. Mace was not her feud with Mr. Trump but her relative absence in the restaurants part of the district, Mr. Huffman said.

Katie Arrington, shes been here, Mr. Huffman said, recalling the few times Ms. Arrington visited Bluffton BBQ. Ive never seen Nancy Mace.

During a Summerville event with Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, Ms. Mace gave a stump speech that ran down a list of right-wing talking points: high inflation driven by President Bidens economic agenda, an influx of immigrants at the Southern border, support for military veterans. She did not mention Mr. Trump.

Ms. Mace predicts a decisive primary win against Ms. Arrington, who has placed her Trump endorsement at the center of her campaign message. A victory in the face of that, Ms. Mace said, would prove the weakness of any endorsement.

Typically I dont put too much weight into endorsements because they dont matter, she said. Its really the candidate. Its the person people are voting for thats what matters.

Speaking from her front porch in Moncks Corner, S.C., Deidre Stechmeyer, a 42-year-old stay-at-home mother, said she was not closely following Ms. Maces race. But when asked about the congresswomans comments condemning the Jan. 6 riot, she shifted.

Thats something that I agree with her on, she said, adding that she supported Ms. Maces decision to certify the Electoral College vote a move that some in the G.O.P. have pointed to as a definitive betrayal of Mr. Trump. There was just so much conflict and uncertainty. I feel like it shouldve been certified.

Mr. Rices impeachment vote, on the other hand, presents a more identifiable turnabout.

Its part of the reason Ms. Mace has a comfortable lead in her race, according to recent polls, while Mr. Rice faces far more primary challengers and is most likely headed to a runoff with a Trump-endorsed state representative, Russell Fry, after Tuesday.

Mr. Frys campaign has centered Mr. Rices impeachment vote in its message, turning the vote into a referendum on Mr. Rices five terms in Congress.

Its about more than Donald Trump. Its about an incumbent congressman losing the trust of a very conservative district, said Matt Moore, former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party and an adviser to Mr. Frys campaign.

Still, Mr. Rice is betting on his hyper-conservative economic record and once-unapologetic support of the former president to win him a sixth term in one of South Carolinas most pro-Trump congressional districts.

In an interview, Mr. Rice noted the Republican Partys shift toward pushing social issues over policy something he said had been driven in part by the former presidents wing of the party, which helped redefine it.

Why are these midterms so important? This years races could tip the balance of power in Congress to Republicans, hobbling President Bidens agenda for the second half of his term. They will also test former President Donald J. Trumps role as a G.O.P. kingmaker. Heres what to know:

What are the midterm elections? Midterms take place two years after a presidential election, at the midpoint of a presidential term hence the name. This year, a lot of seats are up for grabs, including all 435 House seats, 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 of 50 governorships.

What do the midterms mean for Biden? With slim majorities in Congress, Democrats have struggled to pass Mr. Bidens agenda. Republican control of the House or Senate would make the presidents legislative goals a near-impossibility.

What are the races to watch? Only a handful of seats will determine if Democrats maintain control of the House over Republicans, and a single state could shift power in the 50-50 Senate. Here are 10 races to watch in the Houseand Senate, as well as several key governors contests.

When are the key races taking place? The primary gauntletis already underway. Closely watched racesin Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia wereheld in May, with more taking place through the summer. Primaries run until September before the general election on Nov. 8.

Go deeper. What is redistrictingand how does it affect the midterm elections? How does polling work? How do you register to vote? Weve got more answers to your pressing midterm questions here.

He also laid out what the Republican Party should stand for: less taxes, less government, more freedom, individual responsibility, the American Dream, he said. If were not for that, then, gosh, I dont know what the Republican Partys about.

The impeachment vote has also won him favor with some voters. Rick Giles, a Rice supporter in Conway, S.C., said he admired Mr. Rice for his vote.

He stood up to Trump when a lot of people didnt, Mr. Giles said. He stood on his values. He didnt go with the party line. I like that.

Mr. Rices district, in South Carolinas northeast corner along the North Carolina border, is one of the states most conservative, favoring Republicans by nearly 30 points. And before the impeachment vote, Mr. Rice was one of Mr. Trumps most staunch supporters, with a voting record that matched Mr. Trumps stance more than 90 percent of the time.

Its not about my voting record. Its not about my support of Trump. Its not about my ideology. Its not because this other guys any good, Mr. Rice said. Theres only one reason why hes doing this. And its just for revenge.

Mr. Trump has had less success in the states at the root of his primary challenger push. In Georgia, two of his most prominent perceived enemies, Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, handily won their primaries against challengers backed by the former president. The two House races where he did not endorse incumbents have gone to a runoff.

Mark Sanford, a former congressman who was bested by Ms. Arrington in 2018 after Mr. Trump backed her primary challenge, predicted that Ms. Mace would prevail.

I think shell be fine, he said, pointing to the states increasing number of transplants from northern states who tend to favor establishment candidates. That bodes well for Nancy, it doesnt bode well for Katie.

Still, he said, Tuesdays outcome is unlikely to change the former presidents approach to politics.

Its binary with Trump, Mr. Sanford said. Youre not halfway in, halfway out youre either in or out.

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Two Targets of Trumps Ire Take Different Paths in South Carolina - The New York Times