Nancy Mace Threatened by Trans Colleague, Not Alleged Rapists

Representatives Nancy Mace and Matt Gaetz. Photo: Jabin Botsford/Getty Images

Earlier this month, Sarah McBride made history as the first transgender person elected to Congress. On Monday, Representative Nancy Mace responded by introducing a measure to ban McBride from using women’s bathrooms in the Capitol. If adopted, the resolution would ban all “members, officers, and employees of the House from using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”

Many people accused Mace of being a bully and going after McBride only because she’s desperate for attention. The South Carolina Republican did tweet about which bathrooms she thinks McBride should be allowed to use an astounding 28 times in the past 16 hours. And a several of those posts were particularly nasty toward her future House colleague:

But Mace said preemptively attacking McBride over facilities she hasn’t even tried to use is just “common sense.” In her social-media posts and remarks to reporters, Mace has called herself “a feminist protecting women and girls” and cited her experience as the first woman to graduate from the Citadel and as a survivor of rape, domestic violence, and abuse:

Considering Mace’s professed commitment to protecting other women and girls from abuse, you might think she would have a lot to say about the biggest topic in Washington this week: Donald Trump nominating multiple men accused of sexual misconduct to his Cabinet. Yet weirdly, Mace had only glowing things to say on CNN about Cabinet picks Matt Gaetz (who has been accused of statutory rape), Pete Hegseth (who paid off a woman who had accused him of rape), and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who has been accused of sexually assaulting his family’s former nanny):

Mace’s general stance on who poses a threat to women in the Capitol doesn’t really follow “common sense.” Studies show that letting transgender people use their preferred facilities does not increase criminal activity in these spaces but that transgender people are generally four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime.

So why is Mace raising alarms about McBride, who hasn’t been accused of sexual misconduct, but not the various politicians she supports who have? Unfortunately, she probably won’t clarify her logic. In March, George Stephanopoulos asked Mace how, as an outspoken survivor, she squares her Trump endorsement with the civil-trial verdict that found him liable for sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll (not to mention more than two dozen other sexual-misconduct allegations). She deflected and insisted the ABC News host’s questions were just an attempt to “shame” her.