Mace only cares about her own career
Dean Obeidallah at The Dean's Report:
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace wants you to believe that the real reason she is so vocal about banning the first transgender member of Congress, Rep-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del), from using the women’s room on Capitol Hill is because she is so damn worried about women’s safety. No, this isn’t about Mace scoring political points by demonizing a member of a vulnerable community—as Trump’s campaign did with anti-transgender ads this election—it’s about protecting “women and girls.”
To prove that, Mace appeared on every media outlet that would have her, increasingly ratcheting up her rhetoric to make that point. On Tuesday, she told all who would listen, “I am not going to stand for a man, you know someone with a penis in the women's locker room – that's not okay.” Later she added, "I’m absolutely 100% gonna stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women’s restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms,” adding, “I will be there fighting you every step of the way." Come Wednesday, she was back on her media tour saying that the idea of McBride using the women’s room, “is an assault on women.” She later repeated that point claiming that “a man being a biological man, a man with a penis, male genitalia– being in a women’s locker room is an assault on women.” She added, “I’m gonna do everything I can to protect women and girls.” Mace—clearly loving the media attention--later Wednesday doubled down declaring, “Oh you thought threatening me would silence me? No. I just doubled down and filed a new bill to protect women and girls across the entire country on all federal property everywhere.”
But here is the problem with Mace telling us she is so deeply concerned with the safety of women. This same Mace voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women’s Act, has repeatedly praised sexual predator Trump and has been silent in face of Trump nominating Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth to his cabinet despite reporting both committed rape. For starters, in 2021 Mace voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA.) This seminal law—first enacted in 1994—was designed to combat the epidemic of violence against women which still sees three women killed every day in the U.S. by a current or former husband or boyfriend. Overall, each year in the U.S., there are nearly 5.3 million incidents of domestic violence directed against women aged 18 and older. The reauthorization of the VAWA was designed to provide additional resources to further improve prevention to all forms of violence against women including sexual violence, increase funding to help prosecute those who attack women and provide support to survivors. But Mace chose not to join the nearly 30 other House Republicans who supported this law to protect women and girls--instead opposing it to score political points with the GOP base.
Then there is Mace’s support for Donald Trump. Mace—who praised Trump during her speech at the Republican National Convention this summer—knows that Trump was found liable in 2023 by a federal jury of sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll. And Trump did so in a “dressing room” of a store—one of the very places Mace cited as being concerned about women and girls being safe in from transgender women. Trump also bragged about walking through the dressing rooms of the Miss America pageant he owned to see the young female contestants change.
[...] Violence against women and girls is a real issue. When though it comes to violence by transgender women in a bathroom against cisgender women, studies have found no increase in safety concerns. However, transgender women—and especially those of color—are suffering an “epidemic” of violence directed against them as a new report details. What Mace is engaging in is typical GOP hypocrisy. Her concerns for women and girls only extends to when it helps her politically. But when it helps her to be silent or worse praise a sexual predator like Trump, she will despicably do that as well to bolster her career.
Dean Obeidallah is 100% correct that Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)’s justification of conducting a transphobic crusade against trans woman Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-DE) by banning trans women from women’s restrooms at the Capitol based on “protecting women and girls” is so full of shit.
