Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Targeting of trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride is latest stunt of publicity-hungry Nancy Mace

Publicity-hungry Congresswoman Nancy Mace's newest stunt is targeting trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride.

When Sarah McBride was elected as the first trans woman in Congress, there was celebration in the LGBTQ community. However, with this celebration was some concern as to how she would be treated.

Our concern was justified.

From The Advocate:

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, introduced a resolution Monday that would bar transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol. The measure, widely seen as a direct attack on Democratic U.S. Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first out transgender member of Congress, has been sharply criticized as discriminatory and politically motivated. 

 The text of the resolution uses the transphobic dog whistle “biological males” and states that allowing trans women into women’s spaces “jeopardizes the safety and dignity” of women in the Capitol and House office buildings. It tasks the House Sergeant-at-Arms with enforcing the ban. Trans women are women. 

 Mace defended the proposal, telling Fox News, “The sanctity of protecting women and standing up against the Left’s systematic erasure of biological women starts here in the nation’s Capitol.” 

 McBride has responded to Mace's resolution by saying the following:

 “This is a blatant attempt from far-right extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing,” McBride told The Advocate. “We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars. Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible, and that’s what I’m focused on.” 

It simply goes to show that Mace was probably celebrating McBride's election with the LGBTQ community but for completely different reasons. This issue is not about McBride, who poses no danger to anyone, especially when she uses the restroom. This is yet another attempt by Mace to grab headlines and attention. It's her brand.  While McBride seems to be devoted to serving her constituents, Mace has spent considerable time in Congress either flip flopping, betraying colleagues, engaging in stunts, or making questionable comments all designed to gain and maximize media amplification.

Such as

The time in October of last year when she wore a white t-shirt with a giant scarlet A on it (imitating the character of Hester Prynne in 'The Scarlet Letter') while claiming that she was being demonized for casting a vote against then Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Mace was accused of stabbing McCarthy in the back with her vote because he had helped her get elected to Congress.

The time in 2022 when she made a complete fool of herself by publicly going to Trump Towers and supplicating herself to him and MAGA after he endorsed opponent.  She apparently learned not to do it again. In 2024, she publicly supported him for president while no doubt hoping that the past statements she made against him were forgotten (Politico has a list of them). In supporting Trump, Mace was accused of betraying Nikki Haley, who also sought the GOP nomination and who had also campaigned for her against Trump's endorse candidate. In turning her back on Haley, Mace said some pretty ugly things about her.

The time in November 2021 when she went on Fox News and CNN giving two directly opposite messages about COVID. And on the same day, too. While on Fox, she praised "natural immunity" but on CNN, she spoke highly about vaccines.

 Even her own Republican colleagues have voiced anger at her constant flip-flopping of positions, calling her an "unserious person." And last by not least, she has had an ugly issue with staff turnover. According to Mediaite in February of this year:

Every single staffer working Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-SC) congressional office on November 1 of last year has either quit or been fired, according to a stunning new report from The Daily Beast. In the three months since then, eight members of Mace’s staff have quit and one, her former chief of staff Dan Hanlon, has been fired. Hanlon is now challenging his old boss in the GOP primary in South Carolina’s first congressional district.

 . . . The Beast also collected several damning quotes from former Mace staffers who derided her as “abusive,” “delusional,” and “a walking teleprompter.” “All this is why pretty much every staffer and fellow member on the Hill thinks she’s a joke,” said one particularly scathing employee. “Also a big reason why she’s only able to hire former George Santos staffers right now.” “For Mace it was all about control. She didn’t see the staff as people but as property,” recalled another.

And a year before, Mediaite also spotlighted another Daily Beast article talking about how Mace is more concern with media appearances than her job as a Congresswoman:

If you’ve been seeing a lot of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) lately, it’s not an accident, it’s actually her plan. Jake Lahut of The Daily Beast got his hands on Mace’s staff handbook, which reads more like a public relations campaign than a policy outline. In addition to perusing the staff handbook, Lahut spoke to three former staffers of the freshman representative. And their feedback was consistent — Nancy Mace is more about promoting Nancy Mace than making laws.

All in all, the only woman Mace seems to be concerned with is herself. Her supposed fear about McBride using the women's restroom looks like a tactic designed to get herself in front of the cameras. 

Mace is Congress's answer to the late author and publicity hound Jacqueline Susann, but with considerably less talent and embarrassingly more desperation. She's like one of those never-was models you see on the red carpets of movie premieres and awards shows wearing something outrageous in hopes of getting a bit of attention, however brief.  Then they disappear to plan their stunt for the next red carpet.

Unfortunately, Mace won't do anyone the pleasure of disappearing. Her being in Congress means we have to deal with her antics on a regular basis. And to me, that makes her more dangerous than any trans woman needing to use the restroom.