Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican congresswoman, has been making the headlines recently — not for policy achievements but for her relentless tirades against transgender people on social media. In less than a week, the 46-year-old politician posted over 400 tweets, with an overwhelming focus on banning trans individuals from women’s restrooms.
Her seemingly never-ending rant started after Sarah McBride of Delaware made history as the first openly transgender member of Congress. One inflammatory statement from Mace that is ticking many off right now insinuates being transgender is a mental illness. “Your mental illness will not become my new reality,” read the statement she shared on all of her social media accounts on Tuesday.
This got a lot of people talking, including The View co-host Ana Navarro-Cárdenas, who did not mince words in her reaction to Mace’s evident obsession with trans rights. She even claimed that Mace seems to be the one who is mentally ill based on her recent social media activity.
“Fixed it for her. Folks, if somebody — anybody — tweets about something — anything — +400 times in less than a week, maybe she is the mentally ill one,” Navarro-Cárdenas wrote while retweeting the image Mace shared and altering its overlay text to read: “Nancy, your mental illness will not become my new reality.”
Navarro-Cárdenas’s brave gesture comes after Mace’s fixation on trans issues reached a new peak recently when she introduced a bill banning transgender women from using women’s bathrooms in Capitol Hill facilities. According to the congresswoman, the bill was directly tied to McBride’s election, saying, “Biological men shouldn’t be in women’s private spaces, period.”
The bill has since received widespread criticism, with commentators like Andy Levy of The New Abnormal podcast calling it an act of “bigotry and bullying.” Levy said in a recent podcast episode: “I can’t even get to how disgusting this is… It is just as strong a case of just bigotry and bullying that I can imagine.”
However, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson appeared to endorse Mace’s stance, issuing a statement last week, saying, “All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex. It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol.”
Amid her anti-trans stunt, Mace has become a polarizing figure within the government. Not that she wasn’t one to begin with. Last year, she racked up $16,700 in state ethics fines after repeatedly failing to file quarterly campaign disclosures, as per the South Carolina Daily Gazette. Now she’s being hailed as the “transphobic Cruella de Vil” by The Daily Show host Desi Lydic for being so hung up on trans people’s bathroom use instead of the more pressing legislative priorities for the country.
Mace’s recent actions have also sparked questions about the role of personal biases in policymaking. While her supporters view her as a defender of traditional values, critics see her as a cheerleader for hostility against marginalized people. Regardless of which side people pick, Mace’s rage-tweeting marathon has prompted many to ask: Is this the kind of leadership the country truly needs?