Transphobic Representative Nancy Mace has been making the worst possible name for herself over the last few months, as she makes bullish bathroom tactics her calling card.
It started when incoming Representative Sarah McBride was elected to Congress, elevating the first trans politician to a position in the key governmental body. Mace immediately launched into a hate campaign targeting McBride, as she gleefully slapped signage across the halls of Congress dictating which bathrooms which members are permitted to use.
It was a vapid, ugly tactic, and it made Mace allies among the similarly soulless Donald Trump base, and enemies among pretty much everyone else. It also made a name for the previously-unknown Representative, which was clearly a high point of her 2024.
That kind of prominence comes with downsides, however, and Mace discovered one on Dec. 11, just weeks after Speaker of the House Mike Johnson agreed with her bitter bathroom demands. The 47-year-old Representative reported, earlier this week, that she was “physically accosted” by a man at the U.S. Capitol, supposedly over Mace’s “fight to protect women.”
Initially, her tweet was a bit more colorful. Before it was edited, it blasted Mace’s attacker as a “pro-tr*ns man,” adding that she requires a “new brace” for her wrist and ice for her arm, and polishing the whole hateful spiel off with “your tr*ns violence and threats on my life will only make me double down. FAFO.”
The Representative claims that her arm was injured in the attack, and has since been sporting an arm brace. The man accused of attacking her, 33-year-old James McIntyre, was arrested by Capitol police, and Mace has been rallying against the lack of support from the left ever since.
But then new details started to emerge. Mace’s initially brazen statement started to look a lot less legitimate once eyewitnesses started chiming in, and suddenly her claims look more like a plea for attention than an actual attack.
All that attention Mace was getting after her soulless bathroom stunt has been fading, over the last few weeks, and it seems the Congresswoman is feeling its absence. So she decided to fabricate a little victimhood, paint a target on trans backs, and scoop up some headlines in the process — but unfortunately didn’t think her alleged lie through.
In the wake of Mace’s outraged tweeting — in at least one instance she tried to drum up additional support but neglected to switch to a burner account — fresh details began to emerge, poking holes in the Representative’s story.
Several eyewitnesses stepped up, in the hours after Mace made her claims, to contest her version of events. One, a woman named Lisa Dickson who works as an advocate for foster youth from Ohio, took to Facebook to “express deep disappointment in the fact that Congresswoman Nancy Mace came to a national foster youth event, told participating youth that it was a safe space – and literally had one of them arrested by Capital police for simply shaking her hand and asking about trans rights,” according to Reuters.
Dickson wasn’t alone in opposing Mace’s narrative. Another foster care advocate who was in attendance, Elliott Hinkle, told The Imprint that “it was a normal handshake and interaction that I would expect any legislator to expect from anyone as a constituent.”
Both accounts paint a very different picture from the one Mace wants us to believe. They seem to have seen McIntyre approach Mace, deliver some wisdom regarding transgender youth, shake her hand, and depart. Mace, in a constant campaign to be a victim, then seemingly warped the story, accused McIntyre of assault, and got the man arrested.
She’s now attacking anyone who contests her version of events as a woman-hater, and accusing the “left” of ignoring her plight simply because they don’t like her. Thankfully, we should have the truth of the matter eventually, since there are cameras all over the U.S. Capitol. There’s almost certainly at least one angle of the interaction, and now that doubt has been expressed, people are sure to demand proof.
So long as Mace can produce video evidence of the so-called attack, I’m more than willing to believe her. But with two eyewitnesses contesting her account — so far — and her history of stirring up drama just for the attention, it’s hard not to feel a bit of doubt. Once we see the footage we’ll all know the truth, but for now just remember — even Congressional leaders lie. Especially Congressional leaders. So take everything they say with a grain (or tablespoon) of salt.