In the wake of the Jan. 6 attack, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace scrambled to distance herself from Donald Trump, saying his legacy had been “wiped out” by his role in the insurrectionist riot. This did not go unnoticed inside Mar-a-Lago.
In fact, just two years ago, Trump endorsed the South Carolina congresswoman’s GOP primary rival, calling Mace “absolutely terrible,” and adding that her “remarks and attitude have been devastating for her community, and not at all representative of the Republican Party to which she has been very disloyal.”
A month later, the former president declared at a rally that he considered Mace to be “untruthful” and a “grandstanding loser.”
Almost exactly two years to the day later, Trump endorsed Mace’s 2024 re-election bid.
It was against this backdrop that the GOP lawmaker sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos roughly 24 hours ago. The Washington Post reported on the interview that turned contentious:
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) accused ABC News host George Stephanopoulos of shaming her as a victim of rape after he pressed her on her support for Donald Trump on Sunday. Mace, who was raped when she was 16 years old, made the comments after the “This Week” host asked the congresswoman to square her recent endorsement of Trump with the civil trial that found Trump liable for sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll.
In case anyone needs a refresher, it was last year when a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, and jurors awarded the writer $5 million in damages for her battery and defamation claims.
The jury did not find the defendant liable for “rape” as defined in the applicable state law, though the judge in the case later concluded that the former president, for all intents and purposes, “‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’”
A couple of months ago, the matter became even more serious for Trump: A separate jury concluded that the former president must pay his accuser an additional $83 million in damages for repeatedly defaming her, including $65 million in punitive damages.
Up until very recently, Republican responses to these developments fell into two fairly obvious groups. The first was summarized by Sen. Mitt Romney, who said he wouldn’t vote for his party’s nominee. “I will not be voting for former President Trump,” the retiring Utah senator said a few weeks ago. “I must admit that I find sexual assault to be a line I will not cross in the people I select to be my president.”
The second was summarized by Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and James Lankford of Oklahoma, both of whom shrugged with relative indifference when asked whether the juries’ findings gave them pause.
But Mace has created a third category: It’s offensive to even ask about the Trump scandal. The Post’s report added:
… Mace repeatedly accused Stephanopoulos of attempting to “shame” her as a victim of rape for her political choices, which Stephanopoulos denied. When pressed, Mace said Trump was not judged in a criminal court. “As a rape victim who’s been shamed for years now because of her rape, you’re trying to shame me again,” Mace said to Stephanopoulos.
For the record, the ABC host’s line of questioning was hardly outlandish. As my colleague Lisa Rubin explained in a message directed at the congresswoman, Stephanopoulos “was asking how you reconcile your personal experience and public advocacy on behalf of rape victims with your support for a man who has been found liable for sexual assault by a jury of his peers.”
