Summary
During a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) repeatedly shouted an anti-trans slur despite objections from Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly.
She defended her remarks by attacking transgender rights and dismissing criticism.
The outburst drew condemnation from LGBTQ+ advocates and political figures, highlighting her shift from previously supporting LGBTQ+ rights to embracing anti-trans rhetoric.
Mace has used the slur in past statements and introduced legislation restricting transgender rights.
I don’t think kompromat is necessary. These are power-hungry and attention-hungry people. They’ll say and do whatever panders to the people who will pay attention to them in the moment. J K Rowling didn’t need to be blackmailed to go from saying she supported transgender rights to becoming one of the Internet’s worst purveyors of trans-hate. Many other “influencers” have gone the same route, including a few who are trans themselves. (Matt Bernstein has some good videos about these people.) Overt transphobia is a thing you can do to score cheap points with ignorant people and get attention, approval and money. There’s enough motivation there for a certain kind of character, with no need for blackmail.
My point with Mace is her transition on public stance - she ran in part on a more tolerant, realistic view than most. I don’t remember rowling speaking of any tolerance before she showed herself as a villain - she just went from quiet to loud.
Not the person you were replaying to, but the winds of power have shifted and she is trimming her sails accordingly. She may have run espousing LGBTQ+ policies because that was the smart political thing to do, but now that Musk, et al are in power, these people can drop their “politically correct” act and show us who they really are, which is a bunch of intolerant, power-hungry fascists.