Anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) made what appears to be a gay joke about Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in response to his criticism of her alleged temper tantrum at an airport that was brought on, in her alleged words, because TSA didn’t know how “to treat a f**king US Representative.”
“Interesting,” Mace posted to X. “Lindsey Graham all of a sudden wants to talk about women.” His statement didn’t really refer to gender or women – it just mentioned the “men and women” of law enforcement – but Mace added a “furrowed eyebrows wearing a monocle” emoji to imply there is something to inspect.
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At issue is a meltdown Mace allegedly had at the Charleston International Airport on October 30, where she cursed at TSA officers and made derogatory comments about them, in reaction to them not meeting her at the curb to escort her through security and to her gate. TSA blamed a miscommunication for not finding her car on time, so she had to wait at security like a common person.
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The incident report filed by law enforcement says that Mace was “loudly cursing and making derogatory comments to us about the department” as she waited to use a Crew Member Access Point, which allows some people to get through security faster. “She repeatedly stated we were ‘F**king incompetent,’ and ‘This is no way to treat a fucking US Representative.’”
Officers found her, got her through security, and escorted her to her gate, and she allegedly kept on yelling.
“She also said we would never treat Tim Scott like this,” one officer said in the report, referring to one of South Carolina’s Republican senators. “The entire walk to gate B-8 she was cursing and complaining and often doing the same into her phone.”
“After standing in the vicinity of B-8 for several minutes with her continuing her tirade, she finally boarded the aircraft,” the officer wrote in the report, adding that an American Airlines worker who witnessed the incident approached officers after Mace boarded the plane and “stated he was in disbelief regarding her behavior. He implied that a US Representative should not be acting the way she was.”
Mace denies the veracity of the incident report and says she will sue TSA for defamation.
Sen. Scott, whose name was dragged into this, posted a statement on social media yesterday calling out Mace for her alleged behavior.
“I have used that airport since long before I was ever in Congress and every interaction I have had – without exception – has been positive,” Scott wrote on Facebook. “The women and men of the airport police are professional, courteous, and go beyond the call of duty. Because I have lived with death threats for longer than I can remember, the airport police do take extra security precautions, for which I am grateful.”
“Those who know me know that I do not use profanity – in public or private. It is never acceptable to berate police officers, airport staff, and TSA agents who are simply doing their jobs, nor is it becoming of a Member of Congress to use such vulgar language when dealing with constituents.”
Graham, who is South Carolina’s other Republican senator, also jumped in the fray, writing on X that he “concurs” with Scott “when it comes to the men and women who provide security at the Charleston International Airport.”
“The men and women I have encountered – from security to airport leadership – are professional and diligent in the performance of their duties and I am honored to represent them in the U.S. Senate,” he wrote.
Mace, who is currently running for governor of South Carolina, did not take kindly to the two senators from her state calling her out for her alleged tantrum and responded to Graham by suggesting that this is the first time he has taken an interest in women because he used the expression “men and women” in his statement.
She also raged at both Graham and Scott for “punching down, shaming and attacking a woman with thousands of death threats” by calling out her alleged behavior.
“Odd. Fascinating. Weird. Let me say this very clearly: REAL MEN PROTECT WOMEN!” she wrote, even though it’s not clear how she was in any danger during the airport incident.
At a press conference on Monday, Mace claimed she had experienced “over two dozen” security breaches at that airport just this year and that her kids were separated from her once as they went through security. She didn’t explain what the breaches were or how long she was separated from her kids, who are teenagers.
“Last Thursday morning, I absolutely, a hundred percent, confronted the airport employees who put my safety at risk,” Mace said at the press conference. “Did I drop an f-bomb? I hope I did. Did I call them incompetent? If I didn’t, they absolutely earned it.”
Mace’s lawyer, though, said that the reports are part of “a calculated and coordinated effort to malign her character through deliberately falsified documentation.” She is suing for defamation and reputational harm and wants the reports retracted or corrected and is also asking for monetary damages.
She claimed that by including information about her car in the incident report, airport officials “severely and significantly compromised my safety, and I’m not gonna tolerate it.”
Graham, who is 70, has never been married, and his sexuality has been subject to speculation throughout his career.
Graham has always denied the rumors. “I know it’s really gonna upset a lot of gay men—I’m sure hundreds of ’em are gonna be jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge—but I ain’t available,” he told the New York Times in 2010.
Despite her past votes in support of marriage equality, Mace appears not to like gay people anymore, posting “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” to social media last week.
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