Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace are bringing out the rhetorical big guns to knock down Representative-elect Sarah McBride.
Over the course of the week, Greene has accused McBride—the first openly transgender person to be elected to Congress—of being mentally ill and partaking in a “war on women.” Now Greene is claiming that a trans woman’s mere presence in a bathroom is tantamount to assault.
“I’m not kidding you,” Greene said Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s War Room. “It is like a physical assault for a man to come in, charging into our private places, bathrooms, locker rooms, our gyms, places that are designated specifically for women only.”
A 2018 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that bathroom-related nondiscrimination laws pose practically no risk to women and that claims to the contrary are little more than myths that are “not empirically grounded.”
Mace also elevated the assault claims, arguing Tuesday night on Fox News that “the idea of a man walking into a locker room where I’m changing, is actually—it feels like assault.”
Greene and Mace’s purported support for women’s safety abruptly ends with their fizzling fears over transgender rights, however. The pair of MAGA acolytes are vehement supporters of Donald Trump, who famously said that he could grab women “by the pussy” and is a judge-determined rapist, convicted adulterer, Jeffrey Epstein confidant, and proud abortion rights destroyer.
On Tuesday, Mace introduced a resolution that would ban trans women from using the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity in the U.S. Capitol. The attention-seeking South Carolina representative openly acknowledged that the stunt was a direct attack on McBride—again, who will be the lone transgender woman in Congress—telling reporters on Monday that it was “that and more.”
“Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say. I mean, this is a biological man,” Mace said, adding that the newly elected Delaware congresswoman “does not belong in women’s spaces, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, period, full stop.”
McBridge had her own response to the resolution, describing it in a statement as a “blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.”
“We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars,” McBride said. “Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on.”
Senator Lindsey Graham doesn’t care what the ethics report on Matt Gaetz says; he doesn’t think alleged sexual misconduct should knock Donald Trump’s nominee out of the running for attorney general.
CNN’s Manu Raju asked Graham Tuesday for his response to the “serious allegations of sexual misconduct” against Gaetz. Before Raju had even finished speaking, Graham was already shaking his head.
“Nobody should be disqualified from a media report,” Graham replied.
Asked Lindsey Graham if the sexual misconduct allegations involving Gaetz, including sex with a minor (which Gaetz denies), gives him pause, Graham said: “Nobody should be disqualified because of a media report.” pic.twitter.com/ZOiFZKyV3u
The House Ethics Committee is set to vote Wednesday on whether or not to release the report on its yearslong ethics investigation into Gaetz over allegations of sexual misconduct, including sexual conduct with a minor. It was previously reported that two women testified that Gaetz had paid them for sex, and one testified that he’d also had sex with her underage friend, per the lawyer representing the women. Even if the report confirms this, it apparently wouldn’t be reason enough for Graham to abandon ship.
Gaetz called Graham as part of his effort to consolidate Republican support for Trump’s nominee, CNN reported. Gaetz and Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, have been on the offensive to shore up support for their respective unsavory nominations. Hegseth reportedly paid a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Both Hegseth and Gaetz have denied any wrongdoing.
Last week, Graham admitted that it might not be easy for Trump’s nominees to get approved by the Senate. “Every nominee will have to acquit themselves well during the confirmation process by answering difficult questions and having their actions scrutinized,” Graham said.
Donald Trump has decided to nominate TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator.
Trump issued a statement Tuesday announcing the move, saying, “There may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again.”
Oz ran for the Senate in 2022 in Pennsylvania, earning Trump’s endorsement against Democrat John Fetterman, but lost even after Fetterman suffered a stroke resulting in unfavorable media attention. Oz’s bumbling Senate campaign was full of........