Rep. Nancy Mace Defends Anti-Muslim Social Media Posts in Heated CNN Interview

South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace was taken to task by CNN host Oscar Jimenez Sunday after she issued a series of posts calling all Muslim-American elected officials “Trojan horses.”

Responding to Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed winning his Democratic primary last week, Mace, 48, posted: “Every single Muslim holding public office in America is a trojan horse, and a threat to both national security and our republic.”

Mace, who lost her own gubernatorial primary in June, followed it up by retweeting criticism of her post from a British commentator with the reply: “If not wanting to be blown up, stabbed, or rammed by a car by a radical Islamist in the United States of America makes us Islamophobes, then so be it.”

The outgoing congresswoman then appeared on CNN where, after a wide-ranging discussion on the Iran war, Jeffrey Epstein and the special primary in her state to replace the late Lindsey Graham, Jimenez referred to the posts and asked her: “Are you saying that anyone who is Muslim is a threat to this country?”

“Uhh, and that’s not what I said,” Mace answered. “I mean, it sounds like that’s what you’re saying.”

She went on to claim that Americans should be “very concerned” about Muslim politicians like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and El-Sayed, both progressive liberals, attacking the latter for appearing with leftist influencer Hasan Piker and saying both entertained “radical Islam ideology”.

“Congresswoman, there’s no indication that Mayor Mamdani has brought any of those ideals to New York City governance or that just being Muslim... brings those in,” Jimenez responded, pointing out that Mamdani and other Muslim officials had been fairly elected by U.S. citizens.

Mace shrugged off the point, returned to El-Sayed’s association with Piker and claimed that the two men’s shared “communist ideology” was incompatible with American “values.”

“In the future, when our granddaughters are wearing burkas to school, we’re going to look back and say, how did this happen?” she said.

Jimenez countered that there was no evidence of that happening anywhere and told her: “An expression of culture, congresswoman, is different than a blanket city policy.”

The representative came back with a claim that Muslims are attempting to “push out” white Americans and declaring: “I don’t want to hear the call to prayer five times a day in an American city.”

“Well, if you don’t want to hear it, that’s OK,” said the anchor. “The First Amendment protects [the] freedom of religion.

“I grew up in a Christian household. I grew up in the South. Islam is not my religion. But I have Muslim friends, who, if that is how they worship, even if I don’t want to hear it, that is their right to hear.”

Mace retorted: “In the privacy of their own mosque or their own home, not on the streets of America”.

“That’s not being forced on you, congresswoman,” Jimenez continued, stressing it was not happening at either a congressional or legal level.

“I appreciate you taking the time and explaining your tweet as best you could there, but, you know, the First Amendment is pretty clear on freedom of religion.”

“I don’t want this seeping into American culture,” Mace insisted. “We have Christian foundations as a nation.”

“That’s your opinion,” the anchor countered. “The First Amendment disagrees that it needs to stay that. If someone wants to express their religion, it’s right there; it’s number one in terms of the Constitution.”

“Then go back to that country of origin,” Mace exclaimed. “It doesn’t need to be here.”

“Congresswoman, America has a long history of expressing cultures from various countries,” Jimenez replied. “You know that. We have seen that play out in generations of immigration.”

Mace signed off by saying, “I think we should ban all immigrants from those countries, thank you,” to which Jimenez replied: “And that is your opinion, congresswoman.”

Mace attempted to have the last word by posting a clip of the interview on X with the comment: “You cannot pledge allegiance to the U.S. Constitution and Sharia Law at the same time.

“One is a roadmap for freedom, the other is a blueprint for tyranny. Islam has no place in Western society.”

The first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets program at the Citadel Military College of South Carolina, Mace served for two years in her state’s House before arriving on Capitol Hill in 2020, where she initially attacked Donald Trump over his response to January 6 and took up unexpectedly liberal positions.