Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina is the latest right-wing Republican to pile-on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., after the progressive firebrand accused conservatives who have downplayed the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last month of deploying abusive tactics, specifically calling out Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for aiding the armed rioters looking to harm members of Congress by peddling baseless allegations about election fraud.
In an attempt to debunk Ocasio-Cortez's account that she feared for her life, Mace tweeted contradictory accounts of the U.S. capitol insurrection, creating a messy Twitter beef on Thursday. In an 80 minute Instagram live-stream, Ocasio-Cortez described hiding behind the door in her office bathroom as someone stormed her office.
"Where is she?" Ocasio-Cortez said she heard the person repeatedly shout.
Attempting to prove AOC's account wrong, Mace tweeted, "I'm two doors down from @aoc and no insurrectionists stormed our hallway..." Immediately following the attack on the capitol, Mace went to the media repeatedly to denounce the violence, but she now appears to be changing her tune.
Ocasio-Cortez responded to Mace's attempt to refute her by tweeting, "Wild that Nancy Mace is discrediting herself less than 1 mo in office w/ such dishonest attacks. She *went on record* saying she barricaded in fear."
This was what you were saying just a few weeks ago.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2021
Now you’re contradicting your own account to attack me for Fox News clicks.
It’s honestly pretty sad to see you turn around like this and throw other people under the bus.
Thought you’d be better.https://t.co/1WPlwUWlar
On the day of the attack, Mace felt differently about the situation at hand. She tweeted, "Just evacuated my office in Cannon due to a nearby threat. Now we're seeing protesters assaulting Capitol Police. This is wrong. This is not who we are. I'm heartbroken for our nation today."
January 6 was a dark and traumatic day in our nation’s history. I felt threatened & unsafe.
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) February 4, 2021
Stating facts =/= belittling someone’s experience. Put simply, @RepAOC seems triggered by the facts. pic.twitter.com/klLZUBm0TS
During the live stream, Ocasio-Cortez tearfully revealed she is a survivor of sexual assault and mentioned that Republican congressmen like Ted Cruz were using similar tactics of abusers to minimize and delegitimize her traumatic experience at the Capitol. She picked that point back up on Thursday, tweeting, "All I can think of w/ folks like her dishonestly claiming that survivors are exaggerating are the stories of veterans and survivors in my community who deny themselves care they need & deserve bc they internalize voices like hers saying what they went through 'wasn't bad enough'."
Not only did I never make this claim, but I would never, ever do this.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2021
What Greene is doing pumping this lie to her insurrectionist base is making them feel justified in further violence.
The prospect of stripping her committees clearly isn’t quelling her. She must be expelled. https://t.co/8WvvCgsMQt
Even the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on Jan. 13 are now attempting to minimize the capitol attack, urging Americans to "move on" from the perilous events that happened at the capitol on Jan. 6. Much like the radical Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was stripped of her committee seats in an unprecedented Thursday vote, Mace may be trying to position herself as a rising star in the GOP.
