There’s raising awareness, and then there’s weaponizing tragedy for applause. Republican Rep. for South Carolina, Nancy Mace, managed to do both this week, turning a human rights crisis in Nigeria into a sermon about how Democrats supposedly hate God, Jews, and the United States.
During a Newsmax interview on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, Mace began by citing legitimate facts. She noted that hundreds of thousands of Christians were killed over the last two decades in Nigeria, and around five million fled their homes in fear. This genocide, being carried out by jihadist groups like Boko Haram and Fulani militants, has pushed Nigeria to ninth place on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List for Christian persecution.
Mace argued that the ongoing crisis receives little coverage from mainstream outlets because it doesn’t fit their narrative. So far, fair enough. But then came the sermon. What began as a plea for global attention quickly turned into an MAGA ideological tirade. She blamed ‘the left and Democrats’ for not speaking on the genocide, and gave a wild reasoning:
I think it’s because the left and Democrats, they don’t love America, they don’t love our values here in America. They don’t like people who are Christians. They don’t like people who are spiritual like we do. I would argue they also don’t like Jews, by the way, with their anti-Semitic behavior.”
Mace managed to link the Nigerian Christian genocide to the supposed moral decay of her domestic political rivals. It was less a speech about persecution than a campaign of grievance politics. Her hateful speech towards millions of people who identify with the left-wing political ideologies spread across social media, inviting swift backlash.
One user on X called it “Mace performing her weekly perpetual-victim speedrun.” Another pointed out the unreasonable correlation in her statement: “Since when is America a theocracy like Mace is suggesting here?” But the most viral response said it best: “If loving America means silencing dissent and weaponizing faith, then you’ve mistaken worship for patriotism. True love for a nation means defending freedom for all beliefs, not branding disagreement as un-American.”
Mace might be right that the Nigerian government’s inaction and international media silence, including America’s, are indefensible. But invoking a real humanitarian catastrophe to score points in a culture war is not patriotism, but opportunism. The victims of the ongoing religious violence in Nigeria deserve empathy, not propaganda, and America deserves leaders who know the difference.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
