Sorry, Nancy Mace. Donald Trump hasn't "protected women"

Sorry, Nancy Mace. Donald Trump hasn’t “protected women”
The congresswoman’s Epstein dilemma is a problem for all Republican women

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published November 14, 2025 6:30AM (EST)


(Salon) Republican congresswomen are a rare breed, making up only 14% of their caucus. But they are overrepresented when it comes to the Epstein files. GOP congresswomen comprise a whopping 75% of the House Republicans who have signed a discharge petition for the release of extensive document collected by the FBI during its investigation into the deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. Granted, that large percentage is deceptive; only four GOP representatives have signed on to the measure. But that fact makes it all the more remarkable that they are willing to defy Donald Trump, as he rants on Truth Social that only “very bad, or stupid” Republicans would want to expose even more details of a child sex trafficking investigation with which he has been associated.

GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Nancy Mace of South Carolina all seem to have different motives for joining the entire Democratic caucus — along with Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie — in demanding the release of the Epstein files. Greene’s years of loud support for Trump have curdled into seeming animosity in recent months, after Trump reportedly blocked her from running for the Senate. Boebert has been relatively quiet about her calculus, but many have pointed out that her recent acrimonious divorce from a man who started dating her when she was 16 and he was 22 might be a factor. Mace’s motivations are frankly baffling, and seem to owe more to a long public history of troubling behavior and questionable mental health than anything else.

But Mace’s relationship to the Epstein files is a microcosm of a larger dilemma facing Republican women — both politicians and voters — as a whole. For years, Trump has pitched himself to GOP women as their “protector” who is eager to chivalrously shield womankind from a whole host of imaginary threats ranging from predatory immigrants to trans women in bathrooms. That billing has always been hard to square with the objective reality of Trump’s admitted and accused behavior, which includes bragging about grabbing women’s genitals without permission and being found liable for sexual assault by a civil jury in 2023.

....(snip)....

Mace is no doubt reflecting the approach taken by most female voters and politicians who are trying to remain loyal to Trump: Self-delusion and/or outright lying. On she told reporters, “My heart and my pain is with the Epstein victims.” But then she insisted Trump has “been so good” to sexual assault victims and that “he’s protected women.” ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/11/14/sorry-nancy-mace-donald-trump-hasnt-protected-women/