Freshman Rep. Nancy Mace said Tuesday that lawmakers in both parties should "raise their hands and take responsibility for the things and the violence and the rhetoric" leading up to last week's Capitol riots.
The South Carolina Republican also defended her decision on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" to support the certification of the Electoral College's vote for President-elect Joe Biden, even though she's been threatened with violence herself for her vote.
Mace said Tuesday that she can't condone Trump's rhetoric after the violence at the Capitol and no longer backs him, even if she did support his election and he endorsed her recent candidacy. She added that she doesn't operate out of fear or about what will happen in the next election.
"Everything changed last Wednesday with the violent attacks and leading up to those events," said Mace. "My life was threatened. It was a very scary situation. I planned to have my kids up there last week but because of the rhetoric we were seeing I was really afraid for my children being up there and the outcome was my worst fear."
As a result of the violence, she said, "every accomplishment the president had over the last four years has been wiped out. We have to start from scratch ... the outcome of the rally, some of the rhetoric led to that violence, and it was a really sad day for our nation. I personally am devastated and heartbroken and want to be part of the solution going forward."
There has been a great deal of violence in cities nationwide, and there is a lot of work on both sides of the aisle, said Mace, adding that she's learned that rhetoric has "real consequences."
"Someone threatened to shoot me on social media because I wasn't ‘fighting for the president enough,’" she said. "This isn't who we are as a nation. It’s un-American and we're better than this."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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