Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) became angry and ended an interview with conservative radio host Michael Smerconish after he defended a transgender friend.
During a Friday interview on SiriusXM, Smerconish told Mace that his friend had served for 16 years in the Virginia National Guard as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot and machine gunner.
"Recently, like many others, drummed out of the military because Joe has transitioned," the host explained. "And I know Joe to be such a patriot who has invested all that time on behalf of, now I will say, her government, why shouldn't she be able to continue to serve?"
"He is not a she," Mace insisted. "That a man thinks that he can become a woman and adopt the struggles that we have had for hundreds, if not thousands of years, to get to where we are today. And, in fact, we've never had a female president of the United States of America. And I'm not going to have some guy in a dress to take away the achievements of women who have not achieved everything."
"And it's offensive and it's gross and it's grooming and men and women's spaces."
Smerconish said he was worried that children who were confused about their gender could harm themselves after being demonized.
"And when Nancy Mace says, you know, uses words like gross and they're all mentally ill and so forth, I'm worried about the kid who's going to not feel welcome and harm themselves," he observed.
"Now you're saying kids are to commit suicide because of what I say!" Mace exclaimed. "Maybe I don't come back on [your show] because that is not at all. It's a mental illness."
"Nancy, I'll say to you directly, you're part of a climate of hostility that I think is going to cause these kids to really question themselves," the host explained.
"For my rights as a woman, and you're calling me hostile for doing that!" Mace said. "I have to be hostile."
"I didn't call you hostile," Smerconish pointed out, "but you are contributing to a hostile environment."
"You're on the left!" the lawmaker shouted. "And you're being disrespectful to the female guests on your program."
"I'm a gun owner who's for the death penalty, who's represented cops as a lawyer. You don't know anything," Smerconish shot back. "I'm the real conservative. I'm the Barry Goldwater, stay out of my bedroom, live and let live. Mine, which respects individual liberties."
"You're advocating for men in my bedroom, in my bathroom!" Mace claimed.
"Oh, and she hung up. Just for the record. Just for the record, she hung up," the host remarked.
