Nancy Mace uses bizarre assassination rant to blame staff for curse-filled airport tantrum

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) took to Fox Business Monday to defend her conduct last week at the Charleston International Airport, where she reportedly cursed at police officers and TSA agents over the airport’s security measures.

She told the outlet that such “mediocrity” by the airport staff — many of which are not being paid amid the government shutdown — would “not be tolerated.”

As uncovered by Wired after filing a Freedom of Information Act request, Mace reportedly cursed at police officers and made “repeated derogatory comments toward them” after arriving at the airport without a security escort. However, Wired reported that Mace had failed to show up at the airport at the correct entrance or time, and not in the vehicle she had communicated she would be in.

Mace admitted that the altercation did occur when appearing on Fox Business Monday, but absolved herself of blame for her behavior, instead trying to shift blame onto the airport’s security staff.

“This is the only airport where I have had any issues; my children have had issues here, my employees… we have had over two-dozen security breaches at this particular airport just 11 months into this year, today,” Mace said.

“I’ve been in four airports in the last five days without incident. So yes, I did confront those who did not show up to do the job; my safety was put at risk… This is a serious issue, and mediocrity when it comes to airport security and security breaches will not be tolerated!”

Mace’s behavior at the airport, which included her “talking loudly using profanity at times for others to hear,” led to a TSA agent vowing to report her behavior to their superiors, who called it “unacceptable,” particularly amid the ongoing government shutdown, which has led TSA agents to work without pay.

Mace went on to rationalize her outburst in the context of the recent surge of political violence, claiming she did not “want to be the next person that gets shot and killed.”

“I want to be very clear here: we saw last year two assassination attempts on President Trump,” Mace said. “Just a few weeks ago, we all witnessed as Charlie Kirk was assassinated right before our eyes in public; we’ve seen that Steve Scalise years ago was shot four or five times. In the political environment we have today, there’s no room for error when it comes to security.”