Rep. Nancy Mace trolled for being a ‘DEI admission’ after bragging about her military academy graduation
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Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is being mockery for being a “DEI admission” to a South Carolina military school after she bragged about being the first woman to graduate from the institution while bashing transgender people.
“I didn’t fight like hell to become the first woman to graduate from The Citadel just for some man in a miniskirt to take away that achievement,” Mace wrote on X on Wednesday morning. “Protecting women’s accomplishments isn’t a political talking point for me—it’s personal.”
In November last year, Mace introduced a bill to ban transgender people from using bathrooms in accordance with their gender identity in buildings owned by the federal or the Washington D.C. government. Mace painted the bill as being a safety issue. The effort began after Delaware Democrat Sarah McBride was elected as the first openly trans person in Congress. The bill appears to also affect D.C.’s libraries, recreation centers and possibly its public schools.
Republicans, with President Donald Trump, have railed against diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, working quickly to end all such efforts across the federal government and putting those working on DEI issues on leave.
But as Mace’s post on X went viral, garnering nearly six million views, she was quickly blasted for being a beneficiary of DEI policies herself.
“A reminder that Nancy Mace was a DEI admission. The courts ruled that The Citadel couldn’t exclude women from attending under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment (the one that Donald Trump wants to eliminate),” one X user wrote.
“You listen to yourself talk? Forced your way into an all male school,” another added. “Is that an accomplishment? You didn’t go there because you were qualified, you went there because you sued them. Men shouldn’t be in women’s sports and women should stay the hell out men’s sports and schools.”
Rightwing political commentator Matt Walsh said, “The girlboss feminism routine isn’t just cringy. It also directly undermines our argument.”
“The Citadel was a male-only space forced by law to admit females in the name of diversity and inclusion,” he added. “That is the exact argument trans-identifying males use to invade female spaces. Nancy Mace was literally a beneficiary of a DEI program. It’s a ridiculous and tone deaf thing to brag about in this moment.”
John Daniel Davidson of The Federalist added, “The lack of self-awareness is mind-boggling. When a society destroys sex-segregated spaces, they all get destroyed. Maybe Mace should have thought about that before she destroyed the male-only Citadel to satisfy her own ego.”
“The ‘man in the miniskirt’ invading female-only spaces is exactly what you did to male-only spaces at the Citadel,” another X user said.
“This wasn’t an ‘accomplishment’—it damaged a proud historical institution. The Citadel, like all military academies, should have remained men only,” Mark Hemingway argued.
“I for one applaud The Citadel for being woke,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Corey Ryan Forrester said.
Former Democratic congressional candidate Randy Bryce also called out Mace, saying “It’s called DEI as to why you were admitted.”
Mace delivered the 2024 commencement address at The Citadel, 25 years after she became the first woman to graduate from the school manga cum laude in 1999.
“I want to take a brief moment to talk to the female cadets graduating today, because one day, 25 years ago, I made history as one,” Mace said at the time. “As women, we hear a great deal about glass ceilings. But glass is meant to be broken. So, shatter it to pieces.”
“Let your legacy inspire the women coming after you. As the saying goes, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ So when you get to where you’re going, turn around and help the next woman behind you find her way,” she added.
