Part of: The Michael Eric Dyson "we look good together" texts · The CNN NewsNight clash over Kamala Harris · January 6 & the Trump Relationship
Asked on CNN to call Trump's "she turned Black" attack on Kamala Harris out of bounds, Mace says: "I didn't say it, and I would not say it"
On CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip on August 15, 2024, the panel pressed Rep. Nancy Mace again and again to simply say that Donald Trump's claim that Vice President Kamala Harris "turned Black" was out of bounds. Mace would not. "I didn't hear him say it," she said, then "I am not going to weigh in on her race," then "I didn't say it, and I would not say it." Host Abby Phillip: "This doesn't take that much courage, honestly, to just say that was out of bounds." In the same appearance Mace insisted she would say Harris's name "any way that I want to." The clip, posted by Acyn, was captioned "one of the most embarrassing moments I have ever seen from Nancy Mace."
The reporting here is Mediaite's, by Tommy Christopher, whose write-up of the segment ran under the headline "'Doesn't Take That Much Courage!' CNN's Abby Phillip Stunned Mace Refuses To Denounce Trump Race Attacks on Kamala Harris." The clip below was posted that night by Acyn, who captioned it: "Wow this is one of the most embarrassing moments I have ever seen from Nancy Mace."
On the night of August 15, 2024, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) sat on the panel of CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip alongside the Vanderbilt professor Michael Eric Dyson and the Democratic strategist Keith Boykin. The "State of the Race" segment turned to something Donald Trump had said about Vice President Kamala Harris. At the National Association of Black Journalists convention two weeks earlier, on July 31, 2024, Trump had questioned Harris's racial identity, saying, as was widely reported, that she "happened to turn Black."
Wow this is one of the most embarrassing moments I have ever seen from Nancy Mace
Acyn (@Acyn) August 16, 2024
The clip as posted by Acyn (CNN NewsNight, August 15, 2024). The footage is CNN's; it plays from X's own player.
Phillip asked Mace a direct question about Trump's remark:
"I'm wondering about Trump injecting Vice President Harris's race and then suggesting that she's not actually Black. Why is he doing that? Should he stop?"
Mace would not answer it. She said she had not heard the comment, and that she would not address it:
"Well, I mean, I didn't hear him say it. I didn't hear what he said about her race. I am not going to weigh in on her race."
Dyson recounted what Trump had said, that Harris "was Indian, all he knew. Now she's turned Black." Phillip pointed out the obvious low bar:
"This doesn't take that much courage, honestly, to just say that was out of bounds."
Mace held her ground:
"I don't know what he said. I didn't see it."
Pressed once more, with the question put as plainly as it can be put, she made the refusal explicit:
"I mean, I didn't say it, and I would not say it."
Boykin tried to give her the easiest possible exit, repeating, "Just say yes. Just say yes," and, when she would not, telling her she was in "a cult." Phillip closed the table: "We are out of time at the table. Thank you for being here at the table, and thank you for watching at home."
"Any way that I want to"
The race exchange was not the only flashpoint of the appearance. Earlier in the same panel, Mace repeatedly mispronounced Harris's first name, and when the other guests corrected her, she dug in:
"I will say Kamala's name any way that I want to."
Dyson told her on air that the disrespect reflected "the history and legacy of White disregard for the humanity of Black people"; Mace shot back, "Oh, so now you're calling me racist." HuffPost, which titled its account "Nancy Mace Claims Kamala Harris 'Doesn't Know What A Woman Is' In Train Wreck CNN Appearance," reported that Mace also said during the segment that Harris "doesn't know what a woman is."
That CNN clash had a sequel. A little over a month later, on September 19, 2024, Mace used a House Oversight Committee hearing to read into the official record a text she said Dyson sent her afterward, "Shh don't tell anybody. We look good together," with a kissy emoji. Dyson said the texts were a joke and called Mace "a bigot and racist." That episode is its own dispatch: Remember when Nancy Mace read a CNN guest's "kissy emoji" text into the congressional record?, and the full arc is collected at The Michael Eric Dyson "we look good together" texts.
In her own words, readers can judge.
Sources & related coverage
- Lead reporting: Mediaite, "'Doesn't Take That Much Courage!' CNN's Abby Phillip Stunned Mace Refuses To Denounce Trump Race Attacks on Kamala Harris"
- The clip: Acyn on X (August 16, 2024)
- HuffPost, "Nancy Mace Claims Kamala Harris 'Doesn't Know What A Woman Is' In Train Wreck CNN Appearance"
- The Hill, "Nancy Mace's mispronunciation of Kamala Harris's name sparks argument on CNN"
- Raw Story, "'You are intending that I am racist!' Chaos erupts on CNN between Republican and professor"
- Mediaite, "CNN Panelists ERUPT at Rep. Nancy Mace After She Mispronounces Kamala Harris's Name"
- The sequel: Mace reads the Dyson "kissy emoji" text into the record · Incident hub
This dispatch concerns public, on-record statements only: Mace's words on a live CNN broadcast, quoted verbatim from the footage and from contemporaneous reporting. It takes no position on the merits of the panel's characterizations. Direct quotations were confirmed against the broadcast audio.
