"I'm less likely to actually believe that what she was saying was true": Ben Shapiro on Nancy Mace's House floor speech

On the August 17, 2026 episode of The Ben Shapiro Show, Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro devoted a roughly nine-minute segment to Rep. Nancy Mace's tattoo reveal, and, midway through, replayed a clip of her February 2025 House floor speech to criticize the way she made her accusations. The segment was posted to YouTube under the title "Nancy Mace Has Joined the Hells Angels."

What this is: a commentary segment, not reporting. Shapiro is an outside opinion host reacting to other outlets' coverage (the New York Post and Politico) and to Mace's own public words. Every characterization below is his, attributed to him. The clip he replays is Mace's own public statement from the House floor. Maceopedia catalogs the artifact, embeds the platform's player, and reproduces the full transcript so readers can judge for themselves. Nothing here is a finding by Maceopedia about the underlying disputes.

Watch on YouTube: Nancy Mace Has Joined the Hells Angels →

What Shapiro said

Shapiro opened on the tattoos, reacting to the February 2026 Politico Magazine profile by Michael Kruse and to the New York Post's follow-up. He said he knows Mace personally, called her "a nice lady" who "has always been a rather attention-seeking political personality," and tied that back to her 1999 integration of The Citadel. He described the reveal as "the second most awkward bodily reveal of the week" and joked that "apparently she joined the Hells Angels."

His central objection was less to the ink than to what he took it to signal: tattoos are "more understandable" for some people than others, he said, but "if you are a sitting congressperson and you just show up with Hells Angels sleeves, it's a little weird. And it's a sign of a thing. It's obviously a sign of a thing."

The part of the segment that reaches beyond the tattoos is where Shapiro turns to Mace's February 2025 House floor speech. He read aloud a passage of the Politico profile, then framed the speech as Mace using "the cover of the house": "If you go on the house floor and you say things, this gives you congressional immunity. You cannot be sued for things that you say on the floor of the house." He said he was "not a fan of this sort of thing," argued that "if it is factual enough to say publicly, you should say it not from the floor of the house and make yourself subject to the legal process," and compared it to members of Congress reading Epstein-file names into the record. He was explicit that he did not know whether her claims were true: "I don't know whether it's true what she's saying or not, but I'm less likely to actually believe that what she was saying was true because she was using her congressional immunity to do it." Then he replayed the clip.

He closed by returning to Mace's stated reason for the tattoos, that she needed "to feel pain," and offered his opinion that "probably what you need is some psychiatric care, not the tattoos," that the "responsible move" for someone "obviously going through a thing" is to help them "get the treatment that they need," and that "this is not healthy behavior." He added that Mace "has the right to do what she wants," said he "really, really hope[s]" she "gets the care that she needs," and called it "my perspective when it comes to all mental health issues."

Mace has been public about a PTSD diagnosis, and her office has cast the tattoos as a private matter of recovery. In her own Politico profile, Mace framed the tattoos as part of how she processes trauma ("So my story is I am totally broken"), and her communications director has said "how she chooses to heal is her decision alone." Maceopedia adopts no characterization of Mace's health; Shapiro's mental-health language above is his opinion, attributed to him.

The full transcript

Below is the complete transcript of the segment, transcribed from the video and lightly punctuated for readability. Shapiro's spoken words are reproduced verbatim; the block set off as a clip is Mace's own February 2025 House floor speech as replayed in the segment; an advertisement read is noted where it ran.

If you had a friend who got like nine tattoos in the span of just a couple of months, you might check in to make sure they're doing okay. Now, imagine your friend then told you they got all those tattoos because they needed to feel pain. Now, you'd probably urge them to seek some professional help if you were a good friend. Now, what if I told you that this very thing just happened to a member of Congress, Nancy Mace out of South Carolina? Not kidding. She has near sleeves of tattoos on each arm, and nobody really knew about it until she publicly revealed it. Stay tuned till the end to find out what tattoos I would get in an alternate universe.

So, I know Representative Mace. I know Nancy. She's a nice lady. She's always been a rather attention-seeking political personality. This goes all the way back to 1999 when she attempted to and successfully integrated The Citadel, which is a military boys' school. The military academy. Right? And then she ran for Congress, and then she, you know, has been rather performative while she was in office. Well, she made big headlines over the weekend because in the second most awkward bodily reveal of the week, the first one was AOC revealing she was freezing her eggs and then doing an entire routine about it in order to run for president. Now, Nancy Mace has decided to do a body reveal in which apparently she joined the Hells Angels. So, she now has sleeves. Which none of us needed to know about. Actually, and if she did, I mean, okay, but she revealed it on national TV.

According to the New York Post, Nancy has got nine tattoos as a member of Congress because getting inked, quote, provides the pain that I need to feel. She said that in a profile released on Friday. She got the tattoos in rapid succession between a period in late 2023 and early 2024 marked by the breakup with her fiance and an exodus of staffers from her office, some of whom have viewed working for Mace as toxic, according to Politico. Aside from a need to feel pain, Mace described getting tattoos as a way to reclaim her body and her identity. That's a lot of tattoos. I will admit, I am not a tattoo fan. As you might have guessed, tattoos, not my thing. Or the book of Leviticus is, actually. So, not a fan of the tattoos. I think there are certain circumstances in which tattoos are more understandable than others. If you're a member of the military, if you're a member of a police force, if you are a rock star, if you are a sitting congressperson and you just show up with Hells Angels sleeves, it's a little weird. It's a little weird. And it's a sign of a thing. It's obviously a sign of a thing.

Okay, one of those tattoos is the opening line of Virginia Woolf's famous novel Mrs. Dalloway, which is weird, because if I were going to get a tattoo, it'd be the first line of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, which is 119 words. I'd wind it all the way around my torso, multiple times, probably. I feel like that'd be good. Maybe something from Faulkner. A 1,300-word opening. Or maybe the verse from Leviticus where it says, "Don't get tattoos." Anyway.

Shapiro then reads aloud from the February 2026 Politico profile: Nancy Mace said in this profile with Politico, she says, quote: "How's it going?" I asked her. This is the profiler. It's a February 2026 profile. "That's a very loaded question. How are you feeling?" I said, "Cautious." She said, "It's a very, I would say, cautious time for me because I have a lot going on and I have a lot of folks that are trying to stop me." By this point in late January, I'd been talking to Mace and others around Mace and about Mace for hours and hours and months and months. I wanted to know what so many wanted to know and still do. What is happening with this woman? What is happening or has happened to her? Why does she say the things she says? Why does she act the way she acts? Is she okay? Mace is a 48-year-old, twice-divorced mother of two. Tough and walks with a gun. She sometimes shops in a wig. She always sleeps under a 20-pound heavy blanket she thinks isn't heavy enough. She says she does what she does because of an engine that she can't control and that just effing goes and is going to go and go and go and go. In the wake of her shocking speech last year in which she, on the floor of the US House of Representatives, accused her ex-fiance and three of his business partners and friends of grievous sexual crimes against her and other women. In the spiraling subsequent litigation in which alleged abusers are suing Mace and other alleged victims and vice versa and a judge instituted a gag order for all parties involved and Mace has taken to representing herself. She at times has all but asked to get sent to jail. She is, according to scores of ex-staffers and ex-friends, operatives and colleagues from both parties and a spectrum of people who know her and have known her for a long time, unstable and unhinged and unwell.

Okay, I mean, listen, this is honestly, it's kind of sad. Now again, what we're talking about here is that Nancy Mace, she was in a spat with an ex-boyfriend and she actually used the cover of the house. If you go on the house floor and you say things, this gives you congressional immunity. You cannot be sued for things that you say on the floor of the house. So she used that immunity in order to go after a bunch of men that she knew. Now again, I'm not a fan of this sort of thing. I really don't like it. I don't like it because, again, if it is factual enough to say publicly, you should say it not from the floor of the house and make yourself subject to the legal process. I feel the same way about that time when you had members of Congress go on the floor of the house and throw out a bunch of names in the Epstein files who had literally nothing to do with trafficking of women. If you're using congressional immunity not for any useful purpose, but in order to just shield yourself from liability when you have no actual basis for saying the same. I don't know whether it's true what she's saying or not, but I'm less likely to actually believe that what she was saying was true because she was using her congressional immunity to do it than I would be if she said it outside of the floor of Congress. Here's what it sounded like.

[The segment cuts to a clip of Rep. Nancy Mace's February 2025 House floor speech.]

Today you will hear about the depraved men behind these gutless and evil acts. These men didn't just harm their victims, they recorded their depravity as if it were a badge of honor. When I uncovered evidence of rape and the illegal filming of women and sex trafficking, I didn't just see victims. I saw a system that failed to protect them. I saw criminals who thought they could get away with it because no one had the guts. No one had the courage. No one had the bravery to hold them accountable, because we are filled with cowards. I will burn this system to the ground if I have to. These men aren't just criminals. They are predators, and you can see the names and the faces of these predators on this board to my right tonight. These predators are not untouchable. These predators are not invisible, and these predators are not invincible.

[The show breaks here for a Pre-Born advertisement, then returns to Shapiro.]

And first of all, if you are openly saying that you got tattoos in order to feel pain, I mean, there are lots of ways in life to feel pain. Over the weekend, my three-year-old decided to climb into a hamper. I don't know why. He's three. And then he lost his balance and he keeled over and clocked his forehead on the floor and got a bump. He felt pain. Difference is that bump's going to go away. He's not going to have gigantic tattoos all over his arms. I don't know, man. I feel like if you are a person in need of reclaiming your body and feeling pain, probably what you need is some psychiatric care, not the tattoos. If one of your friends or a person you knew did this, your responsible move is not to feature them on national TV. Responsible move is not to do gigantic profiles on them. Responsible move with people who are obviously going through a thing is to sympathetically see that they actually get the treatment that they need. Yeah, it's not a matter of, you know, quote unquote personal choice. Obviously, we live in a free country. Nancy has the right to do what she wants to do when it comes to getting her tattoos. I will say that obviously she's going through something and I really, really hope that Nancy goes and gets the care that she needs, because this is not healthy behavior. That may be unpopular. It is not healthy behavior. It just isn't. It isn't. Now again, this is my perspective when it comes to all mental health issues.

What an amazing video you just watched. Wasn't that amazing? Well, you know, if you think so, head on over to dailywire.com/subscribe to watch the full show ad-free, or check out this crazy story here.

Context and litigation

The allegations Mace made in her February 2025 House floor speech, which Shapiro replays and critiques above, remain contested and unproven. The men she named deny wrongdoing. A South Carolina judge has entered a gag order covering the parties, and related civil litigation, including Musgrave v. Mace, is pending. Maceopedia reproduces Shapiro's commentary and Mace's own public statements as a record of the coverage; nothing here is a finding about the underlying disputes.

On the tattoos themselves, the underlying facts Shapiro cites (the nine tattoos, the "pain that I need to feel" quote, the Mrs. Dalloway tattoo, the late-2023 to early-2024 timing) come from Mace's own on-the-record interviews with the New York Post and Politico. See the full record on Maceopedia below.

---

Related on Maceopedia:

• Media entry: Ben Shapiro on Nancy Mace's tattoo reveal: "Nancy Mace Has Joined the Hells Angels"
• Hub: Nancy Mace's Tattoos: The Nine, the Ink, and the AI Question
• Dispatch: "The pain that I need to feel": Nancy Mace says she got nine tattoos "in rapid succession"
• Dispatch: "Thoughts and prayers to all those affected by my sleeves"
• Dispatch: Mace confirms shoulder bird is a hawk, not an eagle

---

Sources & related coverage:

• The Ben Shapiro Show, "Nancy Mace Has Joined the Hells Angels" (YouTube, Aug. 17, 2026), the segment cataloged and transcribed here.
• Politico Magazine, Michael Kruse, "Nancy Mace: The Origin Story" (Feb. 27, 2026), the profile Shapiro reacts to and reads aloud.
• New York Post, Victor Nava, "Nancy Mace reveals why she got 9 tattoos in 'rapid succession'" (Feb. 28, 2026)
• NBC News, "Rep. Nancy Mace details accusations of rape and sexual abuse in a speech from the House floor", coverage of the February 2025 floor speech Shapiro replays.

---

Ben Shapiro's remarks are transcribed verbatim from the segment linked above; the clip he replays is Rep. Nancy Mace's own public statement from the House floor. Maceopedia catalogs the public record about Nancy Mace, embeds the platform's own player rather than rehosting the video, and adopts no characterization of her health. The characterizations in the segment are Shapiro's opinion, attributed to him throughout.