Part of: Epstein files floor speech and Oversight briefing (Sept. Nov. 2025) · The Epstein Files Fight · Epstein & the Files Vote
"I gave up my political career for that discharge petition. And I would do it all over again."
Opening her Sept. 1, 2026 interview with Tara Palmeri, Rep. Nancy Mace said she gave up her political career for the Epstein victims discharge petition and would do it again. She then confirmed that Trump 'ultimately punished' her for it: 'Oh, 100%.'
The Tara Palmeri Show interview opened in the middle of a conversation that was already in motion, with Palmeri asking Rep. Nancy Mace whether Donald Trump had thrown her away. Within nine seconds of the video's start, Mace had said she gave up her political career for the Epstein victims discharge petition, and that she would do it all over again.
The first 30 seconds of the interview compressed the central arc of Mace's political story: the discharge petition, the cost she says it carried, and her unresolved relationship with Trump.
Captioned clip from the Tara Palmeri Show, September 1, 2026. Watch the full interview on YouTube.
The opening exchange
The verbatim opening of the Tara Palmeri Show interview, September 1, 2026:
Palmeri: Do you think he threw you away? When you're the most powerful man in the country, or arguably in the world right now, you can dispense of people because...
Mace: I signed the discharge petition for the Epstein victims, which is, I gave up my political career for that discharge petition, and I would do it all over again.
Palmeri: So, do you think he ultimately punished you for standing up for the victims?
Mace: Oh, 100%.
Palmeri: Is Donald Trump a good man?
Mace: I think so. I think he's got it in his heart.
The interview opened in medias res. Palmeri had apparently been asking about Trump's relationship with Mace before the recording begins. Mace's answer was not about being "thrown away" in general, but specifically about the discharge petition as the act she says cost her.
Context
Mace signed the discharge petition in 2023 to force a House vote on funding legislation, breaking with Republican leadership. The maneuver was controversial within the GOP and drew retaliation from leadership.
She described the consequences in blunt terms later in the same interview: "When you go against the machine, the machine comes after you, and they come after you hard. They come after you until they run you out of office." She confirmed that Trump specifically was "definitely part of figuring out who gets to stay and who gets to go by picking people."
She described Trump holding a rally for another candidate in the South Carolina Senate race as a concrete example of how that picking works.
The political cost she describes culminated in losing the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary in June 2026, where she finished fifth. She is not seeking re-election to her House seat and exits Congress on January 3rd.
Despite saying Trump punished her "100%," she also said in the same interview she believes he "is a good man" with "it in his heart", without elaborating on how she holds those two assessments together.
Watch
The full Tara Palmeri Show interview is available on YouTube, beginning with this exchange:
Sources
- Tara Palmeri Show, "MACE ON BEING MACE," YouTube, September 1, 2026 (primary source; opens the video)
- The Tara Palmeri Show: tarapalmeri.com
Read next
September 10, 2026 · Dispatch"I just go off the rails sometimes": Mace responds to critics who call her 'crazy'
Rep. Nancy Mace, in a Sept. 1, 2026 interview with Tara Palmeri, acknowledged that she sometimes 'goes off the rails' but pushed back on critics who call her 'crazy,' saying: 'Being nice has gotten us off the rails. I'm just bringing back common sense.'
September 9, 2026 · Dispatch"I'm in the files": Mace tells Palmeri she is named in the Epstein files, questions FBI credibility
Rep. Nancy Mace told Tara Palmeri on Sept. 1, 2026 that she is in the Epstein files. When Palmeri raised a Jane Doe connected to Donald Trump, Mace said she believed the FBI 'didn't find it credible,' and added: 'I don't know if we can trust the FBI on this one.' Mace has stated publicly that she appears in the files as a victim, not a perpetrator.
September 8, 2026 · Dispatch"I'm leaving Congress because I can't get shit done": Mace explains exit in her own words
Rep. Nancy Mace told Tara Palmeri on Sept. 1, 2026 that she is leaving Congress because she 'can't get shit done,' citing her inability to pass women's safety legislation as the defining frustration of her tenure.
September 8, 2026 · DispatchNancy Mace introduced 90 bills this Congress. Zero became law.
Rep. Nancy Mace, in a Sept. 1, 2026 interview with Tara Palmeri, acknowledged she introduced 90 bills this Congress and that zero became law. Asked what she actually accomplished without Nancy Mace, she pointed to the 'bully pulpit.'
September 9, 2026 · DispatchMace: "I was 16 years old and was assaulted... I am going through something similar again"
Rep. Nancy Mace, in a Sept. 1, 2026 interview with Tara Palmeri, described how being raped at 16 shaped who she is, and said: 'I am going through something similar again. And why does this keep happening?' Mace did not specify what recent event she was referring to.
September 9, 2026 · DispatchMace on Trump and the GOP machine: "He's definitely part of figuring out who gets to stay and who gets to go"
Rep. Nancy Mace, asked by Tara Palmeri whether Donald Trump is part of the political machine, said he is 'definitely part of figuring out who gets to stay and who gets to go.' The exchange came during a Sept. 1, 2026 interview after Mace described Kevin McCarthy talking trash about her on Fox News.