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Part of: January 6 & the Trump Relationship

Tara Palmeri Show

"Oh, 100%": Mace says Trump punished her for standing up for victims, still calls him a good man

In a Sept. 1, 2026 interview with Tara Palmeri, Rep. Nancy Mace confirmed that Donald Trump 'ultimately punished' her for standing up for victims, saying 'Oh, 100%.' When Palmeri asked whether Trump is a good man, Mace said: 'I think so. I think he's got it in his heart.'

"Oh, 100%": Mace says Trump punished her for standing up for victims, still calls him a good man

The Tara Palmeri Show interview opened directly with Palmeri asking Rep. Nancy Mace whether Donald Trump had thrown her away. Mace answered by citing the discharge petition she signed for Epstein victims, said she gave up her political career for it, and that she would do it again. Palmeri then asked whether Trump ultimately punished her for it. Mace: "Oh, 100%."

Palmeri's follow-up came immediately: "Is Donald Trump a good man?" Mace replied: "I think so. I think he's got it in his heart."

The exchange was the opening sequence of the September 1, 2026 interview, before any other topic was raised.

Captioned clip from the Tara Palmeri Show, September 1, 2026. Watch the full interview on YouTube.

The exchange

The verbatim opening of the interview, from the Tara Palmeri Show, 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.

Mace did not name which victims she was referring to when she said Trump punished her for "standing up for the victims." Earlier in the same interview she connected the discharge petition to Epstein victims specifically, and elsewhere discussed her own experience being assaulted at 16.

Context

Mace made the discharge petition for Epstein victims, and the political cost she says it carried, a central theme of her exit from Congress. In the same interview she described the broader pattern in more explicit terms: "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."

When Palmeri pressed directly on whether Trump was "part of the machine," Mace said he is "definitely part of figuring out who gets to stay and who gets to go."

Mace lost the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary in June 2026. She did not receive a Trump endorsement; Trump held a rally for another candidate in the race. She said in the same interview that she would "feel much freer very soon when I get out of here January 3rd."

The "good man" answer came less than 30 seconds after the "100%" answer, in the same breath. Mace did not elaborate further on how she reconciles the two.

Watch

The full Tara Palmeri Show interview is available on YouTube. The opening exchange begins at the start of the video:

Sources