first amendment

On CNN, Mace says Muslims should 'go back to that country' as her 'trojan horse' furor spirals

What began as a single August 7, 2026 post from Rep. Nancy Mace's official account, calling every Muslim public officeholder a 'trojan horse,' spread over 72 hours into a national story. On August 9, Mace defended the claim live on CNN Newsroom, where anchor Omar Jimenez read her the First Amendment and Article VI's ban on religious tests for office. Across the segment Mace said she did not want to hear the Muslim call to prayer 'five times a day in an American city,' warned that 'our granddaughters' would be 'wearing burkas to school,' and told Jimenez that Muslims should 'go back to that country of origin.' She closed by saying she would 'ban all immigrants from those countries.' Minutes later she posted the clip herself with the line 'Islam has no place in Western society.' This dispatch reproduces the exchange verbatim as transcribed by five outlets, embeds Jimenez's own posted video, and catalogs the reaction across the political spectrum.