January 6 & the Trump Relationship
Mace's statements condemning the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, and her subsequent pivot to endorsing Donald Trump, form one of the most documented reversals in her public record.
Mace publicly condemning the perpetrators of the January 6 Capitol riot shortly after the attack. (Source: Rep. Mace's official "Interviews with Nancy," via YouTube.)
On January 6, 2021, Nancy Mace was in the Capitol complex when a mob attacked the building. In the days that followed, she issued a series of statements calling rioters "domestic terrorists," saying Trump's legacy had been "wiped out," and calling on the president to "get off Twitter." She said publicly that lives had been put at risk and that Trump should be held accountable. She voted against impeachment but framed her opposition in procedural terms, not as a defense of Trump's conduct.
Over the following months and years, Mace moved from open critic to full endorser. By January 2024 she had announced support for Trump in the 2024 presidential primary over Nikki Haley, despite having once called that race "a complete shit show", and she spoke at rallies on his behalf. She later described him as the "only man who can save America." Supporters of Mace characterize this as appropriate pragmatism; critics describe it as a reversal. Mace has not retracted her January 2021 statements, but she has not repeated their substance since.
The dispatches under this topic are drawn from Mace's own public statements on each date listed. They include her own words from each period, allowing readers to compare them directly.
On the Record
"Getting my ass kicked": Mace's post-loss X tear, from beans to vowing "revenge" on Trump
After finishing fifth (~12.1%) in the June 9, 2026 South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Mace posted a days-long run of defiant messages on X that outlets including Townhall, The Blaze and HuffPost described as a 'crash out.' She wrote she was 'getting my ass kicked,' posted a bowl of beans, vowed to be 'more of a menace than ever,' and said that the answer to whether she would get 'revenge on Trump for ending your political career' was 'yes.'
'Buried the hatchet': after finishing fifth, Mace concedes the governor's race and endorses Alan Wilson, the rival she spent months branding a 'p*dophile protector'
On the night of June 9, 2026, after finishing fifth in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary with about 11.4% of the vote, Nancy Mace conceded and endorsed the man who advanced to the June 23 runoff, Attorney General Alan Wilson. 'I want a law-and-order governor, and that law-and-order governor is going to be Alan Wilson,' she told supporters, saying that 'in the last couple of weeks, Alan Wilson and I have buried the hatchet.' The endorsement reversed a year of attacks: as recently as November 3, 2025 she had called Wilson a 'p*dophile protector' on X. Wilson has rejected those attacks, his office said Mace 'drastically mischaracterized' prosecution data, and nothing in the exchange is a finding about either man's conduct.
'Ding dong the witch is gone': Nikki Haley's son toasts Mace's defeat, four years after his mother's ads helped save her seat
Minutes after Nancy Mace conceded her fifth-place finish in the June 9, 2026 South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Nalin Haley, the son of former governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, quote-tweeted her concession with 'DING DONG THE WITCH IS GONE!,' then added 'Free at last, free at last.' The jab capped a four-year arc: in 2022 Nikki Haley cut TV ads calling Mace 'tough as nails' and 'a fighter' and helped her beat a Trump-backed primary challenger; in January 2024 Mace repaid her by endorsing Donald Trump over Haley, in Haley's home state, the day before the New Hampshire primary. The Haley camp had spent election day boosting Mace's rivals.
Mace concedes fifth place: "I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that"
On June 9, 2026, after finishing fifth with roughly 12.1 percent of the vote in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, Mace said she lost support because of her vote to release the Epstein files and called it a choice made on principle.
Mace on CNN: releasing the Epstein files was "a price I am unwilling to pay" for an endorsement
On CNN on June 7, 2026, days before the South Carolina governor primary, Mace said that if Trump's endorsement required her not to vote to release the Epstein files, it was "a price I am unwilling to pay."
After Trump endorses Pam Evette over her for governor, Mace floods X for days, a Farron Balanced commentary dubs the response a 'crash out'
On May 29, 2026, President Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette over Nancy Mace in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary. In the days that followed, Mace posted repeatedly on X defending her congressional record and attacking Evette. In a June 3, 2026 commentary video, progressive host Farron Cousins (Farron Balanced) characterized the response as a multi-day 'crash out' and read a post he attributed to GOP consultant Justin Evans calling it someone losing 'touch with reality in real time.' The 'crash out' and mental-health framing in the video are the commentator's opinion; Maceopedia does not adopt them. Mace attributes her troubles to her vote to release the Epstein files.
"NO REGRETS": Trump endorses Evette over Mace; Mace ties the snub to her Epstein vote
On May 29, 2026, President Trump endorsed Mace's primary rival Pam Evette for South Carolina governor. Mace responded on X with "NO REGRETS," directly linking the endorsement snub to her vote to release the Epstein files.
Mace commends Melania Trump for advocating for Epstein survivors
On April 9, 2026, Mace publicly commended First Lady Melania Trump for her advocacy on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein survivors, a notable alignment with the Trump family even as Mace continued fighting the Justice Department over file releases.
Mace after Bondi's firing: "She has stonewalled every effort to hold the guilty accountable"
On April 2, 2026, the day President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, Mace issued a statement accusing Bondi of handling the Epstein files in a "terrible manner" and stonewalling the committee's accountability efforts.
'President Trump has won the war, time to exit': Mace breaks with Trump on Iran and signals she'll vote with Democrats
On March 26, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace told Axios that 'War with Iran needs to end. President Trump has won the war, time to exit,' and signaled she would 'most likely' vote with House Democrats on the next war powers resolution constraining the Iran war. She told Axios by text she was 'not voting to send South Carolina's sons and daughters into battle to die for the price of oil,' and warned on CNN that continuing the war could cost Republicans in the midterms. Political Wire summed the day up as 'Trump Loses Nancy Mace on the Iran War.'
'Another Iraq': Mace walks out of a classified Iran briefing and tells Trump to take Lindsey Graham 'out of the Situation Room'
On March 25, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace walked out of a classified House Armed Services Committee briefing on the Iran war and posted that she 'will not support troops on the ground in Iran, even more so after this briefing,' warning that 'the Washington War Machine' wanted to turn Iran into 'another Iraq.' The same week she demanded that President Trump remove Sen. Lindsey Graham 'from the Situation Room,' first on X and then on CNN. The posture put her against the Iran-hawk wing of her own party even as she continued to praise Trump.
Anonymous White House officials blast Mace's Israel rescue missions as 'political gain'; Mace says she kept State informed throughout
The Guardian reported on March 18, 2026, picked up by Raw Story and WTOC, that unnamed Trump White House and State Department officials were furious at Rep. Nancy Mace over her two evacuation trips to Israel. The anonymous officials alleged she contacted the Saudi government without notifying State, asked the administration to requisition a Saudi plane for ~300 people, and urged Americans toward Jordan without secured onward travel. Mace's office said she kept State informed and that State approved the DHS plane. The dispute is unresolved and every government critic spoke anonymously.
Mace defies Trump pressure: "I was one of four Republicans" to sign the Epstein petition
On November 13, 2025, Mace publicly confirmed she had signed the discharge petition to force release of the Epstein files, standing firm after Trump pressured Republican signers to back down.
Mace launches governor campaign declaring 'I am Trump in high heels' and vowing to 'burn it down to the ground'
At a Myrtle Beach town hall on August 6, 2025, Mace officially launched her South Carolina gubernatorial campaign by vowing to burn down what is broken in the state and calling herself 'Trump in high heels.'
Mace defends flip to endorsing Trump: 'We've had three-and-a-half years of Joe Biden now, and it's pretty easy'
Appearing on NewsNation on June 2, 2024, Mace defended her decision to endorse Donald Trump after years of publicly criticizing him following January 6.
Mace calls assassination hypothetical 'asinine,' pivots to 'How much did Bill Clinton pay off the women?'
In the same April 28, 2024 NPR interview, Mace dismissed the Supreme Court's presidential immunity assassination hypothetical as asinine, then deflected questions about the Stormy Daniels hush-money trial with a rhetorical question about Bill Clinton that NPR's fact-check addressed.
Mace calls NPR interview 'clickbait' and accuses host of being 'leftists in the media'
On April 28, 2024, during a live NPR interview about Trump's criminal trial and Supreme Court immunity arguments, Mace accused host Ayesha Rascoe of bias and called the interview 'clickbait for NPR'; NPR ran a fact-check of her statements in the same broadcast.
Mace to Stephanopoulos: 'I live with shame'
On March 10, 2024, Mace pushed back at George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week after he pressed her on endorsing Trump given her public history as a rape survivor.
Mace endorses Trump: 'Donald Trump is the only man who can save America'
On February 2, 2024, Mace endorsed Donald Trump over fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley ahead of the state's Republican primary.
Mace endorses Trump over Haley: 'It's been a complete shit show since he left the White House'
On January 22, 2024, Mace endorsed Donald Trump over Nikki Haley, who lives in Mace's own congressional district and had backed her in 2022, the day before the New Hampshire primary, reversing her post-January 6 declaration that Trump had no future in the GOP.
Mace on Trump indictment: 'Joe Biden just secured Donald Trump's nomination for Republicans in 2024'
On June 9, 2023, Mace went on Fox News to denounce the federal indictment of Trump on classified documents charges as politically motivated, predicting it would secure Trump's 2024 Republican nomination, reversing her post-January 6 calls for accountability.
Mace boasts on Fox News she has been 'living rent-free' in AOC's Twitter account
On February 8, 2021, Mace appeared on Fox News to gloat about her social-media feud with AOC over the January 6 Capitol attack, framing her challenge to AOC's trauma account as a winning political play.
Mace tells AOC 'I deal in facts. Unlike you, apparently.', then fundraises off the feud
On February 4, 2021, Mace attacked AOC's credibility over her January 6 account on Twitter, then sent a fundraising email the same day using the same line as a solicitation.
Mace calls MTG committee removal 'unprecedented', weeks after warning QAnon was leading the GOP
On February 4, 2021, Mace defended Marjorie Taylor Greene from being stripped of her committee assignments, weeks after warning that QAnon conspiracy theorists were leading the Republican Party toward a constitutional crisis.
Mace tweets 'Insurrectionists never stormed our hallway' to undercut AOC's Capitol trauma account
On February 3, 2021, Mace publicly disputed AOC's account of fearing for her life on January 6, despite Mace herself having reportedly told reporters she barricaded in her own office out of fear that day.
Mace asks on Meet the Press: 'how do we hold a president accountable that put all of our lives at risk?'
Eleven days after the Capitol attack, Mace appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and questioned how Congress could hold the president accountable for the January 6 riot.
Mace invokes 'both sides' on Capitol attack while voting against impeachment
On the day of the second impeachment vote, Mace drew moral equivalence between the Capitol attack and months of left-wing unrest on the House floor, then voted against impeachment.
Mace warned 'QAnon conspiracy theorists' were leading the GOP, then voted to oust Liz Cheney months later
On January 13, 2021, Mace defended Liz Cheney from removal by warning that QAnon conspiracy theorists were leading the party; by May 2021 she reversed course and voted to oust Cheney from leadership.
Mace cites due-process concerns to justify 'no' vote on impeachment after condemning Trump
On January 13, 2021, Mace publicly condemned Trump for the Capitol attack and then used procedural objections about the speed of the impeachment process to justify voting against it.
Mace says on Fox News she does not know 'how you go forward and defend the indefensible' and Trump has no future in the GOP
One week after the Capitol attack, Mace told Fox News that Trump had no future in the Republican Party and that his principles would have to be championed without his name or brand.
Mace tweets Capitol rioters were 'domestic terrorists' and calls on GOP to stop 'coddling extremists'
Four days after the January 6 Capitol attack, Mace posted on Twitter that the rioters who assaulted police were domestic terrorists and urged her party to rebuild around respect for rule of law.
Mace in GOP group chat: 'I'm disgusted by what you and other Q-conspiracy theorists did'
On January 8, 2021, in a leaked GOP freshmen group chat published by Politico, Mace directed sharp criticism at colleagues she linked to QAnon in the immediate aftermath of the January 6 Capitol attack.
Mace says Trump's legacy 'entirely wiped out' the day after the Capitol attack
The day after the January 6 Capitol attack, Mace told a local TV station that the riot had erased everything Republicans had accomplished under President Trump.
Mace tells CBS News while sheltering during Capitol breach: 'I'm begging the president to get off Twitter'
While sheltering in place during the January 6 Capitol breach, Mace told CBS News she was begging President Trump to stop posting on Twitter.
Sheltering in the Capitol on Jan. 6, Mace says 'This is not who we are'
As rioters breached the Capitol, Mace posted from her locked-down office that protesters assaulting Capitol Police was 'wrong' and that she was 'heartbroken for our nation.'