There was a period of time, a couple of years ago, in which every couple of weeks my editor or I would halfheartedly message each other and ask, “Should we be writing … something … on Kyrsten Sinema?”
The question was always prompted by a pink wig or a bat sleeve or a fluffy vest or a tassel or a sequin or a fringe or, one time, a big, gaudy ring that the U.S. senator ostentatiously wore to brunch. The ring (literally) said “f--- off.” Was that something? I would ask my editor.
But “something” never amounted to anything, because it turns out that wearing an outré object is not the same as being a thought-provoking person, and besides, what can you really say about a politician who has reached the most consequential realm of government but still seems to want to be noticed for their style more than their substance? What can you say, I mean, besides Yes, dear. We saw your denim vest. Bless your heart.
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(And yes, we are also blessing the heart — the Carhartt — of John Fetterman [D-Pa.] and of Jim Jordan [R-Oh God, put on a jacket].)
Anyway, on Tuesday night we were cranking up the ole is-this-something chain, but this time for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). Last week, Mace was one of eight Republicans who controversially voted to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. This week, she showed up to work wearing a white tank top (I think? There was a blazer over it) and on that tank top was a large red capital “A.”
End of carouselIt was something, all right. The “A” looked like a second-grader’s stab at a Halloween “Avengers” costume, like it was made at home with a roll of Scotch Expressions masking tape or, at best, ordered with expedited shipping from CafePress. But haute couture was not the point, as Mace made clear when she was asked to explain the shirt. “It’s my scarlet letter,” she told an NBC reporter, according to a post on X, which used to be T(witter).
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For those of you whose 11th-grade English class is a little distant in the rearview mirror, this appears to be a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 masterwork, “The Scarlet Letter,” about a 1600s woman, Hester Prynne, who gives birth out of wedlock, refuses to divulge the identity of her baby’s father, and is punished by a horde of salivating Puritans who demand she sew an “A” to her clothing forever and ever and be grateful she wasn’t burned at the stake.
Hester Prynne’s “A” initially stood as a symbol for her adultery, but over the course of the novel it came to mean different things to different characters. By the time Emma Stone made a cheeky, loose cinematic remake of the book in 2010 (“Easy A”) the concept of a scarlet letter was a stand-in for the idea that bold women are punished and branded for the act of being bold women.
“I am wearing the scarlet letter after the week that I had last week being a woman up here and being demonized for my vote and for my voice,” Mace told reporters, referring to her vote against McCarthy. “I’m on the side of the people, I’m not on the side of the establishment, and I’m going to do the right thing every single time, no matter the consequences.”
It’s not clear that Mace has been demonized any more than, say, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the instigator of the McCarthy ousting. (“Matt Gaetz is, frankly, a vile person,” Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican colleague from New York, told reporters Tuesday.) But it seemed important to Mace that her vote be viewed as a principled stand, not a peevish stunt. She told reporters that she had moved against McCarthy because he’d failed to live up to his promises, citing budgetary issues but also citing a bill Mace had co-sponsored related to rape-kit testing that McCarthy had never brought to the floor.
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So far, so feminist. But then Mace cheapened the act by aggressively fundraising off of her controversial vote. At one point, she asked for campaign donations during a television interview at the Capitol which, several news outlets speculated, may have violated House rules that prohibit fundraising in House office buildings.
Over the weekend, Mace went on CBS and said she supported Jordan for the speaker role. It’s not clear why she thinks Jordan is any more trustworthy than McCarthy. It is clear that Mace would not have been invited on prominent news shows to talk about her preferred speaker candidate if she hadn’t done her part to make sure there was a vacancy. So far, so fatiguing.
And then came Tuesday, just when Nancy Mace was about to slip our minds because instead we have war in Israel, and another looming government shutdown, and plenty of other things on our plates, thank you very much — just when all of that was happening, Nancy Mace arrived to make sure we remembered that Nancy Mace existed. Mostly, it seemed like a ploy for — I’m thinking of a word here, and I suppose you can guess what it starts with. (Hint: On the Hill, it never goes out of fashion.)
Was this something? Certainly nothing worth writing a novel about. Which brings me to the point of this column.
Yes, dear. We noticed. Bless your heart, and the A right over it.
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