Thoughts on Nancy Mace and George Stephanopoulos

[no_hypocrisy]

OK, GS asked a reasonable question on how she could support a candidate who was legally determined to be a rapist. And she took umbrage that the question was to torture her as a rape victim, which it wasn't.

Now, I want to know too. If you're a rape victim and have been carrying it around for about 30 years, why WOULD you support someone who may even be a rapist? You've had your spells of PTSD. You re-live the event. You close your eyes and it's more vivid than before. Wouldn't you hate all rapists, not just yours? Where's your empathy towards another rape victim? And watch her rapist mock and deny he wouldn't have made the choice to rape HER.

Even if you agreed with the candidate 100% on political and social issues, if you knew or suspected that he was a rapist, an unrepentant rapist, why would you support him?

[Meadowoak]

1. I wonder if she was really raped, or just lied about it like she does everything else.

[PCIntern]

2. My thoughts exactly

[no_hypocrisy]

3. It's possible she lied, but it's also improbable.

That's so real that you wouldn't lie about it.

[agingdem]

5. as a woman I never want to doubt a rape victim but

Nancy Mace is a trashy self-serving opportunist..and for someone who was so traumatized by her attack, she had no problem announcing she was foregoing sex with her fiancé for a prayer breakfast.."No, baby, we don't have time for that"...add to that, her tight fitting "A" emblazoned tee shirt she wore in the House chamber...she's not capable of shame..

that she can support and defend Trump, adjudicated of sexual abuse, as being exonerated because he wasn't deemed a rapist is perverse and suspect....

[Bucky]

8. It's theoretically possible, but extremely unlikely she'd make up THAT lie

I believe her, even this her. LOTS of women get raped. The number of acquaintances in your own personal friend groups would surprise you. It's traumatic and the experience can warp one's thinking. It easily can contribute to the exact sort of paranoid thinking that we often blame on republicanism and Magatry.

[TSExile]

19. Trust me...the lion's share of people do not lie about being sexually violated.

I just wish more people understood that.

[Mike Nelson]

4. Well...

... in conversing and reading Trump fanatics on this topic, I would guess Nancy doesn't believe Trump raped anyone. (I did not see her interview with George, which I guess was on his ABC Sunday show.) Many Trump followers believe there was no rape. Many side with him, thinking E. Jean made up the encounter for money. Another category of Trump supporters think women like the "aggression." They think Man is the natural aggressor and Woman likes/needs to be pushed/taken, as God intended. So, maybe Nancy falls into one of these categories?

[Earth-shine]

6. I think it's likely she was actually raped, but is now learning to exploit it.

Rape happens to so many women. Exploiting it for self-aggrandizement, not so much.

[Redleg]

15. That was my take

I think the more Nancy Mace complains about Stephanopolis's questions the more she will look like a hypocrite for her support of Trump and lack of concern for Trump's own history with women.

[tetedur]

7. Was her rapist caught and criminally charged?

She seemed to think that because E. Jean Carroll's rapist was sued in civil court, he somehow could be excused by her for his act.

[NanaCat]

9. She never even reported it to police.

Which is why she's especially hypocritical about supporting a known rapist over his victim who also didn't report her assault to police.

[tetedur]

11. Wow. That is amazingly hypocritical.

Too bad Stephanopoulos didn't point that out in the interview.

[NanaCat]

13. I've concluded, from many years of

Observation of how Stephanopolous behaves, that he's a weakling and a lousy interviewer.

YMMV

[JHB]

16. That's what they pay him for.

For all the journalists we think do a lousy job, someone thinks they're doing fine and keeps paying them. But then, the job they're being paid for isn't really journalism, it's to create the illusion of it.

[Walleye]

10. Resolution of dissonance. She wants to be VP. The trash is in Carroll. She's pretty low down

[NanaCat]

12. Please don't speak to how any survivor

Has dealt with rape. None of us respond the same way.
I probably had PTSD about it for 5-10 years. After that, it receded far into the back of my mind. I hardly ever think of it anymore, haven't for over three decades now, and rarely find anything triggering about it. Not never by any means, but rarely. I'm well aware that my experience definitely isn't the norm, but it's still how I experienced it. So I'm not paralyzed with grief or doubts or self-recriminations or any of the myriad post-rape effects that others experience.

However...

I'm one of the 6% who ran the gauntlet to get a conviction. I reported it, and made myself heard. I stuck with an admittedly grueling process, and got justice. Maybe not the best justice (I won't go into the details here), but a guilty verdict all the same. Instead of coming out of it feeling like a victim, I came out feeling empowered for standing up for myself and getting that conviction. It wasn't winning, really, but it wasn't losing, either. That may have helped me process it and move on more quickly.

I realize not everyone feels like they can endure what I did to land on my feet on the other side. I can assure everyone it was not easy at all, that I probably had a bit of luck in the judicial process, but the point is that if our culture maybe gave rape survivors the support they need rather than hateful judgments and blaming them for their own assaults, if it were easier to report it and get through the legal gauntlet, if convictions were the norm and not the exception, then maybe more survivors would come out of it the way I did.

It's at least worth a try, because nothing else has worked.

[Redleg]

14. I appreciate your insight to this

I can see that it was very difficult for you and hope you have found some peace.

[Goodheart]

17. You can bet that Mace had her response already prepared.

What? Me? A hypocrite? How DARE you torture me because I'm a rape victim!

[TSExile]

18. Some thoughts...

In late 2015, I was sexually assaulted by a supposed male friend in his home. I had known him (thought I had known him, anyway) for nearly a decade at that point.

I didn't tell anyone for over a year. Still saw him all the time...in large part because we attended the same church. Thanks be to God, he wasn't a pastor or elder or on church council. He was just a fellow congregant who played and sang in the worship band. I kept quiet partly out of denial...the illusion had been shattered that he in reality wasn't the person I'd thought he was. Also, I didn't want to ruin the church band. He was a phenomenal, largely self-taught guitarist who brought so much energy to each service. My reasoning to myself was that it would be my fault if I said anything.

Like NanaCat said, each survivor has a different story and everyone processes everything differently. If I had to do it over again, I would do so many things differently. Long story short, I did eventually tell our pastor. He spoke with Mr. Guitar Man, who denied everything. I had receipts. After one last confrontation in the church after service when everyone else had left, he split and that was the last time I ever saw him. He quit the band and our church, and that was that.

Because of a very stupid thing called statute of limitations, it was too late to press charges against him once I went to the police. I did still file a report with every detail I could recall because I wanted what happened to me on the record. If God forbid, something like this were ever to happen to another woman who reported it, my statement would be there and hopefully she would get justice.

My experience changed everything. One of the things it changed was my outlook on politics. At the same time I was going through my ordeal, TSF was rising up the political ranks. I grew to hate the Republican party and how accepting they were of that RAPIST. Then I realized that this is a party of rapists and rape apologists.

I don't doubt Nancy Mace was raped. I feel for her because I know how hard it is to deal with, but she sure isn't doing herself or any survivor any favors here. I find it shameful that she isn't using her platform as a congresswoman to help survivors, work with advocates and try to write better laws.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

20. Hi my name is Nancy Mace. I'm a rape victim and I want you to vote for a convicted sex offender Donald Trump

Mace is wrong and George Stephanopoulos was right. Most rapist are not convicted and TFG is a rapist even if not convicted

Link to tweet

[lindysalsagal]

21. She sure isn't appearing to want to avoid the "damage" of public notoriety by picking this fight

If she were truly hurt by the past, she wouldn't be publicly digging it up repeatedly. She'd be smart and know that going after a well respected reporter who's not accused of anything doesn't help her "cause" or anyone else's.

Don't want attention? Get off the TV.

[Meadowoak]

23. Exactly, that's why I question her veracity.

[returnee]

22. Let's assume she was raped.

I would not wish to question that. However, she’s begging the question. She didn’t have to reveal that she was raped. She could have just opposed any politician adjudicated to be a sexual assailant. Instead, she reveals it to oppose anyone questioning her support for trump. No one should support a rapist, let alone someone who actually was raped.

[TSExile]

24. I wish the likes of Mace and Britt would wake up.

Just because they are elected officials, doesn't mean they are respected by the men in the Grand Old Patriarchy. They hate women. Rep. Mace and Senator Britt...don't think you're any different.