Congresswoman McBride Deserves Dignity, and Republicans Are Not Giving It

Please don't let this taint your willingness to work with Republicans in the future.

One of the things about the current state of American life that is actively making me sad and draining my spirit is the callous way we treat each other. However, you feel about President Trump—and I'm sure many of my readers voted for him—you can't deny that his rise to power has given people a permission slip to behave in certain ways that would not have been socially acceptable or tolerated not long ago. I see and experience it everywhere: on social media, speaking at public events, and in the grocery store aisle. Hell, sometimes I just want to stay at home all weekend so I don't have to interact with any of it. The way we engage with each other has changed for the worse and has been on the decline for several years. We dehumanize our fellow Americans, especially for the sin of thinking differently. More than ever, we're prone to fighting, name-calling, bullying, and depriving each other of any semblance of grace—and all of it is exacerbated by social media.

I'm probably telling you something you already know.

I would be remiss if I didn't admit I'm also no angel. There have certainly been times in my life when I have done or said something that I don't think is reflective of me as the person I want to present to the world. There are a ton of moments on YouTube that will live in infamy that make me cringe. I've grown up in front of cameras. I was young and have evolved. Ever since my dad died of terminal glioblastoma brain cancer six years ago, I have made a conscious effort to give people space, compassion, and dignity, even in times of ugliness and anger. Even in times when they do not give it back to me. My attitude is simple: life is short and I just don't have the space in my heart for ugliness to make a political point anymore. I am not perfect, but I really try to include this ethos into my everyday life and teach this lesson to my children.

I have had a lot of intense emotions the past few weeks at the state of the world since the election. To combat it, I am trying to spend less time on social media (although it is almost necessary given my line of work), consume less news in general, spend more time outside, more quality time with my girls - and more dinners with good food and good friends. I'm apparently not alone in my desire to tune out: the cable news ratings are nothing short of a bloodbath across all networks except Fox News.

I did however observe on social media this past week Congresswoman Nancy Mace's crusade against freshman Congresswoman Sarah McBride, who is the first openly trans person elected to Congress in American history. For anyone who hasn't been paying attention, in response to McBride arriving in D.C., Mace introduced legislation specifically to force transgender people in the House of Representatives to use the bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex. Mace then embarked on a national press tour and social media blitz, tweeting hundreds of times about it over just a few days and even showing up to the Capitol in costume. All of this happened reportedly before Mace even bothered to have a conversation about the subject with McBride, who told CBS that she had never planned on using the multi-stall women's restroom at the Capitol because she thought it would be politicized.

Mace went on to say that McBride was a threat to her and that "any man who wants to force his junk into the bathroom stall next to me or in a dressing room watching me, that is an assault on women." Among a slew of other posts, Mace quote tweeted a picture of McBride and said "how fitting" it was that "International Men's Day is today." Speaker Mike Johnson ultimately agreed to adopt the policy.

For my in-depth take on what happened, subscribe today and gain full access.