"She sees herself as a victim as a survivor, as a kind of avenger turning pain into purpose' in service of other victims, but first and foremost as a victim herself. Her father who didn't show her enough love, her molestation by a friend of her swim coach when she was 14, her rape when she was 16, her trying time as a student at The Citadel from which she was the first female graduate of its formerly all-male Corps of Cadets."
"Her paranoia and her posturing, her antics and her outbursts, her crude talk and her profane provocations, the swings of her political positions, not to mention her moods the evident consequences of her trauma, mounting, compounding all of it not only hasn't stopped her but arguably in some strange ways has helped her. She might be the most Donald Trump-like figure in American politics not named Donald Trump."
"She told me about her fundraising and her polling and the numbers of her followers and her compilation of Google search data and she showed me on the screen of her phone some of the charts that she said she had made. I have more name ID and branding than three former people that ran for president, she said."
Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina congresswoman running for governor, frames her political identity around personal trauma including childhood molestation, rape, and her experience as the first female graduate of The Citadel's Corps of Cadets. She views herself primarily as a victim and survivor channeling pain into purpose. Her erratic behavior, mood swings, crude language, and shifting political positions stem from compounding trauma yet have not hindered her political ascent. Instead, these elements fuel her appeal and political brand. Mace considers President Donald Trump a father figure and actively seeks his approval. She tracks her political metrics obsessively, comparing her name recognition and branding favorably against other presidential candidates.
#nancy-mace #political-identity-and-trauma #trump-influence #south-carolina-governor-race #political-branding
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