The Charleston Post & Courier reports:
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace wanted to make a point. So she decided to do it with a bold reference to one of the best-known female protagonists in American literature.
On Oct. 10, the South Carolina Republican walked into a closed-door candidate forum for the next Speaker of the House wearing a white shirt with a large, red letter “A” on it. When asked about her outfit, Mace told reporters it was her “scarlet letter.”
In an interview with The Post and Courier, Mace said her decision was about more than making an overt nod to Hester Prynne, the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterwork “The Scarlet Letter.” She said it was about letting her colleagues know that she would not be pushed into silence.
Read the full article. Twitter had a field day, of course.
NEW: I spoke with @RepNancyMace about her decision to wear a “scarlet letter” tonight. She told me this was about more than an obvious nod to Hester Prynne.
It was about letting her colleagues know that she would not be pushed into silence.https://t.co/X8wLymF6mp #scpol #chsnews— Caitlin Byrd (@MaryCaitlinByrd) October 11, 2023
Stop criticizing Nancy Mace for wearing a t-shirt with a scarlet A on it, even if she didn’t know it stands for adultery. She borrowed it from Kristi Noem
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) October 10, 2023
I wonder what Nancy Mace thinks the “A” on her shirt is supposed to mean other than adultery.
pic.twitter.com/oRqW7HjnPq
— Rodger 𝕏
(@catholiclawyer) October 11, 2023
SC Rep Nancy Mace symbolically and publicly confessing to adultery
That’s what the scarlet letter “A” was for in the story pretty much every American schoolchild reads. So that must be what she means
https://t.co/Zuv1sLoOD0
— Lucy Homan (@lucypaw) October 11, 2023
Maybe Nancy Mace didn’t know the scarlet A signified adultery because her party had banned all the copies of The Scarlet Letter?
— Mark Thompson (@Son_of_a_Thomp) October 11, 2023
When asked about her white T-shirt with a red letter “A” on it, Rep. Nancy Mace replied: “I’m wearing the scarlet letter after the week I just had being a woman up here, and being demonized for my vote [to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy].”https://t.co/TlKDAusUGa
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 11, 2023