Congresswoman Sarah McBride has had it — but not with what you’d think.
In a new interview on the I’ve Had It Podcast, the Delaware delegate (who became the first openly transgender member of Congress earlier this year) discussed the surprising turn of events behind her “warm welcome” on Capitol Hill, presumably from crazy transphobe showboat Nancy Mace.
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Unlike the “professional provocateurs on the other side of the aisle,” McBride is there “to do serious work.”
Interestingly enough, those tantrums from her MAGA-loving colleagues were what actually encouraged other, more level-headed Republicans to reach out.
“I don’t want to let these folks off for their public behavior or for their votes, but I will tell you that the welcome I received … actually fostered an opportunity for me to develop relationships … that I might not have had, had a handful of my colleagues decided to make me an opportunity to get attention for themselves,” she explained.
In fact, McBride recounted a handful of “moments of kindness and grace” from unnamed right-leaning coworkers, who told her things like, “We are so lucky to have you here,” “I really don’t like what they’re doing, it’s not very Christian,” and even invitations to “work together to show people that not everyone is like this.”
Of course, McBride has refused to let Mace’s antics — most of which are ridiculously centered around bathrooms — rain on her parade since day one.
Although, there are some haters McBride is ready to go off on, as she told hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan.
“I honestly have had it with pop-culture shaming,” McBride said, pointing out the sexism around prevailing ideas that media “beloved by women” is “vapid and superficial,” and entertainment that appeals to men is “perfectly acceptable.”
She joked, “I just want to watch my Traitors, I just want to watch Real Housewives … and listen to Taylor Swift. Let me enjoy my thing! I’m tired of people yucking my yum.”
As members of the LGBTQ+ community, we understand fully.
(And think McBride’s pop-culture faves are iconic in and of themselves.)
Still, the “hyper-policing” of tastes shares some parallels with recent pushback in the Democratic party.
After Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quipped that “the girls are fighting” amid Elon and Tr*mp’s Big Beautiful Breakup, critics argued she was contributing to misogyny.
“I saw that pushback to AOC’s comments,” McBride added. “I put out an email referencing the movie Mean Girls and got the same kind of pushback, and I’m like, ‘Y’all, this is why we can’t have nice things.’”
Instead of trying to “over-intellectualize every single utterance by every single person,” McBride argued that now’s the time for Democrats to adopt “a sense of humor.”
“I really think that the party that comes off as … the most sort of joyful and welcome … with a little bite, with a little humor, that’s a party that is one that other people want to join,” she said.
And with that lightheartedness in mind, McBride explained that it’s easier to see a future where we move past these trying times.
“You certainly cannot tell me that the reasons for hopelessness now are greater than the reasons for hopelessness for a closeted gay or trans person in the 1950s who never knew of an America where they could live openly and authentically as themselves without violating the law,” she explained.
“They had every reason to give up, but they didn’t.”
Watch Rep. Sarah McBride’s full interview below.
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