Nancy Mace mocks George Santos and Trump for their lies about college volleyball and the 2020 election

GOP congresswoman has rankled leaders and won fans for her outspoken style

It may be a bit awkward for Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace at the next House GOP get-together.

That’s because the South Carolina representative took several opportunities at Wednesday night’s Washington Press Club dinner to skewer her own fellow conservatives during a short comedy routine that had attendees guffawing.

Perhaps her top lines of the night were two not-so-subtle digs at Donald Trump, who endorsed against her in the 2022 midterm season only to see Ms Mace triumphantly coast to reelection.

In one swipe, she took on both the former president and her new colleague, George Santos, whom she has called on to resign after he admitted to telling a long series of lies, includng about supposedly being Jewish and descending from Holocaust survivors.

“I mean who lies about playing college volleyball?” she quipped Wednesday evening, referring to a tall tale Mr Santos is accused of telling about supposedly playing volleyball for a small New York college. “If you’re going to lie make it about something big, like you actually won the 2020 presidential election.”

She even tweaked Mr Trump over the January 6 attack on Congress, remarking: “I know everyone thinks Republicans aren’t funny, but if you get a bunch of us together we can be a real riot.”

Mr Trump and Mr Santos were far from the congresswoman’s only GOP targets Wednesday evening.

She would go on to skewer Marjorie Taylor Greene, the conspiracy-flinging congresswoman from Georgia, as well as Matt Gaetz, whom she mocked by referencing an investigation into whether Mr Gaetz was involved in sex trafficking a minor. Mr Gaetz strongly denied the accusation, and has not faced any charges despite an investigation into one of his close confidantes.

“We all knew that Matt Gaetz would never let the [Speaker] vote get to 18,” she joked. “He really, really wanted to be here tonight but he couldn’t find a babysitter.”