Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana made some shockingly racist remarks about Haitians this week, which pretty much everyone agrees were wrong, vile, disgusting, depraved, and indefensible. But one man is standing in his corner: House Speaker Mike Johnson.

In a tweet yesterday, Higgins, a former college dropout who believes same-sex marriage should be banned when he himself has been married, checks notes, four times, described Haitians immigrants as “wild,” said they were from the “nastiest country in the Western hemisphere,” and told them to “get their ass out of our country before January 20th,” among other things.

The tweet has since been deleted, but a screenshot of it continues to make the rounds on social media:

Now, it shouldn’t be hard for anyone to take one look at that tweet and immediately, and without any question or hesitation, condemn it.

Unless, of course, you’re Mike Johnson.

When asked about it yesterday, the gay-hating Speaker of the House couldn’t bring himself to simply denounce Higgins’ remarks, instead calling him a “dear friend” and “a very principled man”… who also happens to be a racist piece of trash.

When a reporter pushed back and explained that he literally told Haitians to get out of the country by January 20th, Johnson rolled his eyes and said, “Well, OK” before saying the 63-year-old lawmaker has since “prayed about it” and “pulled the post down.”

“That’s what you want the gentleman to do,” Johnson continued. “I’m sure he probably regrets some of the language he used. But you know, we move forward. We believe in redemption around here.”

But in a statement sent to Anderson Cooper yesterday, Higgins expressed that he didn’t regret the tweet, despite Johnson claiming he had prayed about it, saying instead that “it’s all true” and comparing the backlash to… stepping in gum???

“I can put up another controversial post tomorrow if you want me to. I mean, we do have freedom of speech. I’ll say what I want,” he said. “It’s not a big deal to me. It’s like something stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life.”

In an appearance on AC360 last night, Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada, who also serves as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said he plans to “follow through” with plans to censure Higgins over the tweet, which he called “divisive, racially charged, hateful rhetoric.”

“It is not about the next election. It is about everyday people in America feeling targeted. Today, it’s the Haitians. Who will it be tomorrow? Will it be you?” Horsford said.

By Thursday, however, Higgins had changed his tune. Sorta.

Speaking to reporters this morning, he spun a sloppy word salad, in which he talked about not intending to hurt anyone’s feelings, Haitian gangs, Haiti as a country, and something about being a gentleman.

“You never want to intentionally hurt someone’s feelings, and that post was intended for Haitian gangs, you understand?” he said. “Not for, I mean, Haiti as a country, not at all. And the unintended impact that was expressed, very sincerely from one of my colleagues, very graciously, that touched me as a gentleman.”

Of course, all this anti-Haitian sentiment leads back to one person: Donald J. Trump.

The 34-time convicted felon and Republican nominee for president first spread false claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio eating people’s pets during the presidential debate earlier this month, which was viewed by nearly 70 million people.

Meanwhile, his running mate, JD Vance, leaned into HIV stigma by falsely stating Haitian immigrants have been spreading the virus around Springfield for months, which health officials in Ohio say is not true.

Since then, Republicans, conservative media outlets, and far-right keyboard warriors have latched onto the false narratives. Some, like Higgins, have now begun embellishing them.

Unfortunately, with the election still 39 days away, we’re likely going to see more inflammatory comments about all sorts of ethnic groups and marginalized communities. The latest forecast model from YouGov offers at least a glimmer of hope in all this darkness, however. It predicts Democrats will flip the House and take control the lower chamber, meaning Johnson and his racist apologetics would lose control of the gavel.

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