What do U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins’ racist comments say about his resounding support in Louisiana? • Louisiana Lighting

By the time Republican U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins faces a censure vote in the House of Representatives, it is highly likely that the voters of Louisiana’s Third Congressional District will have resoundingly elected him to a fourth term.

It’s a sad reflection on how much of Cajun Country Higgins represents, especially since his constituents would have a hard time citing specific legislation he sponsored to benefit the district during his six years in office.

Higgins received swift condemnation, especially from members of the Congressional Black Caucus, for once again spreading misinformation about Haitian immigrants living and working in Springfield, Ohio – and doing so as legally admitted residents of the United States.

In case you missed Higgins’ since-deleted post, it went like this:

“Lol. These Haitians are wild,” Higgins wrote. “Pet eating, vudu (sic), dirtiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters… but damn if they don’t all feel sophisticated by now, and file charges against our president and vice president.”

In case you didn’t know, immigration paperwork is time-consuming and expensive, which some might describe as complicated.

Higgins continued:

“All these criminals better get their minds right and leave our country before January 20,” Higgins concluded, pointing to the day the next US president will be sworn in.

The congressman wrote his message Wednesday on remainder represents. of Ohio. The Republican nominees’ continued repetition of claims that have been widely and officially debunked constitutes a criminal offense, according to the Haitian Bridge Alliance.

In a subsequent interview with The hill After deleting his post, he walked back his tirade, suggesting it was aimed at Haitian gangs – and not the country itself. Still inside a statement to CNN’s Anderson Cooperthe congressman doubled down on his original statement.

“It’s all true,” Higgins said. “I can make another controversial post tomorrow if you want. I mean, we have freedom of speech. I will say what I want.”

“To me it doesn’t really matter,” the congressman added. “It’s like something is stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life.

If anyone else, anywhere, had posted the same hateful, racist rant, the outrage might have put a significant dent in their approval ratings. But thanks to distraction and defense from his fellow Louisiana GOP members, Higgins’ online braying was labeled “Clay Being Clay.”

“His comments were inflammatory, but it is unclear whether he will pay any price,” political scientist Pearson Cross of the University of Louisiana at Monroe said. Louisiana Radio Network. “The Republican leaders will not be out to censor any of their own members, when in fact the vice president (candidate) of their party is more or less known for saying similar statements about the Haitians, at least regarding the way they treat the Haitians. their dogs and cats.”

Reactions from GOP leaders in the Louisiana delegation lend credence to Cross’s views.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson condemned Higgins, calling him “a dear friend” and “a very principled man” when reporters asked for his response to the X-post.

“He said he went to the back and prayed about it, and he regretted it, and he took the pole down,” Johnson told reporters. “That’s what you want the gentleman to do. I’m sure he probably regrets the language he used. But you know, we’re moving forward. We believe in redemption.”

The speaker’s reluctance to bash his colleague is not surprising, but it is disappointing that he made no effort to condemn the message. Johnson has his own track record for this attacking the marginalizedincluding his actions against gay marriage and laws intended to protect the LGBTQ+ community. In this light, it is understandable that he gave Higgins a free pass for his excessive display of racism.

Another Louisiana member, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, also rushed to Higgins’ defense, protesting in the House of Representatives on Wednesday when the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Steven Horsford, R-Nevada, offered a motion for a censure. Please note that a Congressional censure is merely an expression of disapproval, with no real punitive consequences.

“I object to the motion, and if we want to go through every comment from the other side, we’re happy to do so,” Scalise told the presiding speaker, Rep. Jay Olbernote, R-California.

Once again, there was no rebuke from Scalise, not even the slightest mention that Higgins’ X-post was unfounded or in poor taste. The majority leader instead played the “what about” card and promised to find some Democratic transgression that would apparently compensate for Higgins’ blatant indiscretion.

Just a week earlier, Scalise shouted Vice President Kamala Harris for “inflammatory” language that he said inspired assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump.

“Kamala needs to stop saying President Trump is a threat to democracy,” Scalise said. “There are unhinged people who are taking this as a call to try to take out President Trump.”

President Joe Biden also drew Scalise’s scorn for saying, “It’s time to shoot Trump in the bullseye.”

“The president of the United States said that, and now two different people have taken it as a call to action,” Scalise said.

If we’re going to get Scalise involved in his game of “what’s up?”, you’d think he’d reprimand Higgins in no uncertain terms for his rather blatant directive that Haitians “get out of our country by January 20.”

A list of similar verbal grenades from Trump that deserve similar condemnation would take up more space than this commentary allows. For starters, some of the January 6 rioters have since testified in court that they believed they were following Trump’s instructions when they breached the Capitol’s boundaries that day.

With a potential censure vote on hold until Congress returns in mid-November, it wouldn’t be surprising if Higgins, fresh off a big re-election victory, turns the whole situation into a badge of honor — one that would certainly draw rave reviews from his supporters back home.

Until conservatives in Louisiana’s Third District and beyond decide that racism, xenophobia and threats are not among their core values, Higgins and others who share his myopic worldview can expect a long tenure in Washington.