Clay Higgins talking shit again and Republicans quickly told him to shut the fuck up. |
Like Eric Adams and Anthony D'Esposito, Rep. [Glen] Clay Higgins (R-LA) once wore a badge. He was a corrupt cop. He has a notorious history of racial profiling, abuse of power, unreasonable searches and seizures and possible sexual predatory behavior.
Higgins supported former Klan leader and white nationalist David Duke in his longshot bid for governor of Louisiana.
Higgins became a patrol officer for the Opelousas City police department. By 2007, police chief Perry Gallow was prepared to take major disciplinary action against Higgins. In a letter to the city council, he wrote, "Clay Higgins used unnecessary force on a subject during the execution of a warrant and later gave false statements during an internal investigation...although he later recanted his story and admitted to striking a suspect in handcuffs and later releasing him". Higgins resigned before disciplinary action could be imposed.
In September 2016, during his congressional campaign, Higgins claimed to have resigned from the police force for other reasons, calling Gallow "a peacock, a colorful, flightless bird". Gallow, by then retired as police chief, publicly disputed Higgins's version of events.
Higgins worked for the Port Barre police department through 2010. In 2011, he joined the St. Landry Parish sheriff's office. After the office's public information officer was reassigned in October 2014, Higgins was appointed to the position and promoted to captain. As public information officer, Higgins made videos for the parish Crime Stoppers program. He first used standard scripts, but began to improvise in his own style, appealing to suspects to surrender and sometimes threatening them by name. His videos went viral, and in 2015 he was described by national media as the "Cajun John Wayne" for his intimidating persona. Sheriff Bobby Guidroz urged restraint, advising Higgins to refrain from personal comments about suspects and to keep a professional tone in his videos.
Higgins also made a video for the state police, with a script that prompted protests from suspects' families and the ACLU. He resigned from the St. Landry Parish sheriff's office in February 2016. Guidroz had warned him against using disrespectful and demeaning language about suspects, ordering him to "Tone down his unprofessional comments on our weekly Crime Stoppers messages". He issued a statement saying that Higgins's comments underlined "a growing undertone of insubordination and lack of discipline on Higgins' part". Guidroz said that Higgins had gone against department policy by misusing his badge and uniform for personal profit and gain, citing Higgins's wearing a uniform in an ad for a security firm. He also reprimanded Higgins for using his badge and uniform on his personal website to support sales of T-shirts and shot glasses for his limited liability corporation (LLC). Higgins had also used the department's physical address in registering his corporation with the state. Both actions were against department policy.
Salon reported that during this period, Higgins "negotiated paid speaking appearances with other police departments. In one email, Higgins discussed his request for a speaker's fee that included shopping money for his wife and part of the fuel for a friend's private plane." He asked for cash payments. Higgins also conducted his private business via email on "his government email-account during work hours without the permission or knowledge of his supervisors. Higgins also appears to have attempted to conceal his earnings from the IRS in order to avoid wage garnishment for unpaid taxes. Whether those actions constitute tax fraud is unclear."
Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio are concerned that Trump has made them targets. |
Shortly after resigning from St. Landry Parish, in March 2016, Higgins was accepted and sworn in as a reserve deputy marshal in the city of Lafayette, Louisiana. Reserve forces in city and Parish sheriff's offices in Louisiana receive regular training and are commissioned as law enforcement officers. They are part-time and made up of persons from many walks of life.
In 2019, Higgins retired his commission as a reserve deputy marshal. He maintains an active law enforcement commission as a reserve officer with the Louisiana attorney general's office.
Higgins is down with MAGAland. The insufferable lawmaker is endorsed by Trump. Higgins promotes white nationalist conspiracy theories.
Higgins posted a five-minute video on YouTube from Auschwitz concentration camp, including a section from within one of the gas chambers. He said, "This is why homeland security must be squared away, why our military must be invincible". This video was widely condemned as inappropriate, including by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, whose spokesman wrote in a Twitter post that "the building should not be used as a stage". Higgins later removed the video and issued an apology.
Several of Higgins's Facebook posts have been removed for contravening the company's policy against inciting violence. On September 1, 2020, Higgins posted a photograph of protesters at a Black Lives Matter protest in Louisiana, suggesting that armed demonstrators should be met with force to "eliminate the threat". After Facebook deleted the post, Higgins wrote: "We don’t care what color you are. We don’t care if you’re left or right. America is being manipulated into a new era of government control. Your liberty is threatened from within. [...] Welcome to the front lines, Ladies and Gentlemen. I suggest you get your mind right. I'll advise when it's time gear up, mount up, and roll out." This post was deleted for contravening the same policy.
Trump and Vance are becoming the John McCain and Sarah Palin of presidential campaigns. |
In 2023, following the federal indictment of former Trump and Walt Nauta, Higgins Tweeted "President Trump said he has been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this. Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all." Higgins later walked the call back with another Tweet saying "Let Trump handle Trump, he's got this". Higgins’ office issued a statement claiming that the real target of the indictment was not Trump but his supporters, and that the Department of Justice was attempting to provoke January 6-style events in order to provide a pretext to arrest conservatives.
On September 25, 2024, Higgins made a tweet on X disparaging Haitians, tweeting "Lol. These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters... but damned if they don't feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP. All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th."
Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned his post. He deleted it but some managed to keep it up. Now he is at risk of censure.
Thanks to Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Trump's insufferable running mate, Springfield, Ohio is experiencing a rise in death threats and attacks on the city.
Trump would amplify the lie during his only debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. The former president would make this a meme and a campaign.
Some members of the Springfield Haitian community are urging Clark County, Ohio prosecutors issue criminal charges against Trump and Vance.
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