Rep. Clay Higgins in Washington, DC, in 2022. (Tom Williams/Getty)

On Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) posted a mocking, racist tweet about “wild” Haitians practicing “vudu” and flooding into the US from the “nastiest country in the western hemisphere.” Such rhetoric would be surprising for most members of Congress. In the case of Higgins, it serves as an excellent introduction.

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) “put a gun to my head,” wrote an ex-wife. (A charge with Higgins denies.)

The post from Higgins, which he soon deleted, focused on the legal Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, who Republicans continue to slander for sport and potential electoral gain.

The tweet is racist. There’s not much more to say about it. There is, however, a lot more to say about Higgins, a member of Congress whose disturbing personal history has not gotten much attention.

One of Higgins’ first appearances in the public record came in a 1992 newspaper article dug up by Bayou........

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