The Kentucky Republican nominee for the state’s House of Representatives Bishop Dan Johnson says he doesn’t care what Republican officials say—he’s going to continue running for office. Why should he drop out, you ask? Because he, as is the trend amongst Republicans of a certain stripe, got busted for posting racist images and other bigoted ”jokes” on his Facebook page. According to WDRB, the Bishop of Heart of Fire Church in Louisville is pretty proud of his racism and doesn’t understand why everyone is all politically correct.
“I love America. I love people. I believe red, yellow, black and white, all are precious in God's sight. I'm not a racist,” Johnson told WDRB News.
His church sign reads, “Jesus and this church are not politically correct.”
That’s true enough. Why is everyone angry? Exhibits “A” and “B”:
I’m Dan Johnson and I’m a racist I’m Dan Johnson and I’m a racistOne of the images shows Michelle and Barack Obama with chimpanzee mouths photoshopped onto their faces. Another post shows a picture of an infant chimpanzee with the title “Obama’s baby picture.” A third post shows an old Hollywood photo of Ronald Reagan feeding a bottle to a chimpanzee with the line “Rare photo of Ronald Reagan babysitting Barack Obama in early 1962.” They are all wildly hilarious because you see, black people are like monkeys! Get it? That’s the joke. That’s the entirety of the joke. Being racist is the joke?
“It wasn't meant to be racist. I can tell you that. My history's good there. I can see how people would be offended in that. I wasn't trying to offend anybody, but, I think Facebook's entertaining,” Johnson said.
[...]
“I looked this up. There has been no president that hasn't had that scrutiny. Not one. I think it would be racist not to do the same for President Obama as we've done for every other president.”
Dan Johnson’s fellow Republicans in Kentucky are unhappy at how obviously racist this is. They wrote a letter.
The letter calling for Johnson to step aside, which was signed by Republican Party of Kentucky Chairman Mac Brown and House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, said Johnson’s social media posts lacked judgment.
“The tone and content of your social media posts are inconsistent with the values of the Republican Party and have no place in the political arena,” the letter said. “They demonstrate a total disrespect for a number of minority communities and your comments after the fact show either a lack of understanding or concern for how offensive this action is to respectable people of any race.”
The images have disappeared from Johnson’s page, though he is defiant and claims that Facebook censored them for being tagged—which, I will define as “bullshit.” Here’s what may arguably be the greatest line a religious sociopath, busted for racism, has ever uttered:“The fact is, I wasn't racist when I posted it, [and] I'm not racist now,” Johnson said. Johnson’s Facebook page is Confederate flag picture this and anti-Islam that. He’s a pretty run-of-the-mill bigot. The Kentucky Republican Party is desperate to distance itself from Johnson and Trump as they (shockingly) have been unable to take control of the Kentucky State House. You can see the Republican Party of Kentucky letter here. Keep the Bluegrass State Blue!