An appointee of President Donald Trump is out following the discovery of numerous derogatory comments he made on the radio.
Carl Higbie, who served as head of external affairs for the Corporation for National and Community Service and a spokesman for the Great America PAC, attacked Blacks, LGBTs, veterans suffering from mental illness, Muslims and women in a variety of radio interviews made public by CNN.
On a radio appearance in 2013 on Internet radio show “Sound of Freedom,” the president’s pal recalled a time he was giving away free firewood and said “the Black race” has “lax morals.”
“Of the 25 or so white people that came by, not a single one asked me to help load the firewood in their car, to do anything for them, to split it for them or anything,” Higbie said.
“Only one [Black] person was actually cordial to me. Every other Black person was rude. They wanted me to either load the wood, completely split it for them or some sort of you know assistance in labor. Now, mind you the ad was for free firewood, come take it all you want. And I believe that this translates directly into the culture that is breeding this welfare and the high percentage of people on welfare in the Black race. It’s a lax of morality.”
He went on to say: “We’re promoting birth control to a Black woman because of the incredibly high rate of children born out of wedlock that are under-cared for or not cared for at all. The taxpayers are tired of supporting government checks going to these people who think that breeding is a form of employment. I’m sorry if Black people are the majority of the targeted audience. They are, statistically they are.”
Higbie’s implication that only minorities benefit from government assistance is inaccurate. According to a study from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, government assistance is most beneficial to working-age adults without a college degree whites in particular:
“People of all races and ethnic groups who lack a bachelor’s degree receive significant help from the safety net, but on two significant metrics, the results for white working-age adults stand out. Among working-age adults without a college degree, 6.2 million whites are lifted above the poverty line by the safety net more than any other racial or ethnic group.”
This is not only because white people make up the majority of the population, the study adds:
“Poverty reduction programs provide substantial benefits to all demographic groups within the working class. But they reduce poverty proportionately more among working-age white adults without a college degree than among other adults lacking a college degree. Among otherwise-poor adults, these programs reduced poverty by 44 percent for white adults and by 35 percent for all other adults.”
Notably, in June 2016, Higbie said that anyone who has received government assistance during the election cycle should not be allowed to vote, despite voting being a constitutional right.
In a different “Sound of Freedom” show, Higbie referred to “urban areas” as “the ghetto.”
The word “ghetto” is widely considered an outdated term and is no longer used in mainstream media discussions.
Higbie also on a different airing said Blacks should not call themselves “African Americans”:
“The whole African-American thing gets me whipped up because it’s like 99 percent and I’m paraphrasing here of people who write down African American have never been to Africa,” he said. “So barring dual citizenship, you’re American or you’re African, but you’re not both. I don’t care what you think. That’s another thing that just sets me off.”
It is unclear what he is “paraphrasing.”
Higbie also made numerous attacks on former President Barack Obama and questioned the authenticity of his birth certificate. He once referred to Obama as “the Muslim who was born in Kenya.”
Obama was born in Hawaii and is a Christian.
In another show he called Obama’s birth certificate “pixelated” and called the birther movement “legitimate.”
“This birth certificate thing. Sure, absolutely legitimate claim. You want to know if this, where was this guy born. That’s a legitimate question.”
In addition to Black people, Higbie made derogatory comments about LGBT people, Muslims, veterans suffering from mental illness and women. A few more of his sound-offs from various interviews include:
“Go back to your Muslim shithole and go crap in your hands and bang little boys on Thursday night. I just don’t like Muslim people. People always rip me a new one for that. Carl, you’re racist, you can’t, you’re sexist. I’m like Jesus Christ. I just don’t like Muslim people because their ideology sucks.”
“But severe PTSD, where guys are bugging out and doing violent acts, is a trait of a weak mind. Now things like [military member] Brandon, where he was legitimately blown up and a loud noise makes him on edge completely understandable, but when someone performs an act of violence that is a, it is a weak mind. That is a crazy person, and the fact that they’re trying to hide it behind PTSD makes me want to vomit.”
“You cross my border, I will shoot you in the face. I will go down there. I’ll volunteer to go down there and stand on that border for, I don’t know, a week or so at a time and that’ll be my civil duty. I’ll volunteer to do it.”
(in reference to Rhode Island legalizing gay marriage) “Congratuf’in’lations, you suck, Rhode Island. Why would you do that Go ahead and twist the knife a little, little bit more. I mean, you are breaking the morals, the moral fiber of our country. You know, I don’t like gay people. I just don’t.”
“Nothing gets me going like Ted Cruz, when he went off on that [Sen. Dianne] Feinstein Bitch about the Second Amendment, and oh, he put her in her place. That was just fantastic. I can’t stand that woman. She’s another one. Her and Pelosi. I’d love to just take both their heads and smack them together a couple of times.”
In November 2016 Higbie also suggested taking away immigrants’ constitutional rights and said there is “precedent” for enforcing a registry of all Muslim Americans: the internment camps Japanese Americans were held in during the World War II era.
