Saturday morning on Twitter, former Arkansas governor and current Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee sent out a tweet accusing a restaurant that refused to serve his daughter, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, because of her work with the Trump administration, of bigotry.

“Bigotry. On the menu at Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington VA. Or you can ask for the “Hate Plate”. And appetizers are “small plates for small minds,” he wrote.

But, just three hours earlier, Huckabee had tweeted something extremely bigoted himself — a photo of five Hispanic men holding up what appear to be hand signals associated with the MS-13 gang. He captioned the photo, “Nancy Pelosi introduces her campaign committee for the take back of the house.”

Do you get it? Honestly, I’m terrified to think that I can parse what Huckabee is thinking, but the “joke” seems to be: Pelosi is against the Trump administration ripping migrant children away from their parents, all immigrants are violent gang members, and so violent gang members will now take over the Democratic Party with Pelosi. What a riot.

Nancy Pelosi introduces her campaign committee for the take back of the House. pic.twitter.com/yKDhkVubck — Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) June 23, 2018

One person who did find it funny? Donald Trump Jr., who retweeted it.

Huckabee’s tweet — which is undeniably racist — is just the latest attempt from conservatives to paint all immigrants with a broad, violent brush, as a way to stoke hatred, fear, and nativism in Americans.


It’s an intellectually dishonest attempt to draw a line between children — even babies — who have been brutally separated from their parents because of a cruel Trump policy, and the violent MS-13 gang, which actually began in Los Angeles in the 1980s.

In reality, undocumented immigrants are not increasing the crime rate in the United States, and only a small percentage of undocumented immigrants are MS-13 gang members. Huckabee’s logic isn’t based in facts. It’s rooted in hate.