Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions will surely sail through the final vote-tallying hurdle of his confirmation process and be the next attorney general of the United States, despite a reported history of racially insensitive comments. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee pushed back against Sessions’ whitewashing of his questionable racial record in public life that raised significant enough concerns to disqualify him from a federal judgeship three decades ago. The pushback on Sessions seems like a legitimate debate to have in the United States Senate given the nature and seriousness of the office. But Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks sees something else secretly lurking within the debate over what constitutes an unacceptable level of racism to hold public office—racism. As in: Calling Republican racism racist is, in itself, racist.

In a clip dug up by CNN, the Republican congressman explained his view to the Alabama radio show The Morning Show With Toni & Gary:

It’s really about political power and racial division and what I’ve referred to on occasion as the ‘war on whites.’ They are trying to motivate the African-American vote to vote-bloc for Democrats by using every ‘Republican is a racist’ tool that they can envision. Even if they have to lie about it.

If you think Brooks’ “war on whites” rhetoric lacks basic self-awareness, give a listen to the first 30 or so seconds of the clip posted by CNN where the hosts Southern white-splain to the NAACP that Sessions is, in fact, a champion of civil rights.