Long-time Popehat readers probably remember good ol' Bill Johnson.

I first wrote about Mr. Johnson in 2008, when he ran for a seat on the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Mr. Johnson used to go by the name James O. Pace, under which name he advocated repealing the 14th and 15th Amendments and replacing them with the "Pace Amendment":

No person shall be a citizen of the United States unless he is a non-Hispanic white of the European race, in whom there is no ascertainable trace of Negro blood, nor more than one-eighth Mongolian, Asian, Asia Minor, Middle Eastern, Semitic, Near Eastern, American Indian, Malay or other non-European or non-white blood, provided that Hispanic whites, defined as anyone with an Hispanic ancestor, may be citizens if, in addition to meeting the aforesaid ascertainable trace and percentage tests, they are in appearance indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe. Only citizens shall have the right and privilege to reside permanently in the United States.

He lost, despite some woefully clueless press coverage. But you can't keep a white nationalist down. Mr. Johnson has returned again and again. He managed to get on Ron Paul's endorsement list until he was thrown off, perhaps on the theory that such racial ideas belong in newsletters written in Paul's name but not in judicial candidates. He became "chairman" of the "America Third Position," which is more or less what you'd guess it is. He got the Los Angeles County Bar Association to put him on their lawyer referral list.

And now, proving that there are not only second acts but near-infinite acts in American life, Mr. Johnson has been accepted as a Donald Trump delegate in California. Mother Jones reports:

Johnson applied to the Trump campaign to be a delegate. He was accepted on Monday.

I actually doubt that the Trump campaign knowingly chose Johnson because he's a known white nationalist. But I doubt they particularly care. Bill Johnson has come home.

Edited to add: Josh Harkinson, author of the Mother Jones piece, pokes a bit of fun at Bill Johnson for his taste in food:

As we sat next to a table of immaculately coiffed Korean Air flight attendants, I mentioned that some might find it surprising that a guy who wrote a book advocating the creation of an all-white ethno-state was eating a plate of bulgogi beef with kimchee. "Koreans don't have to make Korean food," he said matter-of-factly. "One of the best Chinese restaurants I went to in the Bay Area is owned by a Mormon and cooked by a Mormon. Really great Chinese food."

One hears this a lot: how can a racist like Korean food? How can that guy be a bigot when he once dated a black girl? (That one was a defense in a civil rights case I prosecuted in the '90s). How can she be racist if she has Latina friends?

All of those arguments depend upon a hidden premise: that racism is rational, and therefore can be expected to operate rationally. It isn't and it doesn't.

Last 5 posts by Ken White